Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is the leader of the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) (Screenshot: The View/Youtube)
The far-left leadership of the Episcopal Church announced Monday that it is severing its nearly 40-year partnership with the U.S. government to resettle refugees — all because the Trump administration dared to classify white South African Afrikaners as refugees in need of protection.
The same Episcopal Church that prided itself on aiding persecuted people from war-torn regions is now walking away from its commitments simply because the next wave of refugees are white Christian farmers — victims of violent racial targeting in post-apartheid South Africa.
The church claims resettling these families would violate their ‘moral line,’ according to Religion News.
Afrikaner families have been facing widespread violence, including land seizures, farm attacks, and race-based targeting in South Africa — crimes so severe that human rights organizations around the world have raised the alarm for years.
The Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe, made it clear in a sanctimonious letter that the church would rather burn the bridge with the U.S. government than help what he sees as the ‘wrong’ kind of refugee.
According to the letter:
“Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down. Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain.
Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.
In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step. Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.
[…]
It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years. I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country. I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.
As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins. Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command. Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways.”
It can be recalled that Bishop Mariann Budde, who famously criticized Trump during an inaugural prayer service, has been found to have pocketed a staggering $53 million in taxpayer funds through her organization, Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM).
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) is the refugee resettlement and immigrant advocacy program of the Episcopal Church.
In 2023 alone, EMM raked in $53 million to resettle 3,600 individuals, according to the New York Post.
The news outlet added that in 2024, EMM “sponsored” 6,400 individuals from 48 countries, including Afghans under a special humanitarian program and refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
These new arrivals are immediately eligible for all forms of welfare, such as Medicaid and cash assistance, on the same basis as U.S. citizens. Further, they can sponsor friends and relatives under a recent Biden expansion of the refugee resettlement program.
According to the New York Post, “EMM brings in LGBTQ refugees and asylees in a special federal refugee program started during the Obama administration called ‘Preferred Communities.”
In the twisted moral calculus of today’s Episcopal Church, the white Afrikaner families don’t deserve compassion. They’re the wrong color.
Instead of acknowledging the growing persecution these farmers face, Rowe lectured congregants about the church’s commitment to “racial justice and reconciliation.”
Translation: Justice only applies if you check the right identity boxes.
The post Episcopal Church Ends Refugee Partnership with U.S. Government — Cites Moral Opposition to Resettling Persecuted White Afrikaners from South Africa appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.