Philadelphia Episcopal Area

Human Rights
United Methodist deaconesses Norma Dollaga (right) and Rubylin Litao talk with Bienvenido and Estrella Nonay in Caloocan, Philippines. The Nonays’ son Bernardo was assassinated in 2018, one of thousands of extrajudicial killings carried out as part of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial "war on drugs." The deaconesses are founders of Rise Up for Life and for Rights, which unites family and friends of victims and advocates in demanding an end to the violence and punishment for those responsible. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

United Methodists react to Duterte arrest

Church leaders and justice advocates in the Philippines say the arrest of the former president is a step toward justice for the thousands who died during his war on drugs.
General Conference
The Rev. Jonathan Ulanday, a clergy delegate from the East Mindanao Conference in the Philippines, speaks April 25 on the floor of the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Ulanday said regionalization legislation allows the spirituality of The United Methodist Church to grow in a different context. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

Regionalization passage a ‘kairos moment’ for Filipinos

Filipino delegates say a regional system is a way to keep traditionalists and progressives connected, and relieves central conferences from having to decide on primarily U.S. concerns.
Bishops
Newly elected Bishop Israel M. Painit (center) is greeted by retired Bishop Solito K. Toquero and Bishop Ciriaco Q. Francisco after Painit’s election during the Philippines Central Conference at Wesleyan University-Philippines in Cabanatuan City, Philippines. Painit was the third bishop elected at the Nov. 24-26 meeting. Photo by Gladys P. Mangiduyos, UM News.

Philippines Central Conference elects Painit as bishop

The country director of mission in Southeast Asia was the third bishop elected at the Nov. 24-26 meeting.
Violence
A United Methodist pastor in Philadelphia, a crime victim herself, has found healing as she minsters to other crime victims in her role as a victim's advocate. Photo by Andrea Ferrario, courtesy of Unsplash.com; graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

A mission to help crime victims

The Rev. Myra Maxwell, co-pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in south Philadelphia, also heads up victim support services for the district attorney’s office. She’s already walked in the steps of many of the people she counsels, as a crime victim herself.

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