Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church; Religion News Service via AP, November 19, 2024

YONAT SHIMRON , Religion News Service via AP; Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church

How do you see the church in the next four years vis-à-vis the Trump administration?

I’m gonna continue to call the church to stand with the least of these. We have for many years had a significant ministry with refugees. We’re one of 13 federal agencies that resettles refugees. We will continue that work. We want to stand with those who are seeking refuge in this country and stand on our record of success, resettling asylum-seekers and refugees. We’re Christians who support the dignity, safety and equality of women and LGBTQ people. We understand that not as a political statement but as an expression of our faith. We may disagree about immigration policy in the pews. We’re largely united about our support of people who are seeking refuge and asylum and inclusion of all people.

Has the church taken a stand on Christian nationalism?

Our House of Bishops has at least a theological report on Christian nationalism, which I think is well done. We’re after creating an inclusive, welcoming church that helps to transform the world. Christian nationalism really has no place. We will bring forth an understanding of the kingdom of God that is entirely in opposition to those ways of thinking and the values of Christian nationalism.

You yourself were once an evangelical. You went to Grove City College, a conservative evangelical school. What happened?

I attended Grove City College but I did not learn Christian nationalism there. I learned about the rule of law as a core fundamental and that’s what I don’t see in a lot of the thinking that is there now. I always struggled with a lack of an expansive or inclusive worldview that did not account for the complexity of human nature and the world around me. It felt limiting and narrow to me. I had friends who came out as LGBTQ, I traveled to see how other cultures lived and thought. As my world expanded, I came back to new understandings. I’ve gone from being an evangelical Christian, as the term is understood today, to someone who understands God as much broader and the world as much more complex than I once thought."

Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church; Religion News, October 14, 2024

  Yonat Shimron, Religion News; Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church

"The Episcopal Church’s membership dropped just below 1.6 million in 2022, down 21% from 2013. Over the past two years the decline appears to be accelerating rather than slowing, occasioning headlines such as “Episcopal Withering on the Vine,” and “The Death of the Episcopal Church is Near.”

When casting for a new leader to replace Michael Curry, the denomination’s first Black presiding bishop, Episcopalians nominated Rowe on the first ballot. Rowe had been serving as bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania, and under a novel partnership, he also served as provisional bishop of the Western New York diocese, a collaborative model now being tried in other places.

At the same General Conference in which Rowe was elected, he was tasked with developing a plan to save $3.5 million on staff over three years.

Rowe, who has a Ph.D. in organizational learning and leadership, has already talked about cutting back the church’s hierarchy and moving resources down the ladder to church ministries.

His first two weeks in office have been busy. First, Donald Trump was elected president. Rowe issued a letter saying the mission of the church — striving for justice and peace, and protecting the dignity of every human being — would continue.

Then, Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned over his handling of a child sex abuse scandal. The Episcopal Church is one of 42 autonomous churches that make up the worldwide Anglican Communion, with about 80 million members in 160 countries.

“Abuse in any form is horrific and abhorrent, and it grieves me that the church does not always live up to its ideal as a place where all of God’s children are safe,” Rowe said in a statement Tuesday. He also pledged to address any failures in safeguarding children in the Episcopal Church.

Rowe lives in Erie, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Carly, the executive director of the Cathedral of St. Paul. The couple have a 12-year-old daughter, Lauren. RNS spoke to Rowe, the youngest presiding bishop ever, about the challenges ahead. The interview was edited for length and clarity."