My siblings at Seminary of the Southwest,
I write to you today to let you know that at 8:00am ET this morning, I was 1 of 154 bishops who signed a letter that was posted on FoxNews.com to reach people across the spectrum who care about fairness, safety, and the rule of law. The concerns we bishops are raising—protecting children, ensuring safe communities, and upholding human dignity peacefully—belong to everyone, not to one political side or the other. That letter can be found here and below this message.
Our message as bishops is simple: we’re calling for peaceful, lawful ways to stand up for what’s right. Real safety comes from mutual respect, courage, and moral accountability. By sharing this message, where many independent and centrist readers turn for news, we’re inviting reflection, rather than argument.
As a seminary in Texas with strong and meaningful ties to Latinx communities, we see each day the effect these immigration enforcement efforts have on our neighbors, our friends, and ourselves. These are trying times for our entire nation.
We’re praying for everyone affected—essential workers, law enforcement officers, immigrant families, and local communities—because we’re all in this together.
Our Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe posted his own message last week which you can find here.
These are complex times in a complex world — but the simple truth is that we are bound by our love of Jesus to speak the truth in love. The letter from the bishops is one that is rooted in the recent senseless deaths in Minnesota, but more deaths, more separations, more unlawful detainments have been made. Our letter is one point in time, but the time has come for our voices to be raised.
A message to our fellow Americans
We, the undersigned bishops of The Episcopal Church, write today out of grief, righteous anger, and steadfast hope.
What happened a week ago in Minnesota and is happening in communities across the country runs counter to God’s vision of justice and peace. This crisis is about more than one city or state—it’s about who we are as a nation. The question before us is simple and urgent: Whose dignity matters?
In the wake of the tragic deaths of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, we join Minnesotans and people across the nation in mourning two precious lives lost to state-sanctioned violence. We grieve with their families, their friends, and everyone harmed by the government’s policies. When fear becomes policy, everyone suffers.
We call on Americans to trust their moral compass—and to question rhetoric that trades in fear rather than the truth. As Episcopalians, our moral compass is rooted firmly in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is what we know. Women were shoved to the ground, children torn from their families, and citizens silenced and demeaned for exercising their constitutional rights. These actions sow fear, cast doubt, and wear us down with endless noise.
We cannot presume to speak for everyone or prescribe only one way to respond. For our part, we can only do as Jesus’ teaching shows us.
A Call for Action
This is a moment for action. We call on people of faith to stand by your values and act as your conscience demands.
We urge the immediate suspension of ICE and Border Patrol operations in Minnesota and in any community where enforcement has eroded public trust. Because the rule of law is weakened, not strengthened, when power is exercised without restraint.
We also call for transparent, independent investigations of the people killed—investigations centered on truth, not politics. Justice cannot wait, and accountability is essential to healing.
We call on the elected officials of our nation to remember the values that we share, including the rule of law. Rooted in our Constitution, it ensures that law—not the
arbitrary will of individuals—governs us all, protecting individual rights, ensuring fairness, and maintaining stability.
A Shared Commitment
Every act of courage matters. We must keep showing up for one another. We are bound together because we are all made in the image of God. This begins with small, faithful steps.
As bishops in the Episcopal Church, we promise to keep showing up—to pray, to speak, and to stand with every person working to make our communities just, safe, and whole. We are committed to making our communities safer and more compassionate:
So children can walk to school without fear.
So families can shop, work, and worship freely.
So we recognize the dignity of every neighbor—immigrant communities, military families, law enforcement officers, nurses, teachers, and essential workers alike.
You may feel powerless, angry, or heartbroken right now. Know that you’re not alone. Each of us has real power: community power, financial power, political power, and knowledge power. We can show up for our neighbors, support small businesses and food banks, contact elected officials and vote, and learn our rights so we can speak up peacefully without fear.
Choosing Hope
The question before us is simple and urgent: Whose dignity matters? Our faith gives a clear answer: everyone’s.
Safety built on fear is an illusion. True safety comes when we replace fear with compassion, violence with justice, and unchecked power with accountability. That’s the vision our faith calls us to live out—and the promise our country is meant to uphold.
In the face of fear, we choose hope.
By the grace of God, may this season of grief become a season of renewal. May courage rise from lament, and love take root in every heart.
