Barbara Everitt Bryant, a Presbyterian and the first woman to lead the U.S. Bureau of the Census, died March 2 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the age of 96. Among her three children is Linda Bryant Valentine, the former executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Read more »
March 15, 2023
Presbyterian Barbara Everitt Bryant, the first woman to lead the U.S. Bureau of the Census, dies at age 96
Barbara Everitt Bryant, a Presbyterian and the first woman to lead the U.S. Bureau of the Census, died March 2 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the age of 96. Among her three children is Linda Bryant Valentine, the former executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Read more »
Victoria Robinson has been shaped by her own experiences and by a willingness to attune to the perspectives of others. Discerning a call to ministry with the support of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been a part of Robinson’s experience. 
The Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, Co-Moderator of the 225th General Assembly (2022), gathered with a group of young adult delegates and young adult volunteers (YAVs) at the close of the second day of the recent 67th Commission on the Status Women to share stories and experiences as young adults in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It was an open space with frank and vulnerable discussions, so the names of the young adults are not included in this report to respect them and their voices. 
In remarks to the recent Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that gender equality is centuries away and called for worldwide efforts to empower women. 
On a recent Saturday, the Presbytery of New York City gathered in the 147-year-old sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn for its first quarterly stated meeting of 2023. 
Paola Tognarelli’s connection to Mother Earth is sacred.
Just like the bond she now shares with the other significant women in her life. 
“Did you agree to be dirt?” the Rev. CeCe Armstrong asked commissioners of Charleston Atlantic Presbytery and members of a newly chartered church in Charleston, South Carolina. The members of Parkside Church in Charleston, in accordance with G-1.0201 in the Book of Order, signed a charter that read in response to the grace of God, “We promise and covenant to live together in unity and to work together in ministry as disciples of Jesus Christ, bound to him and to one another as a part of the body of Christ in this place according to the principles of faith, mission, and order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” 
Kintsugi, the 15th-century Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken areas with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or other precious metal, reminds us that when repaired, formerly broken places reveal new lines of character and beauty. 
It humbles me the extent to which our Roma friends and colleagues practice hospitality, always laying a table for us with whatever they have. They are among the poorest of the poor, marginalized by a society that feels threatened by an alien culture living in their midst. I don’t use the word alien as a negative, just a reality. They are a people with deep traditions, a strong sense of family and community, their own language, their own music, their own style of dress. 
Maundy Thursday was the start of what is known as the Easter Triduum — triduum, which is Latin for “three days.” Three days, which include Good Friday and Holy Saturday, in which before we get to the joy of the resurrection, we are reminded how quick we are to betray, to cry “crucify him” and to sink into the depths of despair when we are left in the limbo of loss.