Bishop Rickel’s Statements

English Translation Queridos míos, Doscientas dieciséis vidas. En la última década, doscientos dieciséis niños y sus maestros han fallecido en tiroteos ocurridos en escuelas. Desde 2012, se han perdido doscientas dieciséis vidas inocentes debido a estos terribles actos violentos, y con el tiroteo en la Escuela Primaria Robb en Uvalde, Texas, esa cifra se acrecentó aún más porque se cobraron veintiún vidas inocentes adicionales. Ahora, los tiroteos en escuelas han arrebatado doscientas treinta y siete vidas. Doscientas treinta y siete

Traducción al español Dear Ones, 216 lives. Over the past decade, 216 children and their teachers have died in school shootings. Since 2012, 216 innocent lives have been lost in these horrific acts of violence. And with the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that number grew even larger as 21 more innocent lives were taken. Now, school shootings have claimed 237 lives. 237 lives that should still be here today. We are a people who pray, so

Dear Ones, As the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold, the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of a sovereign nation becomes more dire by the day. It is so easy to feel helpless in the face of such monumental, potentially world-altering events. But we are a people who pray, who are united in our common prayer, who believe that prayer does change things. So I ask you to continue to join me in praying for the people of Ukraine,

Dear Ones, Like many of you, I have been watching the news these past weeks with sickening dread as Russian forces have moved inexorably toward war and the invasion of Ukraine. There has been no justification for this act of brutal violence, hostility, and naked aggression. Already, innocent lives have been lost in this needless bloodshed. Throughout Europe, around the world, and indeed, within Russia itself, anti-war demonstrations are rising up to protest this assault on a sovereign, democratic nation.

Dear Ones, As many of you are well aware by now, yesterday, on the first of February and the first day of Black History Month, several of our historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were terrorized with bomb threats. Sadly, this incarnates the reality that we still have a long collective way to go to reach Beloved Community and that any notion that we can now stop talking, working, and struggling toward it is an illusion. I want to say

English Estimados, El día de hoy, el jurado del juicio de Ahmad Arbery ha emitido su veredicto y ha declarado culpables de casi todos los cargos a los hombres responsables de la muerte de Arbery. Tal como lo ha dicho nuestro Obispo Primado, aunque este veredicto no devuelve a Ahmaud Arbery a su familia y a sus seres queridos, éste proporciona una medida de justicia de un sistema que con demasiada frecuencia ha negado la justicia a nuestros hermanos BIPOC

Español Dear Ones, Today, the jury in the Ahmad Arbery trial has returned its verdict and found the men responsible for Arbery’s death guilty on nearly all counts. While this verdict does not, as our Presiding Bishop has said, bring Ahmaud Arbery back to his family and loved ones, it does provide a measure of justice from a system that has too often denied justice to our BIPOC siblings. I echo the prayers and pleas of our Presiding Bishop and

In English Amadas y amados, Me dio mucha tristeza escuchar el veredicto rendido el día de hoy en el juicio de Kyle Rittenhouse, el joven que viajó hasta Kenosha, Wisconsin el año pasado y con un arma mató a dos personas e hirió gravemente a una tercera. El incidente dejó al descubierto muchos de los problemas con los cuales seguimos batallando como país, y los cuales intentamos ignorar con demasiada frecuencia: temas de justicia racial, justicieros blancos, y la violencia

En Español Dear Ones, I was saddened to learn of the verdict today in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man who traveled to Kenosha, WI last year and fatally shot two people, seriously injuring a third. The incident brought to the surface many of the issues that our country wrestles with – and all-too-often attempts to ignore – around racial justice, white vigilantism, and gun violence. Rittenhouse came to Kenosha, heavily armed, as part of a mob of

To all the Faithful in the Diocese of Olympia, To say this past year has been interesting hardly covers it, but indeed it was. Both pandemics of COVID and Racial Injustice have tested us as a country, a people, and a Church. I cannot commend you enough for the way you all worked together, with me, and with those locally to keep our people safe. I want to sincerely thank you for that. As the miraculous vaccines have come online