Blaze damages historic Virginian church

A FIRE that severely damaged St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Oak Grove, in the diocese of Virginia, a few days before Christmas, meant that the ministry team had to find other venues in neighbouring churches for its Christmas services. No one was in the building when the fire broke out. A picture circulated by the diocese (right) shows firefighters on the altar surrounded by ashy debris, soot-covered walls, and smoke still billowing up to charred rafters. The cause of the fire is yet to be identified. St Peter’s, which is on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States, had been preparing to celebrate its 175th anniversary in May.

Presiding Bishop in hospital again

THE Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Most Revd Michael Curry (above), has been released from hospital after brain surgery, the Episcopal News Service reports. Bishop Curry was treated for a recurrence of a subdural haematoma, or brain bleed, which occurred last month. The Episcopal Church said in a statement that Bishop Curry would continue his recovery at home under the supervision of his doctors. “Bishop Curry, who is 70, is coming to the end of a nine-year term as Presiding Bishop. The process to select his successor has already begun (News, 22 September 2023).

Donations pour in for Hawaii after wildfires

THE Bishop of Hawaii, the Rt Revd Robert Fitzpatrick, has said that he was “moved to tears” by the love and generosity of donors around the world in response to the wildfires that killed a hundred people in Hawaii last summer (News, 18 August 2023). Almost $1 million was received in combined donations to the Bishop’s Pastoral Fund, the diocese’s community outreach programme, A Cup of Cold Water, and Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church, Lahaina, in Maui, which was destroyed together with hundreds of other buildings. Bishop Fitzpatrick said that the rebuilding of Holy Innocents’ was likely to be years away. “The entire town was decimated,” he wrote. The Maui wildfires are the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii since the 1946 tsunami that killed more than 150 people.