skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, June 16, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

American Bar Association sues Trump administration over executive orders targeting law firms; Florida universities face budget scrutiny as part of 'anti-woke' push; After Hortman assassination, MN civic trainers dig deeper for bipartisanship.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Political tensions rise after Minnesota assassinations. Trump's DOJ demands sweeping election data from Colorado. Advocates mark LGBTQIA+ pay inequity, and U.S. and U.K. reach a new trade deal.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

EV charging stations are harder to find in rural America, improving the mental health of children and teachers is the goal of a new partnership in seven rural states, and a once segregated Mississippi movie theater is born again.

Maine's Episcopal Bishop Decries Trump D.C. Church Appearance

play audio
Play

Wednesday, June 3, 2020   

PORTLAND, Maine -- New England's Episcopal bishops unanimously are calling out President Donald Trump's appearance in front of St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Monday as "disgraceful and morally repugnant."

In an unprecedented move, they released a statement on Tuesday, also condemning law enforcement use of force and tear gas to clear a path for the president through peaceful demonstrators.

New England bishops wrote that the real injustice is the continued oppression of and violence against people of color in the United States.

Bishop Thomas Brown of the Maine Episcopal Church echoed the need for healing.

"The real concern here is addressing the inequality and the pain that people throughout this land have been trying to say and have been wanting us to address," he said. "So, we who are white, we who have authority and privilege -- we need to be listening, and we need to be bringing people together."

The protest was in response to the police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The Episcopal bishops of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont signed the letter. Trump's display of the Bible in front of the church, without quoting Scripture, also disturbed them.

Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the New Hampshire Episcopal Church, who drafted the statement, said he feels the church was trespassed upon.

"The blatant use of religious symbols merely to exploit the backdrop and the symbols of our faith -- a Bible, a religious setting - in order to say, 'I have the church behind me,' and he certainly does not have the Episcopal Church behind him in this," Hirschfeld said.

Hirschfeld stressed that the Episcopal Church has congregants from all political backgrounds. He described church leaders in New England and around the country as "united" in objecting to the presidential photo opportunity at St. John's.

More information is online at episcopalnewsservice.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Griot Arts, a nonprofit in Clarksdale, Mississippi, plans to turn 32,000 square feet of vacant downtown property into a vibrant arts and cultural center.

Social Issues

play sound

By Susannah Broun for The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Trimmel Gomes for Mississippi News Connection for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Col…


Environment

play sound

By Seth Millstein for Sentient.Broadcast version by Chrystal Blair for Missouri News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaborat…

Environment

play sound

By Jessica Scott-Reid for Sentient.Broadcast version by Terri Dee for Ohio News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboratio…


Environment

play sound

Arkansas lawmakers passed several bills during this year's legislative session to upgrade and improve the state's water and wastewater systems…

Jewish communities have fasted for centuries in times of collective mourning and catastrophe. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Local Jewish advocates for Palestinians are joining forces to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They are calling on the U.S…

Social Issues

play sound

Washington's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has revised its public school discipline policies, and advocates for children said …

Social Issues

play sound

With school out for summer vacation, maintaining healthy sleep habits can be a challenge for parents and children. Longer daylight hours and …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021