Judge Diane Schafer Goodstein listened to three weeks of testimony from Episcopal churches on both sides of the issue. She is expected to make a decision in about 90 days. Some of the Episcopal churches decided to stay with the national church and are now under the leadership of the Right Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg. But the breakaway group follows the Right Rev. Mark Lawrence, who was at the center of the disagreement because of his removal in 2012.

“My utmost admiration is for all those involved in the humanitarian efforts on the ground, not least the medical team and staff at Al Ahli Arab Hospital. Providing relief and shelter for those displaced is a tangible expression of our care and concern, and I encourage Church of England parishes and dioceses, as well as the wider Communion, to pray for them and support the Diocese of Jerusalem's emergency appeal.

Working multiple jobs is nothing new to pastors of small, rural congregations. But many of those pastors never went to seminary and never expected to have a full-time ministerial job in the first place. What’s new is the across-the-board increase in bi-vocational ministry in Protestant denominations both large and small, which has effectively shut down one pathway to a stable—if humble—middle-class career.

" We continue to maintain, despite that ruling, that the assets in dispute rightfully belong to the [TEC] Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, now reunited with the Diocese of Chicago," Bishop Jeffrey Lee (XII Chicago) posted to his diocesan website on Sept. 27, 2013. "This will ultimately be decided by the appellate court."