Ecumenical and Interreligious Report (Sept 2025 – Sept 2026)
The Rev. Dr. Daniel DeForest London
As the Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer for the diocese, my purpose is to encourage the search for the wider visible UNITY of Christ’s Church and to support collegial relationships with members of other religions. I serve as the Province 8 Coordinator for the EDEIO (Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical & Interreligious Officers), with Province 8 comprising all the dioceses west of the Rockies, including Hawaii, Taiwan, Navajoland and Micronesia. In this report, I offer an illustrative, not exhaustive, list of ecumenical & interreligious ministries by focusing on those in the diocese with which I have been personally involved or made aware as well as those in the wider Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, between September 2025 and September 2026. Please feel free to contact me at eureka.rector@gmail.com to share with me any ecumenical and interreligious ministries you would like me to highlight in future reports.
Ecumenical and Interreligious Highlights (Regional)
- In October 2025, I spoke on “The Zen of St. Francis” at Ensō Village, a Zen-inspired Retirement Community in Healdsburg CA. I also celebrated Eucharist in the community’s Zendo. My presentation was later published in the Appendix of the book Francis of Assisi and Related Writings by Hermann Hesse (2026).
- In January 2026, in celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the North State Ecumenical Conference hosted a panel discussion on Christian unity, followed by an ecumenical worship service at Pioneer Congregational Church in Sacramento. The theme for the week was “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope – Ephesians 4:4.”
- In February 2026, Bishop Megan wrote a letter to the Buddhist Church of Sacramento, expressing solidarity with the community after they were the target of an act of hatred and vandalism. “Please know that we hold you in our prayers,” she wrote, “and that we are ready to offer whatever support would be most helpful in the days ahead. You are not alone.”
- In March 2026, I went on a pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy to visit the remains of St. Francis, to spend time with Catholic priest Francis V. Tiso and Fr. Richard of St. James Episcopal Church in Florence Italy (where I guest preached), and to celebrate the Jubilee Year of St. Francis with thousands of other Christians from around the world.
- In mid-April 2026, I spoke on Spiritual Friendship and Cistercian spirituality at the monthly “What Moves You?” event (hosted by the Rev. Sally Hubbell of St. Paul’s Healdsburg) in the 222’s Moss Sculpture Garden, with Episcopalians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, agnostics, Jews, etc.
- In mid-to-late April, my parish teamed up with the local United Methodist Church to co-sponsor a professor from BIOLA to speak at The Town Church on addiction and recovery, followed by ecumenical discussions on the subject at a local restaurant.
- In late April 2026, I participated and spoke in a gathering of local Muslims with Imam Abubakr Elgarguri. I spoke about St. Francis and his friendship with the sultan of Egypt, Al-Malik al-Kamil.
- In May 2026, faith leaders from Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic and Unitarian Universalist congregations completed a training program sponsored by the Clinton Foundation to address addiction and recovery in Humboldt County, which experiences overdose rates alarmingly higher than California state and national averages. The participants of the “Empowering Faith Leaders” program (part of the Foundation’s Overdose Response Network) formed a new cohort called HOPEFUL (Humboldt Overdose Prevention & Education Faith United Leaders).
- In June 2026, I participated in Humboldt Redwood Cursillo, which is especially ecumenical in Humboldt County, comprised of Roman Catholics and several other denominations (Episcopal, Lutheran, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Methodist, etc.). This was my first time making Cursillo and becoming an official cursillista.
- In August 2026, while serving as the chaplain at Fallen Leaf Lake, I ministered to Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and, of course, several Episcopalians.
- In September 2026, I participated in a Symposium on Theology and AI at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos with representatives from the Unitarian Universalist Church, United Church of Christ, Waldensian Church, the United Methodist Church, Zen Buddhism, and Judaism.
- In September 2026, the Thomas Merton Redwoods Chapter reading group met at the Chapel of Our Merciful Saviour at Christ Church Eureka, drawing in Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Franciscans from the county.
Ecumenical & Interreligious Highlights in Episcopal Church & Anglican Communion
- In October 2025, the Rev. Kirsten Guidero was named the Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer for the Episcopal Church. She began an Ecumenical and Interreligious Monthly Call Series, held virtually on the third Thursday of every month (12 PM to 1 PM Pacific) to discuss theology, best practices, and resource sharing.
- In April 2026, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally and Pope Leo XIV met, prayed together, and commemorated 60 years of Catholic-Anglican relations, tracing back to the 1966 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey.
- In June 2026, the Presbyterian Church (USA) authorized the fourth round of bilateral dialogue with the Episcopal Church running from 2026 to 2032.
- In June 2026, the World Council of Churches convened its second “E-cumenical Youth Gathering” online for young ecumenists from around the world to meet, share experiences, and strengthen relationships across regions.
- In September 2026, the House of Bishops highlighted ongoing work and discussion during their gathering at Camp Allen TX toward achieving a full-communion partnership with the United Methodist Church.
- As we look forward to General Convention 82 in July 2027, we prepare to take up the vote for full communion with the United Methodist Church, who adopted the full-communion agreement (“A Gift to the World: Co-Laborers in the Healing of Brokenness”) at their General Conference in Spring 2024. We also prepare to move forward with changing the church Constitution to include the possibility of LEPs (Local Ecumenical Partnerships), which are shared ecumenical ministries with denominations with whom we are not in full communion. This change will be pursued along with a canon that will lay out the nuts and bolts of how such ministries are formed and governed.
