Gardening is a popular way for congregations across The Episcopal Church to put extra land to productive use, and while many grow food in connection with their local feeding ministries, some church gardeners focus not on what they will produce but on what they will attract: pollinators.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, for example, recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new pollinator garden in the town of Berlin, Maryland. The garden was a collaboration between the church, its Church Mouse thrift store, the Lower Shore Land Trust and the community of Berlin, which is one of 12 municipalities in Maryland and 183 nationwide with a Bee City USA designation.

The Bishop of Morobo, the Right Revd Amosa Data Elinama, was attacked and kidnapped this morning (Monday 5 June) by an armed gang. He was released a short while later and taken to the office of the Commissioner of Morobo. The bishop was travelling from Morobo to Bazi when he was attacked.

Local government sources say that the attack was carried out by members of an anti-government militia group, the National Salvation Front (NAS).

In a statement, the Morobo County Commissioner, Moses Soro, said that Bishop Amosa was travelling by car between Bazi and Morobo when the vehicle was stopped by a soldier. The Bishop thought that the soldier was a member of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, the official army of South Sudan. But after his vehicle had stopped some 15 armed men canme out of the bush and ordered the bishop and driver to leave their vehicle.