WCC news: WCC tells COP17 that land restoration needs faith partners

Mongolia is hosting the UN Convention to Combat Desertification for the first time, with nearly 77 percent of its land already degraded. Its theme is "Restoring Land, Restoring Hope." A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation is in Ulaanbaatar for the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17). Photo:  COP17 26 August 2026 "We have still too much land degradation all over the world, from Africa to, yes, North America, Turtle Island, even in the United States . . . We are finding new science, but also newer and deeper theological perspectives to help us move toward solving these challenges," said Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, WCC president from North America, part of the delegation in Mongolia. On 22 August, the WCC joined an official COP17 side event, "Restoring Land, Restoring Hope: Faith Communities as Partners in Land Restoration," held with the G20 Global Land Initiative. Dinesh Suna, WCC programme executive for Land, Water, and Food, argued that advocacy on land restoration has to rest on evidence. Governments have committed, through the G20 Global Land Initiative, to halving the world's degraded land, affecting 3.2 billion people, by 2040. WCC delegates at COP17. Among them (second from the right), Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, WCC president from North America. Photo: Dinesh Suna/WCC Suna presented the Living Planet Monitor, the WCC publication that sets land, water, and food indicators by region and highlights what churches and communities are doing. Volume one appeared in November 2024. The second covers north, west, and central Africa. The third, launched in February 2026, turns to South Asia. That evening, about a hundred people gathered at the Khuree Maidar Temple for an interfaith Talanoa Dialogue, the Pacific practice of listening built on three questions. The WCC joined the Mongolian Buddhist community and the Brahma Kumaris. Groups worked through them: where we are now, where we want to go, and how we get there. The organizing team is compiling the outcomes. Dinesh Suna presenting the Living Planet monitor at COP17 side event. Photo: WCC WCC representatives remain in Ulaanbaatar until COP17 closes on 28 August. It is the first of three UN conventions meeting this year: biodiversity, also a COP17, in Yerevan, Armenia, in October, and climate COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, in November. All three fall within the Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action (2025–2034) advocacy activities.  WCC at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP17 WCC advocates faith-based solutions for land restoration at the Desertification COP16 WCC launches Living Planet Monitor 3 on South Asia at ICARRD+20 Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland

Truth and Action Roundup 8.28.2026

View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it. Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This year, the occasion is being marked by a march led by a coalition of religious leaders to defend the vote and renew the push for full equality throughout the country. This year’s march is both commemoration and protest as we face the specter of a loss in Black representation unseen since the end of Reconstruction.   This attack on Black representation in Congress comes as Black professors and students are being removed from university campuses, with programs and departments built over decades being unceremoniously closed. It comes amid reversals of criminal legal policies designed to lessen the racial disparity in arrests, prisons, and jails, and as Black communities are once again subject to industrial pollution and disinvestment that makes the very homes they live in sites of harm.   Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech from the original march is often cited as an American ideal. However, as we witness the wholesale reversal of the gains of the Civil Rights movement in government, education, health care, and the environment, we must be critical in assessing the sincerity of the citations. As Christians, we must recognize these actions as false to both our biblical creed of Imago Dei, honoring the image of God recognizable in all of us, and the constitutional creed that we are all created equal, which King was appealing to with his words. As we see those in power continue to target Black and other marginalized communities in this moment, we must be clear-eyed and prophetic in rejecting these empty proclamations of faith. In the News The Trump administration’s deportation regime continued its cruel work, sometimes in defiance of laws and courts: In the first 15 months following President Donald Trump’s return to office, local officials from at least 75 agencies across Illinois fed information to federal immigration agents, sometimes in apparent violation of state law. In more than a third of Illinois counties, at least one police department, sheriff’s office, or state’s attorney’s office collaborated with federal agents. A federal judge will hold a hearing next month to determine why the Trump administration should not be held in contempt after barring them from entering places of worship. Court filings revealed that undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers spied on people attending church meetings and ran license plate numbers of worshippers’ cars, part of a surveillance campaign, dubbed “Operation Puppet Master,” that began after federal agents fatally shot two people in Minneapolis earlier this year. A beloved Haitian pastor and community leader in Springfield, Ohio, was detained by ICE on August 20. Advocates called Pastor Gilbert Joubert Adrien’s detention “a profound wound” to the embattled Haitian community. Pastor Carl Ruby said Adrien “left Haiti because his life was in danger, served Christ and his congregation faithfully,” and that his arrest shows how far ICE will go to intimidate peaceful immigrants who came here legally. All US immigrant visa applications have been paused by the Trump administration as the State Department tightens restrictions as part of a broader crackdown on both lawful and undocumented immigration. This week, the administration also announced plans to revoke visas from asylum seekers who initially entered the country for tourism or business. Up to 200,000 people currently seeking asylum could be affected, marking what would be the largest mass revocation of visas in U.S. history. Election season is heating up, with primaries in South Carolina and Alaska, as well as November’s general election coming ever closer: Democratic nominee for congressional delegate Robert White has launched a new political project, Defend DC. The initiative aims to help elect strong advocates for home rule and statehood by deploying D.C. residents to door-knock in places like Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, where congressional races could help determine control of the House of Representatives. Defend DC launched with nearly a dozen coalition partners, including the D.C. Democratic Party, the D.C. chapter of the NAACP, the D.C. Latino Caucus, statehood advocacy group Free DC, and other local political and civic groups. The Supreme Court opened a path Monday for possible implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, ruling that the states which sued lacked standing rather than deciding whether the order itself is lawful. It remains unclear how much can be put in place before the fast-approaching midterm elections, and the decision leaves room for additional court challenges that could further slow the order. Indeed, two dozen states and the District of Columbia filed a fresh lawsuit on Wednesday against the U.S. Postal Service to block it from implementing the order. Dan Sullivan supports Dan Sullivan against Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s US Senate election, says a former Anchorage mayor who recently backed the race’s Republican incumbent over a challenger sharing his name. That development provided another of multiple absurd elements to Dan S. Sullivan’s campaign for a third term in the U.S. Senate, which – besides Mary Peltola, a former Alaska Democratic congresswoman – drew opposition from Dan J. Sullivan. Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to serve the remainder of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s term, defeated Rep. Ralph Norman in a South Carolina Republican Senate primary. Graham was endorsed by Donald Trump and won the primary runoff over Norman, despite a debate flub, by nearly 5 percentage points. The Trump administration’s decisions continued to reverberate for families around the country and their ability to make ends meet. President Donald Trump lashed out again at Canada a day after America’s northern neighbor unveiled retaliatory tariffs to escalate the trade war he started months ago. The president complained about “unbelievable” tariffs Canada has long imposed on certain American dairy products, in a regime similar to what the United States does with imported beef, and bragged about how he has upended the relationship between Washington and Ottawa with his trade war. Trump’s approval rating is just 33% according to The Hill, and disapproval has climbed to 65%. Trump announced Friday that his administration would temporarily lift tariffs on up to 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef. House and Senate Republicans criticized the decision, with lawmakers from agricultural states decrying the impact Trump’s decision will have on farmers and ranchers. Major cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are taking effect as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law last year. In California alone, an estimated 650,000 people are at risk of losing food assistance benefits, leading local food banks, which have already been serving clients in record numbers since the pandemic, to brace for further impact. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to hover north of $4 per gallon, more than a dollar per gallon higher than before the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran. Take Action • BAJI is hosting a day of action for the Stop Taking Our People campaign tomorrow. • Freedom Summer is holding revivals across the country in response to the ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. What We’re Reading “Catherine Meeks Says Christians Need Solidarity, Not Racial Reconciliation” | “But you’ve got to get out of the head swimming and get focused or else you’ll spend forever with white supremacy ruling.” (By Evana Upshaw) “Dolly Parton Gave Me The Courage To Outgrow My Faith Community” | “…whenever I hear “Jolene” or “9 to 5,” what I’ll remember of Dolly Parton is that she went through life being unapologetically herself and making it less scary for all of us to do the same.” (By Ryan McQuade)   Deep Breaths Black August: We Do Language Award-winning opinion columnist Karen Attiah, who was wrongly fired from The Washington Post in September 2025 following the killing of Charlie Kirk, has won an arbitration ruling that the Post violated her rights as a union-protected employee. The independent arbitrator ordered the newspaper to reinstate her and compensate her for lost wages and benefits, finding the Post lacked "good and sufficient cause" to terminate her and had failed to establish "gross misconduct.” Attiah was fired over social media posts she made about political violence, race and America's response to gun deaths in the wake of Kirk's assassination. At the time, she was the last Black full-time member of the Post's opinion desk. I am lifting up her persistence in a world where thousands upon thousands of Black women have been targeted in this anti-DEI reality — a world where journalists are under attack for telling the truth, and where the First Amendment is under siege. Ancestor Toni Morrison reminded us that now is not the time for artists to be quiet or fearful. We need art — writing, journalism, music, painting. She wrote: "This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom. Like art." Our democracy depends upon the press, writers, artists and musicians to present truth as an alternative to the authoritarian forces that threaten our existence. Please take a moment to listen to her say more about the necessity for artists to create. –Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Director of Programs The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff: President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps Political Director: Chad V. Stanton Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris Education and Engagement Program Manager: Cortnie Brooks Donate Subscribe Unsubscribe or update email preferences Copyright © 2026 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842

EarthBeat Weekly: Mass for care of creation ready to debut in US churches

Mass for care of creation ready to debut in US churches   EarthBeat Weekly Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change August 28, 2026   Pope Leo XIV leads the Mass for the Care of Creation, in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 9, 2025. (Pool Via AP/Yara Nardi) The start of September marks the beginning of the Season of Creation, a monthlong period when Christians offer prayers for God's creation while pursuing actions to preserve it.  In the years I've reported on this ecumenical observation, I have learned about Catholic parishes and communities finding different ways to incorporate ecological themes into liturgies and prayer services. Now, they have a new option. As I reported Thursday at EarthBeat, the Vatican earlier this month finalized English and Spanish translations of the new Mass for the care of creation that the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments added to the Roman missal last year.  The set of texts, known as a formulary, provides creation-themed prayers and suggests readings for the Liturgy of the Word, including passages from Matthew's Gospel where Jesus calms the sea and where he instructs his disciples to learn from the birds in the air and flowers in the field to trust in God's providence. Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Mass for the care of creation last summer outdoors amid the gardens of the Borgo Laudato Si' ecology project in Castel Gandolfo.  With the translations now approved by the U.S. bishops, churches in America can now do the same.  Preparations are under way already for the creation care formulary to be used in the Seattle and St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdioceses, among other places.  Jesuit Fr. James Hug, who for years has developed liturgical resources for the Season of Creation, called the inclusion of the Mass for the care of creation in the Roman Missal a major step. "It's official, and that makes it legitimate to use," he told me. And that Vatican stamp of approval means a lot, he added, for the many priests who have hesitated to use other creation-centered liturgical resources in the past.  Corinna Laughlin, a consultant for the Seattle Archdiocese's liturgy office, agreed, telling me "It says that this is the concern of the whole church." Both suggested that the new Mass formulary holds the potential to expand awareness of church teaching on the environment, and with it, cultivate the ecological conversion Leo and others have said is essential to spur the level of collective action needed to address crises like climate change, biodiversity loss and deforestation. "What we lift up at Mass really shapes our understanding of what church teaching is, even without going to other documents," Laughlin said. " ... It tells us this is part of what we believe. This is significant enough and substantial enough that this is part of the Mass." Read more: Mass for care of creation ready for US churches after Vatican finalizes translations What else is new on EarthBeat:   Desperate after earthquake, Colombia nuns turn to social media to ask for help by Rhina Guidos After a deadly earthquake left convents and ministry in ruins, women religious in Colombia make pleas for aid on social media. Read more here »   Faithful across Honolulu Diocese rally after devastating hurricane by Lisa Dahm / Hawaii Catholic Herald As Hurricane Lala barreled across the Hawaiian Islands Aug. 15-16, several Catholic organizations kept close watch over one of the hardest-hit areas — Hawaii Island's Kau district, home to Sacred Heart Church in Naalehu and Holy Rosary Church in Pahala. Read more here »   Venezuelan archbishop says hope endures as church rebuilds from catastrophic quakes by Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News One priest told Valencia's archbishop: "We cannot go rescue people; we do not have the machinery, and we do not know how to rescue those who might be under the rubble. But we can, and we do know how to console people." Read more here » What's happening in other climate news: A new Colorado River plan is here — and Arizona will take the biggest water cuts —Alex Hager for Arizona Public Media At least 35,000 excess deaths recorded in Europe's back-to-back heatwaves —Jon Henley for the Guardian Clean air policies help kids breathe and think better —Keerti Gopal for Inside Climate News Big Tech's data centre boom poised to drive up carbon emissions —Alexandra White and Nolan Shaffer for the Financial Times E.P.A. moves to curb public input on data centers —Maxine Joselow for The New York Times MAHA moms take on coal —David Gelles for The New York Times Solar and wind continue to push coal off the West's grid —Jonathan Thompson for High Country News Leaked memo shows how U.S. aims to weaken global limits on plastic production —Conor McGlone, Jake Spring, Emma Bryce and Benard Ogembo for the Washington Post Final Beat: At the top of today's newsletter, I recapped my report on the Mass for the care of creation being available for use in U.S. churches.  Is your parish, diocese, religious order or congregation planning to celebrate the new formulary for creation during the Season of Creation? Or at another time on the liturgical calendar?  Let me know by dropping a note at broewe@ncronline.org.  As always, thanks for reading EarthBeat.   Brian Roewe Environment Correspondent National Catholic Reporter broewe@ncronline.org     Featured Advertisers   Looking to Hire? Offering Retreats? Selling Books? Place an Ad in NCR's Online Classified Section for Only $75 per Month!   Advertisement

SojoMail - Dolly Parton gave me the courage to say goodbye

View this email in your browser By Betsy Shirley Editor in Chief, Sojourners This week, we lost the queen of country music: Dolly Parton died on Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer. Even before her death, the 10-time Grammy winner and philanthropist was called “Saint Dolly.” She was an unusual sort of saint: With folksy charm and sparkly outfits, she talked about her belief in God and love for everyone. She created a program for children’s literacy, spoke up for LGBTQ+ rights, and donated generously to fund disaster relief, healthcare, rural development, and—during a critical moment in COVID-19 pandemic—the Moderna vaccine. But before we had that Dolly, she was just the “girl singer” on The Porter Wagoner Show at The Grand Old Opry. In many ways, it was her big break, writes Nashville resident (and Sojourners multimedia graphic designer) Ryan McQuade. Yet as Parton’s voice grew, her musical partnership with Wagoner started to chafe. Wagoner became aggressive; Parton knew something needed to change, but struggled to leave. Many of us who’ve left churches or faith communities that raised us know the feeling. For Ryan, Parton’s dynamic mirrored his struggle to leave his dream job at a Catholic ministry—a place he’d dreamed about working since high school, but where he never felt fully himself as a gay man. And despite feeling constrained, it was hard to let go of “the version of myself I had dreamed of becoming since high school.” “Life rarely gives us a clean break,” writes Ryan. “The threads we tie with other people can take years to untangle.” Elsewhere this week: Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a Haitian pastor and a visiting U.S. delegation hosted by a liberation theology group was denied entry to Israel. In a new twist on religious accommodation law, a statistical scientist is suing his employer for violating his religious right to climate care. The next time you’re about to dismiss something you suspect is an internet bot, here’s a parable for you. And for culture columnist Cassidy Klein, August is a month of spiders, thunderstorms, and the genre-defying work of Clarice Lispector. Dolly Parton Gave Me the Courage to Outgrow My Faith Community (by Ryan McQuade) Dolly fought for her freedom and success. Once she had it, she passed it on to others. Read the full article Advertisement Community Notes What’s a Dolly Parton song that is meaningful to you? Let us know by hitting ‘reply’ — we read everything you send to us, and you may even see your answers appear in next week’s SojoMail. Some Sojourners staff favorites: “Joshua,” “World on Fire,” and “Jolene.” Our Latest Stories He’s Suing His Employer for Violating His Religious Right to Climate Care (by Rebecca Randall) Through ClientEarth, a statistical scientist is suing Thermo Fisher, arguing the company's lack of fossil-fuel free retirement plans forces him to compromise his religious values. Read more Israel Denies Entry to Delegation With Palestinian Liberation Theology Center (by Sam Hsiaomei Lee) Sabeel had successfully brought more than 450 people to the Holy Land in the last three years, before a delegation of 13 American citizens were denied entry earlier this month. Read more The Parable of the Internet Bots (by Brandon Taylor) In an age of internet misinformation, Jesus’ parable about the weeds among the wheat offers our culture an important lesson in how to press toward face-to-face interactions that will make neighborliness possible again. Read more ICE Detains ‘Beloved’ Haitian Pastor in Ohio (Gillian Stawiszynski, Cincinnati Enquirer) “If he is being deported, the congregation will be here terrified and without their leader,” Haitian Support Center director Vilés Dorsainvil said. Read more From the Magazine: What Clarice Lispector Taught Me About Freedom (by Cassidy Klein) Recognize the voice that says: “Do not be afraid; I am with you always.” Read more From the Magazine: Reckoning With the Youth Groups That Raised Us (by Tyler Huckabee) At youth group, we were meant to live for so much more. But we lost ourselves. Read more Advertisements Justice is God's Righteousness in Action Justice and righteousness were never meant to be torn apart. In What Hath Justice to Do with Righteousness?, Pastor Charlie Dates calls the church to unite prayer and protest and confront injustice on holy, biblical ground. Rest that Your Soul Has Been Craving The new book Light for the Way brings together 50 years of wisdom from Sojourners magazine on how contemplation, rest, and community fuel justice work. With voices like Julia Alvarez, Walter Brueggemann, and Richard Rohr, this is your guide to sustaining prophetic resistance. Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2026 Sojourners. All rights reserved. 611 Pennsylvania Ave SE #342, Washington, DC 20003 Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842