The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, functioning as the church’s board of directors, convened in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, for its summer meeting beginning June 23. The 40-member body gathers at a time of heightened national tension, fueled by recent U.S. government policies and actions.
Since the council’s winter meeting—held in Linthicum Heights in February—the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been dismantled, a travel ban on predominantly Black countries enforced, and immigration raids in California have led to the detainment of U.S. citizens and widespread protests. Most recently, the nation has begun an armed conflict with Iran.
This context of social and political turmoil shaped the opening remarks of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris.
Rowe opened by saying he has been in touch with Archbishop Hosam Naoum of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, which includes the dioceses of Jerusalem and Iran. Israel began surprise bombings in Iran on June 13. On June 21, the United States entered the conflict, bombing three Iranian nuclear sites.
“Archbishop Hosam extended an invitation to Anglicans across the world to offer intercessions on their behalf,” Rowe said. “I’m especially aware at this moment, those of us from the United States have a particular responsibility to pray for peace and urge our leaders to practice restraint and de-escalation. As the situation becomes clearer, the Office of Government Relations will continue to offer us ways in which we can take action, and I commend their resources to you.”
The presiding bishop reflected on how Episcopalians are discerning a faithful response in light of these events and cited Romans 12, noting the tension between conforming to the world and witnessing with the gospel.
“We too often behave as if our first allegiance is to a nation or a political party, and not to the kingdom of God here on earth,” Rowe said. “This can make it difficult for us to discern what the next right thing to do is.”
Rowe also condemned the rise of extremist Christian nationalism, citing the June 14 assassination of Minnesota State Senator Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home.
“This kind of distortion of the gospel message is around us, all around us in public life,” he said. “It is dehumanizing.”
As a contrast, Rowe praised Bishop Phyllis Spiegel of Utah for opening the Cathedral Church of St. Mark to protesters fleeing a shooting during Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” rally. He also highlighted a forthcoming meeting between the Diocese of South Dakota and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Council to further investigate the church’s role in Indigenous boarding schools.
After Rowe, House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris recounted a recent conversation with Finn, an 18-year-old transgender man living in a red state. Finn, who was watching the session, discussed the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Tennessee’s ban on surgery for minors with gender dysphoria.
“I asked Finn what he hoped the church would say in a moment like this,” Ayala Harris said. “He paused. It was a very long pause … he challenged me to bear witness to trans joy.”
Citing Resolution D066, passed at the 2022 General Convention in support of such surgeries, Ayala Harris addressed transgender youth directly: “To every transgender young person hearing or reading these words, I see you. I love you. You are wonderfully made in the image of God, crafted in sacred dignity. You are not a mistake. God did not get it wrong when God made you trans. You deserve to live in your whole truth of who you are with dignity, joy, and respect.”
The Rev. Cameron Partridge, a transgender priest who serves as rector of St. Aidan’s Church in San Francisco, led worship before the opening session.
Like Rowe, Ayala Harris warned of the dangers of Christian nationalism, saying it rises by “toppling long-professed values of freedom and choice in lieu of control and power.”
“We’ve seen political leaders be assassinated, the rights of transgender children be under attack, the right to free speech be met with military control,” she said. “We’ve seen families ripped apart with children taken from schools, parents from grocery stores, young people taken even while fully participating in the legal mechanisms for asylum and migration at appointments and hearings.”
Ayala Harris, a first-generation Mexican American and daughter of an undocumented immigrant, stressed that such tactics are not isolated incidents.
“They are strategic and deliberate efforts to co-opt our public institutions, erode the rule of law, blur the boundaries between faith and state,” she said.
Calling for boldness and courage, she emphasized the Episcopal Church’s vital role in times of societal crisis.
“During the time of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, in what is now South Sudan, the semi-autonomous interim government collapsed in 2006. I was 25 years old and living and working amid a community contending with violent conflict and social collapse. I witnessed that it was the church that held the social fabric together.”
She described the church as a bridge and a bulwark in moments when the state turns against its own people.
“Although we have not always lived up to the call, as Episcopalians, we carry a deep tradition of resilience, truth-telling, and gospel-led courage,” Ayala Harris said. “The Episcopal Church was made for times like these.”
Following the opening remarks, the council heard a report from the new chief financial officer of the Episcopal Church Center, Chris Lacovara, who said the church remains in stable financial condition. Administrative costs will decrease in the coming year because of recent restructuring.
The Executive Council will also meet on June 24-25. Presiding Bishop Rowe is expected to deliver a report on the morning of June 24. Plenary sessions of the meeting are being streamed live on General Convention’s YouTube Channel.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
