%1

Stephen Butler Murray became the executive minister of the International Council of Community Churches, an association of Protestant congregations that is one of the smallest denominations in the National Council of Churches. 

“Stephen is committed, energetic, in­telligent, and devoted to the church of Jesus Christ in its many and varied expressions,” said Richard O. Griffith, president of the ICCC board of directors. “We will be blessed by all he brings to the council and its ecumenical witness of unity without uniformity.”

A new residential college under construction at Yale University will be named for Anna Pauline Murray, a co-founder of the National Organization for Women who was the first African-American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. She is honored as a saint in the Episcopal Church every July 1.

Jackson Nasoore Ole Sapit, a tra­ditionalist Anglican bishop who nonetheless steered clear of sexuality issues, has been elected the new archbishop of Kenya and is being installed on July 3.

Ole Sapit, 52, who headed Kericho Dio­cese in western Ken­ya, will replace outgoing archbishop Eliud Wabukala and also serve as bishop of All Saints Cathedral, the national seat of the Anglican Church. Wabukala’s official retirement date was June 26.

The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri, spend their days in silence—except when they are singing sacred music.

The success of the cloistered nuns’ albums has paid for building their retreat centers and living quarters; they recently released a new album, Adoration at Ephesus.

Mother Cecilia, the prioress, said silence and prayer inspires their music.

“The voice of our Lord comes to us in whispers, so we have to be quiet so we can hear it,” she said. —Religion News Service

(The Christian Science Monitor) When Matthew Kukah first arrived as the new bishop of the Sokoto Diocese in northern Nigeria’s Muslim heartland, he received an unexpectedly warm welcome for a Christian leader.

According to Ku­kah, cultural and religious discrimination in many parts of the north can go all the way to the state governor level. But on the day of Ku­kah’s installation in 2011, the local sultan paid some of his guests’ hotel bills.

Three years ago, when Adam Plant began master of divinity studies at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity, Plant was a North Carolina woman with a desire to plumb the intersection of faith and sexuality.

By the time he received his master’s hood this spring, Plant had found acceptance and peace as a man.

“Coming out to myself was, I think, one of the hardest things I ever did,” he said. “I think I was most afraid of being wrong. What if I am crazy? What if this is wrong?”