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Churches across New England found creative ways to celebrate Easter Sunday services during the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic, which has sickened over 35,000 people in New England, has forced religious institutions to rethink worshiping practices as local health officials urge people to…

For the past 10 years, Good Friday has probably been my most intense day of the year. As an Episcopal Priest, it is an emotional day, the one day set aside for us to contend with all of humanity’s worst inclinations. To contend with betrayal and death and absence and silence. The services on this…

This update was issued by e-mail on April 16 to clergy and leadership. April 16, 2020 Upcoming Zoom gatherings for clergy and leadership Canon to the Ordinary Bill Parnell will host Zoom conferences for clergy and wardens next week, to pray together and check in with one another about COVID-19…

The bishops of the seven Episcopal dioceses of New England have issued the following joint statement urging advocacy for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe as it faces the threat of its reservation lands being taken out of trust and disestablishment by the federal government. Statement…

Most of the people I know moved to online worship quickly, recognizing its necessity for public health. But shifting to online service just as quickly showed how digital interactions are so different than being together in person. The Reverend Kit Lonergan, rector of St. James Episcopal Church in…

This Easter message from Bishop Alan M. Gates was preached during the special filmed service for Easter Day, April 12, 2020, at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. In these days of Sheltering-in-Place and Working-at-Home, a recent Twitter post told the following tale: My 5yo stormed out…

Videotaped worship services for Maundy Thursday (from the Monastery Chapel of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, with Brother James Koester, SSJE, preaching), Good Friday (from the Convent Chapel of the Society of St. Margaret in Duxbury, with Bishop Gayle…

Videotaped worship services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day are offered here as a diocesan resource for congregations which do not have live-streaming capability and as a complement to the offerings of those that do.  The videos also will be available on…

After losing a loved one, millions of Americans turn to their religious communities for support and comfort. But social distancing measures are changing what that support and comfort looks like. Rev. Bill Parnell, a leader in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, told me that many people in the…