I was ordained as a bishop in Alabama, and St. Stephen’s is a parish we both know and love. The former rector, the Rev. Doug Carpenter, is someone I have respected and cared for many years. I met the current rector when he was a student in an environmental theology class. I taught at Virginia Seminary.

Sheila and I send our love and the assurance of our prayers to the people of St. Stephen’s. “Prayers” mean, for me, a commitment to supporting gun reform; we must change so that the tragic, unnecessary deaths are stopped.