St. Pierre's Episcopal Church Gautier, MS

[Diocese of Tennessee] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Tennessee on Sept. 8 announced the slate of nominees for the diocese’s 12th bishop. They are: The Rev. Colin Ambrose, vice rector, St. George’s, Nashville, Tennessee. The Rev. Brian Cannaday, canon to the ordinary, Diocese of Dallas, Texas. The Rev. Andy Olivo, rector, St. Elizabeth’s, Ridgewood, New Jersey. Background information, videos and written material from each nominee can be found here. “At every step of the way, the Search Committee has taken great care to represent the fullness of the diocese and to discern those candidates who were most capable and most committed to being the 12th bishop of the diocese,” the standing committee said. “They have done this work with diligence and integrity and we, the standing committee, are delighted to present the slate of nominees they submitted to us.” The 12th bishop will succeed Tennessee Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt, who has led the diocese since 2007. In June 2025, Bauerschmidt announced his plans to retire in January 2027. In July, the Standing Committee announced it would extend its bishop search. The Electing Convention for the 12th bishop will take place on Oct. 24. The petition process for nominating additional candidates closes Sept. 15. Pending consents from diocesan standing committees and bishops, the bishop’s consecration will be held on April 10, 2027. The Diocese of Tennessee, one of three dioceses in the state, includes Episcopal congregations in the central third of Tennessee.

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[Episcopal News Service] Two Vermont Episcopalians were among seven clergy members arrested Sept. 4 during a protest at a Department of Homeland Security building in Williston used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The Ven. Susan McMillan and the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp of the Diocese of Vermont had joined in blockading the doors of the facility for about an hour, until they were arrested by local police and state troopers, according to WCAX-TV. Vermont State Police later released booking photos of the clergy members, including McMillan and Kooperkamp, standing in front of a concrete block wall. Vermont Bishop Shannon MacVean-Brown, in a message to the diocese, said that McMillan and Kooperkamp were released shortly after being booked on charges of unlawful trespass. She added that civil disobedience has “a long history in our country and The Episcopal Church.” “Archdeacon McMillan and Rev. Kooperkamp joined a smaller group who chose to enter the offices, aiming to disrupt the work of ICE. This was planned as a nonviolent action by a broad grassroots coalition of Vermont faith leaders,” MacVean-Brown said. “As Christians, we are called not only to bear witness to injustice but to act. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbor, that is not a passive action. It is constant, immediate, and proactive.” MacVean-Brown also shared a statement from McMillan about the protest. “Our national leaders, claiming to be Christian, authorize heinous and immoral policies, and the implementation of those policies starts right here,” the archdeacon said. “Every day, from this building, ICE surveils, determining which man, woman or child should be targeted. And then that person, or someone mistaken for that person, or a brown-skinned person who happens to be nearby, is kidnapped, incarcerated without due process, and their life destroyed. “If Jesus were here in the U.S. today, he could easily be caught in this trap and deported. This is not Christianity and I have to fight this cruelty in every way I can.”

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[Episcopal News Service – Minneapolis, Minnesota] A gathering to mark the half-century since General Convention declared that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church” was not a victory lap. Instead, Full & Equal: 50 Years in Pursuit of a Promise was “another leg on the relay race as we tell the stories of the past, as we reflect on where we are in the present, and as we look ahead to God’s future,” said the Rev. Susan Russell, chair of General Convention’s Task Force on LGBTQ+ Inclusion, which organized the Sept. 3-5 gathering with the support of the presiding bishop’s staff. The nearly 200-participant gathering was held at the Sheraton Minneapolis Downtown Convention Center. It fulfilled part of the task force’s mandate to conduct a churchwide audit of how The Episcopal Church has lived into its commitment made here in 1976. The task force is also charged with beginning a process of creating an archive of the history of the work for LGBTQ+ inclusion in The Episcopal Church. The goal, Russell told the attendees, is to learn from the stories and “make sure that we do not squander the inheritance we have.” Moreover, Russell said, recording and telling the stories of the last 50 years goes beyond the church and into a wider cultural context. “We, as the church, have an opportunity to give an example to a culture right now where there are forces at work trying to push us back on everything,” she continued. “What we’ve learned about pushing back against the kind of religious fundamentalism in our church can serve us as we continue to push against the Christian nationalism in our nation, the fascism that is trying to turn us into an oligarchy rather than democracy.” The gathering combined worship, education and storytelling to provide participants with tools and inspiration for future advocacy work and to preserve the stories of the last five decades. The participants learned storytelling techniques used by storytellers on The Moth Radio Hour. Organizers structured the gathering around the storytelling idea, with lay and ordained speakers telling some of the stories of then, now and next. The Rev. Cynthia Black acknowledged during the “Story of Then” session that the stories of then are often painful. “Obviously there are stories that aren’t about pain, but I think it’s important that we name the painful ones because they continue,” she said. “Part of the reason we’re here is to help make sure that the pain we have experienced is not something that continues, and that the young people today – or however old anybody is today – doesn’t have to live through what we lived through.” Anne Brown told a “Story of Then” about Episcopalians advocating for marriage equality. In 1999, then-Diocese of Vermont Bishop Mary Adelia McLeod and other lay and ordained Episcopalians testified about their support of marriage equality during state legislative committee hearings, Brown said. A year later, the state created civil unions for same-sex couples rather than allow same-sex couples access to marriage. Diocesan leaders decided not to oppose the civil union law, but to say, “OK, let’s go with this,” Brown recalled. McLeod took the new law “as an OK excuse” for several Episcopalian couples to have liturgical rites acknowledge their unions, including her and the Rev. Lee Crawford. However, there was no sanctioned rite for such a church service, so “we were all doing our own liturgies,” Brown said, adding that they did so in a way that did not get McLeod in trouble with the wider church. McLeod’s successor, Bishop Tom Ely, asked Brown to co-chair a committee to develop a diocesan liturgy “which sort of said that we were doing what we were doing within the bounds of our common life.” The liturgy that the committee created included a statement about the theology of such unions, “which was really important to show we were doing the theology,” Brown said. Vermont Episcopalians began their work nine years before The Episcopal Church approved a provisional blessing rite for same-gender couples. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in wide-ranging comments during the “Story of Now” session, said there is still pain in the church and the world today. “The way that trans people are being treated in this world, in this culture, in this country, it is one of the many things that keeps me up at night,” he said. “It’s contrary to the gospel. It’s a scandal to the heart of God.” Rowe said, “The [church’s] old playbook for advocacy doesn’t work in this environment because it often puts people in danger.” Thus, he said, his office does not speak about its ongoing efforts to connect with and support people who minister to trans people. And, still, some of those efforts to aid such ministries and others, including assisting immigrants of all statuses, have prompted federal investigations against the church, he said. Diocese of Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry told the “Story of Next” session that “the world needs the church.” “Our country needs The Episcopal Church, and the church needs us – compelling, faithful, lay, and ordained queer leaders; the church needs us. And some non-queer leaders of all types,” she said. Wounds, pain and sadness still abound in the church and the world, Perry said. People need to keep addressing their previous suffering “so that we may be able to go into the fraught world wounded but embodying the hope of Jesus Christ, that we too might be heroes.” “I think that’s what’s next – to be real about our pain, to do the work, and, oh my heavens, believe. Because the world needs us, and the world needs Jesus Christ.” The gathering ended with Eucharist on Sept. 5 in a packed St. Mark’s Cathedral. Retired New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson told the congregation during his sermon that the […]

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[Council of Christian Churches in Germany] Following the outcome of the state parliament elections in the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Bishop Kirsten Fehrs, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Bishop Heiner Wilmer, chair of the German Bishops’ Conference, and the Rev. Christopher Easthill, chair of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany, rector of the Anglican/Episcopal Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury in Frankfurt issued the following statement: “We take note of the fact that the AfD emerged as the strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt by a clear margin. Our concerns have become reality, but we have to accept the result. The churches are particularly concerned about the way people in Saxony-Anhalt live together and relate to one another, and especially about respect for the universal human dignity granted by God, which is unconditionally due to every person. Our concern also extends to the free and democratic constitutional order in Saxony-Anhalt. We call on the election winners to fully respect the State and German constitution and to uphold the dignity of all people, regardless of their origin, religion, way of life, achievements or position. As churches, we are committed to the message of the Gospel and to the Christian understanding of humanity. In fulfilment of this commitment, we will closely monitor and critically accompany the actions of the future state government. We will not look away and we will not remain silent when human dignity is violated, our democracy is put at risk, or the rule of law is undermined. Ultimately, this is always about people who come under pressure, are threatened or excluded. We will continue to support everything that sustains our democracy and contributes to social cohesion. This requires, above all, spaces where people can come together, engage in dialogue and seek mutual understanding. This is one responsibility of the democratic parties. The churches, too, can serve as important places of encounter. An election result is the sum of votes cast on a Sunday – but in everyday life, what matters is what holds this country together week after week. The election result shows the extent of dissatisfaction and the loss of trust. This must be taken seriously. What remains unchanged, however, is how hundreds of thousands of people in Saxony-Anhalt and across Germany care for one another day after day, take responsibility for and help sustain our communities. As churches, we will continue to make their confidence, willingness to help and commitment visible and to strengthen them. Together, we will continue working for a society that stands together – in responsibility before God and our fellow human beings.” This press release is being issued simultaneously by the press offices of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK), the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK). About the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) The Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) was founded on 10 March 1948 by five churches. In 2026, it comprises twenty-one churches from different traditions. A further four churches are guest members, and five ecumenical organisations have observer status. The ACK’s main areas of work are theological reflection, engagement for justice, peace and the preservation of creation, as well as joint prayer and contact with other ecumenical organisations. Among other activities, the ACK organises the annual central service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the Ecumenical Day of Creation. It is also responsible for awarding the ACK Ecumenical Prize. Members, guest members and observers send delegates to the General Assembly, which meets twice a year. Since March 2025, the Anglican/Episcopal priest from Wiesbaden, Reverend Christopher Easthill, serves as Chair of the ACK. The ACK’s office in Germany, the “Ökumenische Centrale”, is based in Frankfurt am Main: www.oekumene-ack.de

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[Episcopal News Service – Minneapolis, Minnesota] Participants in the Full & Equal: 50 Years in Pursuit of a Promise gathering attended to learn, reunite with others,  celebrate the progress achieved thus far and prepare for the work ahead. Retired Bishop Nedi Rivera was a deacon in 1976 when General Convention passed Resolution A069 at its meeting that year in Minneapolis, declaring that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” General Convention’s 1976 meeting was historic in at least two other ways. Bishops and deputies also broke with The Episcopal Church’s tradition by approving the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. They also set in motion the approval of what is now the current Book of Common Prayer, replacing the version used since 1928. Rivera told Episcopal News Service that she has since realized how “all these issues are so interrelated. I mean, we were talking liturgy – the prayer book. We were talking women’s issues. We were talking gay, lesbian. We hadn’t even considered trans issues in those days.” She also had a personal reason to come to Full & Equal. Rivera has a gay grandchild and one who is trans. She wanted to learn how to be a better ally with them and “how can I make a world that is better” for them, she said. Retired New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church and in any major Christian denomination, used an image from his childhood to explain the impact of the gathering. He worked in the fields with his tobacco sharecropper parents. It was backbreaking and seemingly unending work but, he said, “every now and again, you stop and stand up straight, and turn around and look how far you’ve come, and you realize you can keep doing this, and you go back to work again.” The gathering reminded him that the work ahead is about trying to do the next right thing and looking for the next right thing. Most of the time those right things are accomplished in little steps, he said. Beth Whitaker, who attends Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin, would agree. Grace’s Pride committee is “the most active and energized committee in the whole church,” she said, with lots of support in the parish. The committee has expanded its ministry to include trans youth and their families. “I feel called to learn from this to help do better work at home,” she said. Fred Ellis, from Dallas, Texas, said Resolution A069 was “the reason I really became serious about becoming an Episcopalian.” Ellis said last week’s gathering was a good way to recognize “all the work that’s gone on by hundreds of people over the last 50 years to get us to the point where we are and acknowledge that there’s still work to do.” The Rev. Barbara Anne Fisher, of Richmond, Indiana, has been in the thick of that work. She was denied a Master of Divinity degree when she graduated from seminary in 1986 and instead was given a Master of Christian Education. She declined to identify the seminary. Fisher was ordained to the priesthood in 2017 after being “denied and denied and denied.” When she learned of the Full & Equal conference, “I knew I had to be here.” Radiant Energy, ministries coordinator at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan, said they are new to The Episcopal Church and attended to learn more about the history of full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the church. The gathering was “wonderful and challenging to see how much further we have to go,” even on a deeply personal level. Energy, who identifies as trans non-binary, was misgendered by some at the conference “despite wearing a lanyard around my neck with my pronouns on it.” Sean McConnell’s reason for attending was also personal. McConnell, senior director of engagement for Episcopal Relief & Development, has recently been coming out to people as bisexual. It’s part of a process of “being able to be fully who I am,” he said, adding that attending the conference was a way to continue that process. David Hales, deputy for administration for the Archives of The Episcopal Church, came to Minneapolis “to hear people’s stories and to understand the history that I’m not aware of.” He also wanted people to know that the Archives is interested in the storytelling that the conference wanted to foster. “This is such an important way of preserving our history, bringing it forward to remind ourselves of where we’ve been and where we’re going,” he said. “And as a gay man, that’s incredibly important to me. I’m not an Episcopalian, but I believe everyone accounts for something. And this is a reminder.” – The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is a freelance writer who formerly was a senior editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service.

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The Grapevine, the monthly newsletter of the parish of St. John, Ocean Springs, is available online.

The Grapevine in available online.

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Yoga classes will start back on Wednesday, September 10

• Chair yoga - 10:30 a.m.
• Gentle mat yoga - 12:00 noon

Wednesday afternoons from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Children (K – 3) are invited to participate.  For more information contact Mary Chaffe Brooks or Jonathan Mitchell.  Cherubs sing about once every 6 weeks, usually at the beginning of the 9:00 a.m. service.