skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

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

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

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
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

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