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From the Bishop

From Bishop Sean: Support Our New Leaders

Dear Friends, Across our diocesan partnership, God is calling new leaders to lead congregations, foster innovation, and inspire collaboration. As 2023 draws to a close, I invite you to join me in supporting them with a year-end gift to the Bishop’s Appeal for Theological Education. In today’s church, we prepare new priests and deacons in many…

A Christmas Message from Bishop Sean

Manger scenes are everywhere this time of year. At home, at church, at Target and on Etsy —everywhere we turn we find a model of a stable, with figurines of barnyard animals propped up right next to shepherds, a pair of adoring parents, and a tiny baby who is … God. Christmas mangers are inspired…

Presiding Bishop Visit Canceled: A Letter from Bishop Sean

Dear People of God: Earlier this afternoon, we learned that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is hospitalized in Raleigh and has undergone surgery for a subdural hematoma. Please join me in praying for his recovery: Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your sick servant, Michael, and give your power of healing to…

Sharing What We Have: Bishop Sean’s 2023 Convention Address

Bishop Sean’s annual address, delivered during the joint conventions of the Episcopal Dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania at the Bayfront Convention Center on October 20, 2023, used the story of the feeding of the 5000 to describe the work of the partnership dioceses in the past year.

A Letter From Bishop Sean

Dear People of God: I have difficult news to share with you. Earlier today, I learned that the Rev. Allen Farabee, former dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Buffalo and a longtime priest of our diocese, has been arrested on charges that he exposed himself a number of times over two days while swimming at…

We Are On The Other Side: Bishop Sean’s Trinity Sunday Sermon

On Trinity Sunday, Bishop Sean preached at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Erie and explained the Trinity using a 15th-century icon. “Notice that there is a fourth place at that table. That fourth place is for you,” he said. “It is for us. We are invited into that conversation of love.” Watch his sermon on YouTube.

In Memoriam: Paul Nelson

Dear Friends in Christ, With sadness, I am writing to share the news that Paul Nelson, a member of St. Mark’s, Erie and previously St. Stephen’s, Fairview; former treasurer of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania; and 2017 Bishop’s Cross recipient, died yesterday after a short illness. He was 89. You can read Paul’s obituary written…

In Memoriam: Canon Alfred D. Price Jr.

Alfred D. Price Jr., a longtime lay leader in the Diocese of Western New York and an esteemed professor of urban and regional planning at the University at Buffalo, died on May 2 at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo after a long illness. He was 75. “His vocation as an urban planner, and his…

Unfolding Like an Action Movie: An Easter Message from Bishop Sean

Each Gospel’s recounting of the resurrection has its strengths, but if you’re looking for the action movie version, Matthew is your man. In his Easter story, the women don’t find the stone neatly rolled away from the tomb. Nothing that tame. In this story, they arrive, experience an earthquake, see an angel descend like lightning,…

A Pastoral Letter from the Pennsylvania Bishops

We, the bishops of the Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania: The Rt. Rev. Daniel G. P. Gutierrez, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania; The Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem; The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of NW Pennsylvania and Bishop Provisional of the Episcopal…