Robert Estill, Retired Bishop of North Carolina, Dies at 92

From The Living Church-

The Rt. Rev. Robert Estill, IX Bishop of North Carolina, passed away October 9 at the age of 92, the Diocese of North Carolina announced.

Bishop Estill, a native of Kentucky, earned several degrees at the University of Kentucky, Episcopal Divinity School and Sewanee, the University of the South. After a decade as a parish priest in Kentucky, he served as a rector in Washington D.C. and Dallas, and as a faculty member at Virginia Theological Seminary, before being elected bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of North Carolina in 1980.

He succeeded the Rt. Rev. Thomas Fraser as the IX Bishop of North Carolina on January 27, 1983, when he was consecrated by the Most Rev. John M. Allin. He retired in 1994.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/2019/10/11/robert-estill-retired-bishop-of-north-carolina-dies-at-92/ 

and here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/10/14/rip-robert-estill-ninth-bishop-of-north-carolina-dies-at-92/

Stebbins bound for Montana as new bishop

From North Carolina-

In a few months' time, the Rev. Marty Stebbins will give up her Southern lifestyle leading the congregation at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church to oversee every Episcopal church in Montana.
Stebbins, who has led the downtown Wilson church since July 2010, received a call last fall about becoming the diocesan bishop 2,300 miles away. It took several months, but the Montana Diocesan Convention elected Stebbins and she has accepted the call.

"First I considered the location because it is beautiful, but it also has winter with a capital W," Stebbins said with a laugh. "What attracted me to it is they have a lot of small churches in small towns where those churches actually have a big impact and I have a heart for small churches even though I'm the rector of a large church now. 

More here-

http://www.wilsontimes.com/stories/stebbins-bound-for-montana-as-new-bishop,185806

Guatemalan woman prepares to mark two years in sanctuary

From North Carolina-

A woman from Guatemala has been living in sanctuary longer than anyone else under the Trump administration. Juana Ortega is staying at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro to avoid deportation. Thursday marks two years since she's taken up sanctuary there. 

Though there is a language barrier, Ortega has made friends at St. Barnabas. Church members distract her from a harsh reality. Her immigration case is closed, and she can't stay in the country outside of this building. Ortega said, "I'm feeling a little desperate honestly, because I didn't realize I'd be here this long."

Speaking through a translator, Andrew Willis Garces, Ortega explained that what she misses most is her family. She has a husband, four kids ages 30-17, and two granddaughters. Their lives are the subject of a documentary airing Thursday at the church on the two-year anniversary of her stay there. 

More here-

https://www.wxii12.com/article/guatemalan-woman-prepares-to-mark-two-years-in-sanctuary/27413039

Mother who sought sanctuary in church basement is still there 2 years later

From NY Daily News-

Nearly two years ago Juana Tobar Ortega was ordered back to Guatemala by federal authorities, but that was not an option for the mother of four who arrived in the U.S. illegally 25 years ago.

Instead she packed up her belongings and headed to St. Barnabas Church near her Greensboro, North Carolina home, seeking sanctuary. She has been there ever since.

“We need to violate the law in order to do the right thing, and the right thing for me is to be a mother,” Ortega told NBC News earlier this month. “They’re laws created by men who don’t understand what it means to be a mother.”

Since Donald Trump took office as President in early 2017, non-criminal immigrants who arrived here illegally have been given the same treatment as those who’ve been convicted of crimes, according to NBC News. The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has been cracking down on everyone regardless of their potential for violence.

More here-

 https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-sanctuary-church-basement-guatemala-20190303-story.html

Mother who sought sanctuary in church basement in 2017 is still there

From North Carolina-

Jackeline Tobar noticed the signs of her mother’s absence immediately. Flowers weren’t blooming in the garden. Furniture wasn’t constantly being rearranged in the living room. And then there was the kitchen.

“She always uses vegetables to cook,” Tobar, 23, said, “but after the first week, the vegetables were still sitting there, rotting.”

That was almost two years ago.

In April 2017, her mother, Juana Tobar Ortega, was ordered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to self-deport to her native Guatemala by May. Instead, she packed up her clothes, left her home and family in Greensboro, North Carolina, and moved into a nearby church where she sought sanctuary.

She has not stepped out the church since.

More here-

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mother-who-sought-sanctuary-church-basement-2017-still-there-n978166

WRAL’s David Crabtree admits on-air to ‘inappropriate’ relationship, cites church fallout

From Raleigh-

WRAL-TV lead anchor David Crabtree surprised viewers Friday night with a personal announcement delivered at the end of the station’s 6 p.m. newscast.

Crabtree announced that he had lost his position as a member of the clergy in the Episcopal Church because of an inappropriate relationship that violated church rules.

Crabtree’s statement was also posted online on the WRAL website:

“You may know that I am a member of the clergy in the Episcopal Church. On Friday, the church announced I have lost that position because I violated church rules.

“Years ago, I had a consensual relationship with a woman ... A relationship the church deemed inappropriate.

“I accept the decision. My actions were unacceptable. I apologize.

“My faith remains strong. I seek God’s forgiveness. I hope that, in time, I might earn yours.”

More here-

https://www.fayobserver.com/news/20190126/wrals-david-crabtree-admits-on-air-to-inappropriate-relationship-cites-church-fallout

From royal wedding to Roanoke, Episcopal bishop to deliver message of love

From North Carolina-

Some years ago, if you’d asked the Most Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, what’s the opposite of love, he would have replied, hate.

But it’s dawned on him that’s only partially true.

“The real opposite of love is selfishness, it’s self-centeredness,” Curry said. “The reality is we must find ways beyond selfishness and self-centeredness and find ways for common ground, ways that we can live together, in order to live. Love is the way. That’s what love is about.”

And that’s the main message Curry seeks to impart this weekend in Roanoke when he presides over a neighborhood walk Saturday and speaks at a revival Sunday.

Curry gained worldwide recognition last year at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for his sermon on the power of love.

More here-

https://www.roanoke.com/news/local/roanoke/from-royal-wedding-to-roanoke-episcopal-bishop-to-deliver-message/article_fcdf7d20-b60c-5b69-96a8-5b3564fef852.html 

and here-

https://wset.com/news/local/bishop-who-gave-sermon-at-royal-wedding-in-roanoke

Bishop Michael Curry Delivers Sermon in Raleigh

From North Carolina-

A powerful message about love heard around the world resonated through a Raleigh church Sunday.

• Bishop Michael Curry spoke at Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church as the congregation celebrated its 150th anniversary.
• Many may remember him from the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this past spring when his riveting sermon gained international attention.
• He has strong ties to the Tar Heel state. He was previously bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.

Bishop Michael Curry spoke at Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church as the congregation celebrated its 150th anniversary.

Many may remember him from the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this past spring when his riveting sermon gained international attention.

More here-

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triangle-sandhills/news/2018/12/16/bishop-michael-curry-delivers-sermon-in-raleigh

As one historically black Episcopal church closes, others face strong headwinds

From RNS-

On a chilly December morning, 100 years and one week after its sanctuary opened, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, an African-American congregation with a proud history, was formally closed.
Bishop Samuel Rodman presided over the Eucharistic service in an elementary school a block away from the church, where weekly services ended more than three years ago. Several longtime members returned to read Scriptures and sing hymns. Afterward, the group of 100, including history buffs and well-wishers from North Carolina and Virginia, shared a meal of fried chicken and baked beans.

All Saints is hardly alone among mainline Protestant and Catholic congregations. Faced with dwindling members, crumbling infrastructure and costly maintenance, some 6,000 to 10,000 churches shutter each year, according to one estimate. More closures may be in the offing as surveys point to a decline in church attendance across the country.

More here-

https://religionnews.com/2018/12/11/as-one-historically-black-episcopal-church-closes-others-face-strong-headwinds/?fbclid=IwAR2fAQrbw8ROs1GusUKT4FaAodl81qlB-N1F76qd85uvSgjfboXQybw-ufk

‘We have saved St. Augustine’s.’ Raleigh university removed from probation.

From North Carolina-

The university has made numerous budget cuts in recent years, such as in 2014 trimming its full-time workforce, not rehiring dozens of adjunct faculty and furloughing employees. In April, the university announced it was laying off 22 employees as part of a restructuring.

Ward said that accreditation agency was impressed by how the university invested $1.7 million in a project addressing its financial processes. He said the university has gone from doing its accounting manually to using software. 

Ward also praised the alumni and the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, which founded the school in 1867, for their financial support. He also singled out the faculty and staff for standing by the university.

“I know how hard it has been and you have stood with us in the most difficult times because you never failed to believe that we would not reach this day,” Ward said.

More here-

 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article222943610.html?fbclid=IwAR2X5dx2785HL9-Rfzrn_zuC_hmhO2T0cOD_ZSnIMOIezOdnkcZ_aeSVlL8

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article222943610.html?fbclid=IwAR2X5dx2785HL9-Rfzrn_zuC_hmhO2T0cOD_ZSnIMOIezOdnkcZ_aeSVlL8#storylink=cpy

Cooking chicken wings with the Bishop: An ancient Mediterranean love feast

From North Carolina-

During my years as a Ford model in New York City, I met many celebrities but none as memorable as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the American Diocese of the Episcopal Church.

On May 19 he captured the attention of 2 billion people via worldwide satellite at the Royal wedding. However, he captured my heart and imagination much earlier as my passionate culinary student. We prepared an ancient Mediterranean meal together for a filming and interview for the N.C. Episcopalian Diocese magazine. 

Bishop Curry “took me to church” the first time I heard him preach at the rural St. Mary’s Chapel in Hillsborough where I grew up. I knew right away that he was not a traditional Episcopal priest. His delivery reminded me more of an evangelical preacher. Flashing his engaging smile, he confessed to me that his grandmother had been a Baptist! His joyous demeanor and contagious enthusiasm were harbingers of more divine appointments to come. 

More here-

 https://www.newsobserver.com/living/food-drink/article218720020.html

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/living/food-drink/article218720020.html#storylink=cpy

I blinked on LGBTQ issues in my church. And I regret it.

From North Carolina-

We fall short as a civil society in our ability to admit mistakes and apologize with the sincere intent to change our behavior. So here goes: I’ve been wrong. And in the reality of human fallibility, I know I’ll be wrong again. The best I can do is move forward, determined not to repeat that particular shortcoming.

The mistake I regret of longest standing dates back 15 years. The Episcopal Church was taking up issues related to our siblings who are lesbian and gay, specifically at that time the consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as a bishop. I would consider myself, then and now, someone who believes that all of us are beloved children of God, created in God’s image, and worthy of serving God. 

But faced with division within the church, I blinked. While I wanted everyone to have a path to ordination, consecration, and marriage regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, if it was going to cause conflict, I thought that could wait. 

More here-

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article218569415.html

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article218569415.html#storylink=cpy

Honest, direct, yet gentle: Raleigh Episcopal priest pens picture book to explain death, grief to kids

From North Carolina-

The subject of death, dying and grief has intrigued Mary Davila since she was at least an undergraduate student at the University of Richmond, willingly getting up to take an early morning class on the topic during her senior year.

The lessons from the class intrigued Davila - and have served her well in her current career. Davila has been an Episcopal priest for 13 years and served as a children's minister before she went to seminary. Today, she's assistant rector at Christ Church in Raleigh and the co-author of a new picture book called "Grandpa's Tent" about grief.

More here-

 https://www.wral.com/honest-direct-yet-gentle-raleigh-episcopal-priest-pens-picture-book-to-explain-death-grief-to-kids/17826026/

Mother's Day in sanctuary

From North Carolina- (with video)

Mother’s Day traditions are different for everyone, but it’s a day many families come together to honor moms for everything they do all year long. For immigrant mothers facing deportation, Mother’s Day will be a bit different this year.

Interpreter, Lori Fernald Khamala, mother of a ten-year-old daughter and director of American Friends Service Committee met us inside the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greenbsoro to sit down with Juana Ortega, a woman and mother who came here from Guatemala. Ortega has been living in the U.S. for 25 years; she’s been living in sanctuary since May 31, 2017.

"I’m remembering that a year ago I was celebrating in my home, in my church. And now I can't. Usually, we would have a Mother's Day celebration in church, and after church we would go home to continue the party, and this year we can't do that. That's not going to happen this year," said Ortega.

More here-

http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triad/news/2018/05/13/mothers-living-in-sanctuary

Former Episcopal priest indicted on sexual assault charges

From North Carolina-

A former episcopal priest who served in Waynesville for over two decades has been charged with several felonies stemming from alleged sexual abuse dating back to 1985.

The charges against Howard "Howdy" Willard White, Jr., 76, were filed after he was formally indicted by a Haywood County Grand jury.

The charges, which pertain to two alleged victims — one male and one female — are first-degree forcible sex offense, two counts of indecent liberties with a child, first-degree forcible rape, four counts second-degree forcible sex offense, and second-degree forcible rape.

More here-

https://www.themountaineer.com/news/former-episcopal-priest-indicted-on-sexual-assault-charges/article_b172555e-3da1-11e8-9504-6772559e0656.html

Climbers scale the tower at 90-year-old St. Paul's Episcopal Church

From North Carolina-

The last time anyone scaled the 90-foot bell tower of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Winston-Salem was nearly a century ago when it was built.

And they surely weren’t doing it with iPads in hand, like rappellers did Tuesday at the property on Summit Street.

“While rappelling, they’re identifying types of damage and how severe and marking it on the tablet,” local architect Joe Oppermann said. “We’re giving this building a physical, to use a medical analogy. We’re looking carefully at the masonry and the mortar joints to see how it’s all holding up.”

Oppermann’s firm prepared digital drawings of the building’s structure, based on the original blueprints, so that experts could use the iPads to map places in the stone that were problematic.

More here-

http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/climbers-scale-the-tower-at--year-old-st-paul/article_145b866a-479d-5b6e-8548-f062d9a4b8c8.html

Church’s revival Friday night aims to connect it to the Southeast Raleigh community

From North Carolina-

As a buzz swarms worldwide about six Episcopal Church revivals planned for this year and 2018 to motivate, equip and mobilize Episcopalians for evangelism and reconciliation, St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Southeast Raleigh will host one of its own that crosses denominations and into communities across the state.

It’s a rarity for Episcopalians everywhere – and the first-ever revival for St. Ambrose, a historically African-American church founded in 1868 for the newly emancipated.

The St. Ambrose Revive Me Community Revival is Friday from 7-9 p.m. at St. Ambrose, 813 Darby Street. There will be preaching, a worship and prayer service, personal testimonies, storytelling, and music and dance from African drummers from Oxford, and liturgical dancers and choirs from other churches.

Read more here:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article174691231.html#storylink=cpy

The Bishops of the Diocese of North Carolina Respond to Violence in Charlottesville

From Virginia-

The bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina - the Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman, bishop, and the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple, bishop suffragan - offer a statement in response to yesterday's violence in Charlottesville:

The violence this past weekend in Charlottesville is both heartbreaking and sickening. Heartbreaking that innocent lives were lost and others were seriously injured, and that violence was used to try and silence and intimidate those who stood against hatred, racism and evil. The events were sickening in that our divisions in this country have reached a crisis point that resulted in an eruption of violence with deadly consequences.

How are we to respond, as Christians, in a way that condemns these actions, but does not contribute to the rhetoric of hate? We will need to rediscover the deep roots of non-violence embedded in the gospel and the Jesus Movement: non-violence that calls us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute others, to refuse to fight evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good.

More here-

http://www.dionc.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/3187339

Sam Rodman ordained, consecrated bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina

From ENS-

 It was joyful in Durham, North Carolina, on July 15, when the
Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman was ordained and consecrated as the XII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.

Rodman was elected on March 4, marking the culmination of a search that began after former bishop Michael Curry was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church at the 78th General Convention in 2015.

Approximately 1,000 people attended and participated the 2 ½-hour service at Duke University Chapel, where Curry returned to North Carolina to celebrate his successor and serve as the chief consecrator. Several bishops served as co-consecrators, including the Rt. Rev. Alan Gates, bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts; the Rt. Rev. Rob Skirving, bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina; the Rt. Rev. Jose McLaughlin, bishop of the Diocese of Western North Carolina; the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts, retired; and the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple, bishop suffragan of the Diocese of North Carolina. Hodges-Copple served as bishop diocesan pro tempore during the time of diocesan transition.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2017/07/17/sam-rodman-ordained-consecrated-bishop-of-the-diocese-of-north-carolina/

Episcopal Church in central N.C. gets new bishop

From North Carolina-

Nearly 55 years ago, a young Sam Rodman stood before the priest at a west Massachusetts Episcopal church with a younger sister on the left and an older one on the right as they were baptized before the congregation.

Rodman was just 4 years old, but the sense of community and goodwill he felt stayed so strongly with him that he drew a sense of purpose in the church. He became a deacon, then a priest, and eventually the acting chief of staff for the Massachusetts diocese.

Saturday morning, Rodman, 58, was back before another Episcopal leader, taking another step in his now lifelong spiritual journey. Dressed in a simple white robe, with a white rope serving as a belt, Rodman stood at the front of Duke Chapel before the leader of The Episcopal Church, who asked the 1,000 congregants in attendance if Rodman should be ordained the bishop for the central North Carolina diocese that includes Charlotte, Greensboro and the Triangle.

Read more here:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article161597013.html#storylink=cpy