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John Swinton, one of Scotland’s most influential theologians, will become one of the Queen of England’s royal chap­lains. Swinton, who was a nurse for 16 years, is currently the chair of divinity and religious studies at the University of Aberdeen, where he has worked to develop a theology of disability.

In a statement, Swinton joked that because, historically, some of the royal chaplains were singers who traveled with the monarch, he—a singer and songwriter—could perhaps revive that aspect of the position.

On May 17, Shuly Rubin Schwartz was officially inaugurated as the first female chancellor of Jewish Theo­logical Semi­nary, the flagship school of Conserva­tive Ju­da­ism. Schwartz, a scholar of American Jewish history, technically began the role in July 2020. However, the inauguration ceremony was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bishop Vashti Mc­Kenzie has been named interim president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches, the ecumenical orga­ni­zation announced on May 10.

McKenzie succeeds Jim Winkler, who left the post on January 31 after serving in the role since 2013. She is expected to serve a two-year term.

Scholar and theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether died on May 21 following a long illness. She was 85. Ruether, a Catholic, is widely considered to be one of the founding mothers of Christian feminist theology.

In a statement announcing Ruether’s death, Mary Hunt, codirector of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, said Ruether’s legacy was “rich beyond imagining,” noting her work in helping to develop ecofeminist and liberation theologies, her antiracism work, and her concern for peace in the Middle East.

The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland took a historic step on May 7, as Presiding Bishop Jerzy Samiec ordained nine women to the priesthood at a service in Warsaw’s Holy Trinity Church. The event marked a concluding milestone in the discussion about women’s ordination which has been ongoing in Poland’s largest Protestant church for decades.

Fearing the Monastery of the Angels could be sold for private use or redevelopment, Los Angeles preservationists and advocates are forming a nonprofit as they seek to acquire and take responsibility for the beloved Hollywood home to cloistered Dominican nuns.

Over the years, the community has been dwindling as the nuns have aged and some have died from COVID-19 and other causes, making it difficult to sustain the monastery’s way of life. The Domini­cans have devoted themselves to studying scripture and to praying for those who come to them for guidance and penance.

Months after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine, some displaced African students determined to continue their education are finding it difficult to gain residence permits in Germany.

This is happening against the backdrop of many European countries—particularly those closest to Ukraine geographically—demonstrating unprecedented hospitality in welcoming millions of refugees.

When Cherin Marie joined Christ Our Light Anglican Church in 2013, she couldn’t imagine filing a lawsuit against the close-knit Anglican Church in North America church plant in Big Rock, Illinois, which many of her relatives attended. But three years after her then nine-year-old daughter first said she was sexually abused by Mark Rivera, a lay minister at the church, Cherin feels she has no other option.

The man authorities say opened fire in a Buffalo grocery store on May 14, killing ten Black shoppers, was an avowed White supremacist. But his agenda went far beyond Black people.

In the 180-page manifesto posted online two days before he carried out his attack, the 18-year-old gunman wrote that he chose the Tops Friendly Market on Buffalo’s East Side because it is in an area with many Black residents. Eleven of the 13 people shot there were Black, law enforcement officials said, including all ten who were killed.

With the news of 19 children and two others killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, religious leaders from across the spectrum express their sorrow, with many saying now is the time for a new approach to gun control.
 

Pope Francis