The Church of the Province of Central Africa led and organized this vital safety conference, which drew 220 clergy and laypeople from 30 countries and 28 provinces. They met at King’s Kraal in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, for “Leading Safer Churches: Power and Vulnerability in Church Life,” which was co-sponsored by the International Safe Church Commission of the Anglican Communion, the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa, and the Episcopal Ministry team of the Anglican Communion Office.

“What is happening in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, is remarkable and very encouraging,” said Bishop Justin Holcomb, a leading anti-abuse advocate and teacher. “I’m honored to be a part of this important event, to represent the Diocese of Central Florida, and to bring greetings from the diocese. I [spoke] briefly twice at the conference and helped facilitate discussions with the many bishops in attendance on leadership, trust, transparency, power, and pastoral care needs for survivors.”

The Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission’s work has come in response to repeated formal and informal requests from bishops within the communion for guidelines and resources for implementing abuse solutions. Due to longstanding concerns about unclear safeguarding measures in the global south and reeling from highly publicized abuse cases in Ghana, Nigeria, and a recent case in England, the communion has renewed its commitment to safety.

In the aftermath of the 2022 Lambeth Conference, safety has become a high priority for the communion. The Lambeth Call on Safe Church called for renewing the communion’s focus on “implementing effective responses to abuse; adopting and promoting standards for the practice of ministry, assessing suitability for ministry, and promoting a culture of safety.”

In an effort to “forward the initiatives and outcomes from the Lambeth Conference into the life of the Anglican Communion,” the Lambeth Conference Phase 3 steering committee began meeting in February 2023 and will continue meetings through 2025. These meetings included a Safe Church webinar on April 17, hosted by Holcomb.

“Leading Safer Churches” set out with the goal of raising awareness of abuse within the Anglican Communion, and it appears to have succeeded. The Safe Church Commission has spent the past two years building online resources and disseminating them to bishops and provinces where it is most in need, as safeguards and guidelines vary in effectiveness across the communion. Most participants left the conference with a strong sense that it was successful in achieving those goals.

Garth Blake, chairman of the Safe Church Commission, says the conference exceeded his expectations. For that week, the group engaged in theological reflections on vulnerability, pastoral care, and the mission of the church, spoke on the challenges of forgiveness, engaged in Morning and Evening Prayer with opening and closing Eucharists, explored Safe Church guidelines approved by the Anglican Consultative Council, and worked to equip participants with practical solutions.

“They really understood the concepts,” Blake said. “I don’t think we were persuading people who didn’t have an understanding of the importance of protecting people and responding appropriately. I think we were just equipping them with steps to implement a system. They understood the concepts of power and vulnerability and the need for pastoral care. I didn’t come in with an idea where they were at, but it was an encouraging outcome for me. … I think people were enthusiastic and wanted to learn. They wanted to go out and do something. I think this province is likely to become a model for the rest of the communion.”

He added: “Some dioceses or provinces have very little in terms of safeguarding or procedures. We did things like going about developing codes of conduct. If you’re running a youth camp, what are the practical measures to protect participants? We looked at issues surrounding pastoral care and what assisting abuse looks like. What are the key elements of a disciplinary process? It was aimed to be very practical and non-theoretical.”

Cleophas Lunga, Bishop of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, told TLC that one of the leading issues with addressing abuse in the Global South is navigating the culture of interdependence that flourishes in Africa and Asia. Victims struggle to address their experiences due to fears of disrupting the whole network of support and neighborliness they rely on heavily in daily life. People look after each other and these systems are good, but this makes it a sensitive and disruptive issue to discuss abuse,” Lunga said.

“The conference experience affected me and other attendees in that the recognition of abuse was acknowledged as a reality,” Lunga said. “It affirmed that there is a need for healthy relationships, and the desire for it has been silent as there has been a culture of silence in reporting abuses. Sharing experiences and expressing need for relationships characterized by the love of Christ will gradually transform the culture of silence in reporting abuse. We experienced that the strength of the communion is much more visible and tangible when gatherings are organized and conversations are facilitated for specific purposes. The outcomes are clear. … I am glad people feel assured that the conference would not interfere with good systems of dependence, but to point out that abuse is a reality everywhere.”

He added: “The biggest takeaway from my time at leading Safer Churches is that while the commission and its work is appreciated by many, it is by an equal measure that it is misunderstood as limiting the influence on evangelism. People find it difficult to freely give their time and energy to something voluntary but with certain conditions. What surprised me was the way the attendees embraced the presentations and only worked forward and not against. The preconceived notion by some delegates was that safeguarding is not an African concept. The surprise was in that in the flow of the discussions in which the majority were from the African continent, there was an acceptance that abuse is a reality and has to be addressed.”

The blessings were an extension of the church’s participating in Faith & Blue, a national effort to “build bridges and break biases” between police and the communities they serve.

The Rev. Melissa Congleton is the priest in charge of St. Katherine’s, which is 19 miles southeast of Lansing. She is also a police chaplain and officer at Michigan State University, and returned to school in preparing for ordained ministry. She became a priest in June 2021. She works full time as an officer and part time as a priest.

“We did our annual pet blessings and we incorporated our local police into it,” she says. “Last year, we had a police officer bring out his K-9 and this year two officers came out to our event — as we have a small police jurisdiction. It was a combination of animal blessings and blessings for local police officers. The unifying theme behind both things is that both our animals and police help us feel safe and protected, ideally. That was the motivation or idea behind the event. I came up with it.”

Congleton celebrated a regular service followed by the blessings. Pleasant fall weather allowed the church to hold the event outdoors, giving parishioners a chance to meet with on-duty officers and learn their names. The officers who were sent out to the event weren’t Episcopalians, but they appreciated the experience and Congleton’s sense of community involvement.

“It was cool,” officer Stacey Bazan said. “I can say I’ve never been to an event like that, and it was very appreciative. To be recognized in the community is a positive thing for us. And I love animals, so I enjoyed it. It was a quick event, held outdoors, and people brought their pets, cats, and dogs. There may have even been a lizard. They just blessed us quickly and afterward, we got to socialize and meet the animals. I appreciated the blessing. It was awesome and pleasant.”

“If they have it again this year, I would definitely be willing to go. It was a very enjoyable experience,” she said.

Congleton first heard of Faith & Blue through her police job and found its mission positive and worthwhile.

“Faith & Blue aims to build trust between community members and the police. I think that police departments and houses of worship are part of the leadership of any community, so it is only natural to work together to have the best community we can. We all share the same interests of living and working in the same place,” she said.

“I cannot speak for them, but I see policing has a bad rap at times, and they’re trying to work to have the police seen in a better light — but by doing it in a genuine way, by having the police get to know the community, and build trust. Policing is a two-way street. The community will call the police when they have troubles, but on the flip side of that coin, the police may benefit from community help — such as in missing person investigations.”

Congleton has seen the way the police are perceived from both inside and outside the profession. She believes that building bridges is necessary and beneficial for everyone in the community. Given the scrutiny of police in recent years over racial issues, she praises Faith & Blue for having diverse people in important leadership roles. She sees it as a group that wants to move both sides toward the common goal of improving communities.

“Nowadays, with all the media stuff, police officers aren’t always looked at in the best way,” officer Bazan said. “Events like this are very opening and appreciative, that we know the community stands behind us.”

Congleton says she is open to doing similar events in the future, and she wants to arrange community service projects and similar events with the police. This is difficult to accomplish at the moment, given that low staffing in local police departments makes it challenging for police to dedicate resources to such events.

Similar events Congleton has done in the past have shown the effectiveness of Faith & Blue’s work. She previously worked with the MSU Lutheran Student Organization at Michigan State University and hosted a stress-relief event. The event offered cider and donuts and allowed police and students to interact and talk between classes, along with interacting with police K-9s and local therapy dogs.

“The name of the game is finding what works with the community, so I’m definitely open to whatever a community needs,” she said.

The city continues to be overwhelmed, as city leaders struggle to meet the demands of a growing population of people in need of housing, help, work, food, and clothing.

Among those assisting with the integration of migrants is Brother Mike Lopez, OSB, an Episcopal monk serving at the House of Initia Nova. He created the Hungry Monk Rescue Truck in Queens, and serves migrants and homeless people at three locations in Queens: St. James, Elmhurst; St. Paul’s, Woodside; and All Saints Priory, Ridgewood. Lopez said he works to do what “the church is supposed to do.”

“We work closely with the poor and are bringing services, food, and security work to migrant families,” he said. “We also do homeless outreach and intervention, with a bed program that operates out of Episcopal and Lutheran church spaces. We’ve been pivoting lately to assist with the migrant crisis, providing resources and legal services to assist with the influx.”

Lopez is a busy man. Just before talking with TLC, he was on the phone as an interpreter for one migrant’s court case. The demand for his services is relentless, as 10 to 15 people knock on his door every day asking for help.

Lopez said his fellow monks, nuns, and migrants alike are emotionally and spiritually exhausted. For the Benedictines, this requires retreat into the prayer life between their times of working in the world.

These challenges are also the doors to opportunity. He believes that moments like these require looking outside of the monastery’s doors to engage with a needy world. He is thankful that his organizations have received support from local parishes and the larger religious community.

“We have an out-of-control situation here, in that tons of people are coming every day. The migrants keep coming to the church, and we support them the best we can. It’s been a work of God, as the entire parish community — the entire community of monks — has put themselves out there,” he said.

“We aren’t just open on Sundays anymore. We’re a seven-day operation and very forward-facing. There are a lot of suffering people here who thought they were coming for one experience and found it to be a different experience. They found that the church is the place where they can find support.”

As Br. Lopez notes, migrant men used to be able to find work and homes more easily, but now entire families are discovering that both are in short supply.

“They’re coming and they don’t understand how things work in an American context,” Lopez said. “The daily challenges are just to understand our culture, particularly New York culture, which is very unique. We’re helping assimilate them and urge them to learn English, operate within these systems, and understand they cannot discipline their children the same way here. They need to learn the style of life here and navigate the resources.”

Bishop Lawrence Provenzano of Long Island tells TLC that Monkworx, the nonprofit agency that operates the Hungry Monk Rescue Truck, “embodies Christian compassion in action, and I am profoundly grateful for their partnership in serving those who need it most in our communities. The food and shelter they provide is needed now more than ever, as we aim to uphold the dignity and well-being of every human being, regardless of legal status.”

The bishop said Episcopal churches in New York City are working to address the crisis by expanding parishes’ food pantries and taking collections for shelters across the city. He affirmed the work of the Rev. Canon Marie Tatro, the Long Island diocese’s canon for community justice ministry, in helping to found the Long Island Immigration Clinic.

The Episcopal Diocese of New York kicked off its Diocesan Emergency Asylum Seeker Support Network on January 31, discussing advocacy and response efforts in the city to assist asylum seekers.

Tyler Hummel is a freelance writer based in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

Images of the Mother of God are affecting and draw something out of the viewer about the nature of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. Among the most affecting of these images is the icon of The Virgin of the Passion, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding the hand of the infant Christ, who embraces her as he looks over his shoulder to behold an angel carrying the cross on which he will die in his eventual Passion.

This image is one of the most popular works of iconography to emerge out of Eastern Christianity, and has spread globally within the Roman Catholic and Protestant worlds as a powerful rendition of the Madonna and Child. It is also the subject of Wheaton College professor Matthew J. Milliner’s newest book, which examines the history of this icon and its growth in popularity as a political and spiritual tool among oppressed groups.

Mother of the Lamb is a fascinating work of artistic history, which has a difficult course to chart, given the density of the material. Eastern iconography is one of the most richly symbolic and loaded subjects in Christianity, and it is clear from the closing 120 pages of bibliography and additional notes that these subjects open themselves to endless rabbit holes and historical digressions. But Milliner charts a path brilliantly and paints a vibrant picture of the world this image emerged from and why it continues to be relevant.

Milliner argues that something about The Virgin of the Passion resolves a core tension at the heart of human life. The image has been used simultaneously as a work of political triumphalism and in sustenance amid violent oppression. It has been marched in front of invading armies of crusaders and painted into portable icons for those living under hostile military occupation.

It seems to emerge historically in times of deep strife, from the destruction of Constantinople by Latin Crusaders to the destruction of the Papal States and Napoleon’s occupation of Rome. It has even been embraced among displaced Native Americans and Black Catholics as a symbol of grace amid strife.

Having traveled the world and seen many of the earliest surviving examples of the icon, Milliner paints the history of the world that created these icons in striking detail. It ends up being more of a story of these cultures than of the artists, as their historical biographies are largely nonexistent, but these portraits show just how these artists were able to bear the pain of suffering by resolving the pain through the faith and depicting it in works that have survived centuries.