“First, we must mourn, and comfort, and pray. Then, tomorrow, we begin the work to change our world.” — California-Pacific Conference Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, in a statement following the attack at a Monterey Park, California, dance studio after Lunar New Year festivities.
Church responds to days of mass shootings
PASADENA, Calif. (UM News) — United Methodists are responding with prayer, comfort for the grieving and renewed calls for advocacy against gun violence after a wave of mass shootings from California to Louisiana to Iowa. United Methodists are especially expressing solidarity with Asian American communities left mourning by two of the attacks in recent days. Heather Hahn reports.
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NEWS AND FEATURES
Holston Conference
Accessibility audit can boost church hospitality
BELSPRING, Va. — A Holston Conference group is encouraging fellow United Methodists to take an accessibility audit to determine if their churches are unintentionally shutting the doors to the one in four Americans with disabilities. Annette Spence reports.
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East Ohio Conference
Grant will help preserve historic church
CLEVELAND — Cory United Methodist Church has been awarded a $150,000 grant to preserve its building, which played an important part in the civil rights movement. The grant comes from Lilly Endowment and the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Malcolm X all spoke at Cory. Brett Hetherington has the story.
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PRESS RELEASES
Church and Society
Faith leaders denounce potential asylum ban
WASHINGTON — The United Methodist Board of Church and Society has joined 164 other faith-based organizations as a signatory to a letter denouncing the Biden administration’s plans to potentially create a new asylum ban through the federal rule-making process. The letter urges the administration not to issue the forthcoming Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and instead “work vigorously … to ensure that people seeking safety have access to a fair, dignified and efficient asylum process.”
Read press release
Read letter
MARCHA, California-Nevada Conference
Caucus leaders call for bishop’s reinstatement
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Leaders of ethnic caucuses in the California-Nevada Conference have issued an open letter calling for an immediate end to the suspension of Bishop Minerva Carcaño. “We strongly believe that the fair process has been violated,” the letter said. The bishop was suspended in March last year while under complaint, and that suspension has continued during the confidential complaint process. The conference episcopacy committee also has put together a summary of the process involving the bishop.
Read letter on Facebook
Read conference summary
Global Ministries
Grants will continue support for Ukrainians
ATLANTA — Citizens of Ukraine will receive emergency food aid, mental health support and temporary housing through $2.5 million in grants from the United Methodist Committee on Relief to International Orthodox Christian Charities. Aid also will be directed to assist refugees in Romania and the more than 1.2 million who have chosen to remain in Poland.
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COMMENTARIES
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not UM News staff.
Alabama-West Florida Conference
Even in the darkest times, Christ is with us
SELMA, Ala. — While surveying recovery efforts following a tornado in Selma, the Rev. Chris Ackerman, disaster response coordinator for the Alabama-West Florida Conference, was struck by the volunteer teams working alongside survivors of the storm. Everywhere he looked, he writes, he saw Christ at work in others.
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