EPISCOPALIANS in the United States have been urged to model fellowship amid political differences, as leaders of the Church make their first statements since the election of Donald Trump to a second term in the White House (News, 6 November).
“Regardless of our political allegiances, we must remember that God has called us in the Episcopal Church to seek and serve Christ in all persons,” the Presiding Bishop, Dr Sean Rowe, wrote in a pastoral letter on Wednesday.
Dr Rowe, whose primacy was inaugurated in a service on Saturday (News, 4 November), wrote that the Church was committed to “working with the new administration to advance policies that follow the teachings of Jesus by supporting the most vulnerable among us”.
He referred to Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), which, since 1988, has resettled more than 100,000 refugees and reaffirmed the Episcopal Church’s support for the “dignity, safety, and equality of women and LGBTQ+ people”.
“I pray that President Trump and his administration will do the same,” he wrote. He called on Episcopalians to be “agents of peace and reconciliation in our communities, both in person and online. As people of faith, we can work and pray for peace and unity among God’s people whether we are joyful, hurting, or afraid.”
The President of the House of Deputies, Julia Ayala Harris, also released a letter on Wednesday. “As a woman and as a Latina, I am feeling the weight of what this moment represents both for myself and my own family, and for the Church I serve as President of the House of Deputies,” she wrote.
She acknowledged that “some in our church family will celebrate while others will experience deep fear and concern,” and wrote: “Let us demonstrate to a watching world how Christians can model respectful dialogue and genuine fellowship even amid political difference.”
The Church was called to a “distinct witness”, she wrote, “to stand firm in our gospel commitments while remaining in communion with those who see the path forward differently”.
The Episcopal News Service reported that some church leaders had expressed concerns about what Mr Trump’s victory would mean for EMM. The organisation’s director, Sarah Shipman, said on Wednesday that, although there might be “difficult times ahead . . . our commitment to this work has not wavered”.
“While the path ahead may require us to work even harder, we know that, together, we can be a powerful voice for change and for ‘the way of love’,” she said.
During the election campaign, Mr Trump pledged to deport undocumented immigrants, and polling suggests that the policy was a priority for many of those who voted for him.
Mr Trump’s first term was marked by repeated injunctions to “build the wall” on the US southern border. Despite the rhetoric, more deportations took place during 2023, when Joe Biden was President, than in any year of the previous Trump administration, Reuters reports.
On Wednesday, the President of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Most Revd Timothy Broglio, congratulated Mr Trump, but said: “the Catholic Church is not aligned with any political party, and neither is the Bishops’ Conference.”
Speaking to Vatican News, he said that there was a duty to “treat each other with charity, respect, and civility, even if we may disagree on how to carry out matters of public policy”.
He highlighted the alleviation of poverty, and making the immigration system “more responsive to the needs of people”, as policy areas in which the Bishops’ Conference had a particular interest.
On abortion rights, Archbishop Broglio said that it was important to “try and convince people of the right of the unborn to life”.
The Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Revd Dr Sam Wells, who formerly served as the Dean of Duke University Chapel, in North Carolina, posted a “prayer for America” on the parish’s website on Wednesday morning.
“Mysterious God, your ways are sometimes hard to fathom and your purposes amid the turmoil of life are sometimes hard to perceive,” he wrote. “As you have so many times before, surprise us with what your Holy Spirit can do in the face of setback and bewilderment; and draw us to that place of surprise, that we may in some small way be part of it.”