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John Shelby Spong, an Episcopal bishop and a best-selling author known for his progressive theology and his support of LGBTQ clergy, has died. He was 90.

Spong made headlines as bishop of the Diocese of Newark, where he served for more than two dec­ades and in 1989 or­dained the first openly gay male priest in the Episcopal Church. He also championed female clergy, requiring churches in his diocese to include at least one female candidate in each search process.

Mona Lisa Saloy, an English professor at the historically Black, United Methodist and United Church of Christ affiliated Dillard University, has been named poet laureate for the state of Louisiana.

Saloy, whose poetry is about contemporary Creole culture in New Orleans, is also a folklorist who studies the importance

of play through sidewalk songs, jump rope rhymes, and hand-clapping games. Her work has been published in academic and literary journals, including Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, Afri­can American Review, and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal.

Two revered figures of the Polish Catholic Church were beatified on September 12—a cardinal who led the Polish church’s re­sistance to communism and a blind nun who devoted her life to helping others who couldn’t see.

In a time of growing secularization and societal divisions, the celebration of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Mother Elżbieta Róża Czacka was a reminder of the moral authority and the unifying power the church once held over Poland.

A nationalist Buddhist monk in Myan­mar notorious for anti-Muslim remarks was freed from prison on September 6 after charges that he tried to stir up disaffection against the country’s previous civilian government were dropped.

The monk, Wirathu, became prominent in 2012 after deadly riots broke out between Buddhists and ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine. He founded a nationalist group accused of inciting violence against Muslims.

Terumi Echols, a former publisher of Christianity Today, has been named presi­dent and publisher of InterVarsity Press. Most recently, Echols served as the publishing house’s director of finance and fulfilment operations.

As head of IVP, Echols will oversee the launch of five initiatives: the IVP Kids imprint; Every Voice Now, a project to amplify voices of color within publishing; a new podcast; a digital learning platform for seminaries; and the IVP Signature Collection, special editions of some of the most popular books in IVP’s 75-year history.

Thomas McKenzie, the rector of a prominent Anglican Church in North America congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, and his eldest child, Charlie, were killed in a car crash on August 23.

Thomas was 50. Charlie McKenzie, who had recently changed their legal name, was 22.

The two were headed to Texas, the first stop on a trip to New Mexico, when their car collided with a tractor trailer at about 9:50 a.m., according to a local news report.

Thomas, the longtime pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, was on the first day of a sabbatical from the church.

Karen Mosby has been promoted to dean of student life at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Semi­nary. Since 2019, she has served as the seminary’s student chaplain, a role she will continue.

Mosby is an or­dained Baptist minister, and she holds both a doctor of ministry and a master of divinity degrees from Garrett. She is currently a PhD candidate at the seminary, researching the intersections of religious education, pop culture, and womanist hermeneutics, with a particular focus on the prophetic witness of Black millennials in the US.

Nadia Bolz-Weber was installed on August 20 as the first pastor of public witness in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She was called to the role of pastor of public witness by the ELCA’s Rocky Mountain Synod.

Bolz-Weber, who has often attracted controversy, is perhaps best known for her New York Times best-selling books, including Shameless: A Sexual Reforma­tion and Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint, the prayer- and profanity-filled memoir of her journey from alcoholic stand-up comic to Lutheran pastor.