In response to House and Senate leaders' release of a final farm bill package May 8, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori released the following statement urging congressional defeat, or presidential veto, of the legislation

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is responding to Cyclone Nargis and providing churches and individuals with an opportunity to help those affected by the deadly disaster

Bibliophiles, rejoice. Pack up your reading specs, and your largest, sturdiest tote bags, and head for St. Charles, Illinois, the last week in May.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has written to the Anglican Church in Burma following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in the area of the Irrawaddy River Delta.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori issued a statement May 6 on the political and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, calling for all Episcopalians to advocate for an international response.

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson told recent gatherings in Missouri that God gives creation stunning moments of beauty "to remind us what we are called to be in this world."

The Episcopal Diocese of Maine consecrated the Rev. Canon Stephen Taylor Lane as bishop coadjutor May 3 in Portland's Cathedral of St. Luke. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was the chief consecrator.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI held a private meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at the Vatican May 5 to discuss ecumenical and Muslim-Christian relations.

Conversations about postcolonialism and the cultural and religious identities that have been shaped by the colonial past have seldom found their way onto the agendas of the Anglican Communion's main councils and Instruments of Communion.

The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) is urging citizens throughout the United States to write President George W. Bush, ahead of his May 13-18 visit the Middle East, emphasizing the need for "robust diplomatic leadership to create a climate in which negotiations for the establishment of a viable State of Palestine alongside a secure Israel can continue and yield substantive progress."

On April 23, 1908, the cornerstone was laid of what would become the sanctuary of St. James, la chiesa americana (or "American Church") in Florence, Italy. Last week, in friendly cooperation with the City of Florence and the U.S. Consulate, the parish hosted a series of events to commemorate its first 100 years of ministry in Via Rucellai.

"Generosity is what it's all about." That's what the Rev. Dr. Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus of religious history at the University of Chicago and a Lutheran pastor, told the 150 in attendance at The Episcopal Network for Stewardship's (TENS) annual conference April 12 in Founders' Hall at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, Missouri.

The "gift of Holy Spirit keeps us lively and moving" as "inspiring breath" in the Body of Christ, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori writes in her 2008 Pentecost letter to the Episcopal Church.

In an April 30 letter to the House of Bishops, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori reviews and comments on process related to deposition, inhibition, renunciation and resignation of bishops. The full text of the Presiding Bishop's letter, posted by email at 10:30 a.m. on April 30, follows here.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has advised Southern Cone Presiding Bishop Gregory J. Venables in an April 29 letter that his planned May 2-4 visit to address a special convocation of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth "with the expressed purpose of describing removal to the Province of the Southern Cone is an unwarranted invasion of, and meddling in, the internal affairs of this Province."

The Diocese of Lainya in the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) is partnering with Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) to support vocational training programs for returning refugees in southern Sudan, one of the primary challenges of the post-war conditions in Africa's largest country.

Requesting entries by June 30, organizers have launched a church-wide contest for logo designs conveying the 2009 General Convention theme of "ubuntu" (pronounced oo-boon-too), a Zulu or Xhosa word that describes humaneness encompassing a sense of caring, sharing and being in harmony with all of creation.

A U.S. ecumenical delegation visited Sudan April 19-24 to assess the latest developments in the country's peace process and build partnerships with the nation's four million Episcopalians.

The Episcopal Church's Executive Council Committee on Indigenous Ministries plans to ask the Executive Council to restore to the church's 2008 budget money cut from block grants that help fund ministry to Native Americans.

Calling his work "genius," Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori extolled the tireless efforts of William Reed Huntington in his work for ecumenism at the annual sermon named in his honor