Office of Government Relations
Celebrate Earth Day April 22
Reconciliation is God's mission-reconciling the world to God in Christ is the way Episcopalians put it. Reconciliation means restoring God's intention for the world. It's needed in the relationships between human beings and their creator, between and among human beings, and-in ways of which we are becoming increasingly aware-between human beings and the rest of […]
Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization
This week, the U.S. Senate will begin floor consideration of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Since 1994, VAWA has been at the forefront of providing funding and services for victims and their children across the country, including in our local communities, to address sexual and domestic violence and its destructive impact […]
Lessons from South Sudan
"But what do you do to cope?" I asked my new friend, Anne, who coordinates refugee programming in Kenya and lived in the Dadaab refugee camp for several years. Anne looked up at me with a child-like grin and sparkle in her eye. "In Dadaab, we dance. Every night, we dance." I saw this same […]
Tell Congress to Help Avert Humanitarian Disaster
Your help is needed in urging the U.S. government to intervene in order to save critical funding for Al Ahli hospital, a unique healthcare institution in the Gaza Strip managed by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Last week, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) announced, without public justification, that it […]
Big Step Forward for DREAMers- Let's say thanks!
Each year it is estimated that up to 65,000 undocumented students graduate from our schools into an uncertain future. These children speak English, have grown up in our school system and often have little to no memory of or connection to their parent's country of origin. Yet rather than opening our arms to these children, our immigrations […]
Speak Out for Clean Air
In late March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new standards that would reduce harmful emissions from new power plants. Power plants are the single largest sources of carbon dioxide pollution in our country, and the new rule seeks to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants. Currently the EPA is accepting public input […]
Fighting Stigma and Investing in the End of AIDS: A framework from the Presiding Bishop
This week, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori joined with Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and activists around the United States to proudly welcome 20,000 practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and community leaders to Washington, D.C. for the biannual International AIDS Conference (IAC). Many of these visitors are living with HIV […]
Speak Out Against Gender-Based Violence
In the gospel according to Matthew, Jesus, in the course of his public ministry, raises from the dead a young girl and heals an elderly woman; the old woman the poorest of the poor, the young girl the daughter of a privileged ruler, yet both suffered and needed God's caring, healing love: "Take heart, daughter, […]
Call Today – Protect Safety for Native Women
VAWA is a landmark piece of legislation that seeks to improve the criminal justice response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. The passage of VAWA in 1994 and its subsequent reauthorizations have changed the lives of victims who once suffered in silence. VAWA is currently up for reauthorization with key provisions strengthening […]
Do you remember the woman at the well?
Do you remember the woman at the well? Reflection and Action for International Women’s Day from the ELCA Washington Advocacy Office & the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations March 8th is International Women’s Day. It is a day when women and men around the world join in solidarity to remember generations of women who […]
