With the Great Minnesota Get-Together officially over for 2026, its vendors are now packing up and instead of throwing out leftover supplies, several are teaming up with Second Harvest Heartland to donate leftovers for those in need.

[Episcopal News Service – Minneapolis, Minnesota] Participants in the Full & Equal: 50 Years in Pursuit of a Promise gathering attended to learn, reunite with others,  celebrate the progress achieved thus far and prepare for the work ahead.

Retired Bishop Nedi Rivera was a deacon in 1976 when General Convention passed Resolution A069 at its meeting that year in Minneapolis, declaring that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.”

General Convention’s 1976 meeting was historic in at least two other ways. Bishops and deputies also broke with The Episcopal Church’s tradition by approving the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. They also set in motion the approval of what is now the current Book of Common Prayer, replacing the version used since 1928.

Rivera told Episcopal News Service that she has since realized how “all these issues are so interrelated. I mean, we were talking liturgy – the prayer book. We were talking women’s issues. We were talking gay, lesbian. We hadn’t even considered trans issues in those days.”

She also had a personal reason to come to Full & Equal. Rivera has a gay grandchild and one who is trans. She wanted to learn how to be a better ally with them and “how can I make a world that is better” for them, she said.

Retired New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church and in any major Christian denomination, used an image from his childhood to explain the impact of the gathering. He worked in the fields with his tobacco sharecropper parents. It was backbreaking and seemingly unending work but, he said, “every now and again, you stop and stand up straight, and turn around and look how far you’ve come, and you realize you can keep doing this, and you go back to work again.”

The gathering reminded him that the work ahead is about trying to do the next right thing and looking for the next right thing. Most of the time those right things are accomplished in little steps, he said.

Beth Whitaker, who attends Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin, would agree. Grace’s Pride committee is “the most active and energized committee in the whole church,” she said, with lots of support in the parish. The committee has expanded its ministry to include trans youth and their families. “I feel called to learn from this to help do better work at home,” she said.

Fred Ellis, from Dallas, Texas, said Resolution A069 was “the reason I really became serious about becoming an Episcopalian.” Ellis said last week’s gathering was a good way to recognize “all the work that’s gone on by hundreds of people over the last 50 years to get us to the point where we are and acknowledge that there’s still work to do.”

The Rev. Barbara Anne Fisher, of Richmond, Indiana, has been in the thick of that work. She was denied a Master of Divinity degree when she graduated from seminary in 1986 and instead was given a Master of Christian Education. She declined to identify the seminary. Fisher was ordained to the priesthood in 2017 after being “denied and denied and denied.” When she learned of the Full & Equal conference, “I knew I had to be here.”

Radiant Energy, ministries coordinator at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan, sings during the closing Eucharist Sept. 5 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo: Courtesy of Cynthia L. Black

Radiant Energy, ministries coordinator at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan, said they are new to The Episcopal Church and attended to learn more about the history of full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the church. The gathering was “wonderful and challenging to see how much further we have to go,” even on a deeply personal level. Energy, who identifies as trans non-binary, was misgendered by some at the conference “despite wearing a lanyard around my neck with my pronouns on it.”

Sean McConnell’s reason for attending was also personal. McConnell, senior director of engagement for Episcopal Relief & Development, has recently been coming out to people as bisexual. It’s part of a process of “being able to be fully who I am,” he said, adding that attending the conference was a way to continue that process.

David Hales, deputy for administration for the Archives of The Episcopal Church, came to Minneapolis “to hear people’s stories and to understand the history that I’m not aware of.” He also wanted people to know that the Archives is interested in the storytelling that the conference wanted to foster.

“This is such an important way of preserving our history, bringing it forward to remind ourselves of where we’ve been and where we’re going,” he said. “And as a gay man, that’s incredibly important to me. I’m not an Episcopalian, but I believe everyone accounts for something. And this is a reminder.”

– The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is a freelance writer who formerly was a senior editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service.

(KSTP)–Minneapolis police calls to Shoreline Plaza increased in recent years despite building owners saying they made safety upgrades before last week’s deadly shooting.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reviewed 911 call data after Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson said last week that the building has been less of an issue than in earlier years and found calls to Shoreline Plaza climbed over the past six years leading up to Wednesday’s mass shooting. The data shows 142 police calls from Sept. 2, 2020, to Sept. 2, 2021, and 281 calls from Sept. 3, 2025, to Sept. 2, 2026.

See the complete data set below, of compiled police calls to 15 East Grant Street (Shoreline Plaza), based on city 911 data, available online going back to 2020:

• Sept. 2, 2020 – Sept. 2, 2021 = 142
• Sept. 3, 2021 – Sept. 2, 2022 = 131
• Sept. 3, 2022 – Sept. 2, 2023 = 241
• Sept. 3, 2023 – Sept. 2, 2024 = 200
• Sept. 3, 2024 – Sept. 2, 2025 = 239
• Sept. 3, 2025 – Sept. 2, 2026 = 281

Peterson was asked during a press conference last week whether the building is a “problem” spot.

“I would say, years ago, yes. In recent years, no,” Peterson said.

Residents 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke with said they have not seen that change.

“I’ve only been here about five years. Ain’t nothing changed,” a Shoreline Plaza resident said.

“No changes. No changes at all,” resident Laurence Kennedy said.

The available 911 data also shows reported assaults steadily rose, threat reports peaked in the last year, and there has been a shooting reported each year since 2024.

The data does not appear to show change since safety upgrades that building owner Related Companies said it made in 2022. Those upgrades included adding cameras throughout the building, a lobby security desk and key fobs for most first-floor access.

“And we worked very closely with building management and ownership to clean a lot of the issues up that we were having, and it was nowhere near what it used to be,” Peterson said during the Thursday press conference.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS is awaiting clarification on what metrics Peterson, who was previously the First Precinct inspector, was using to cite improvement. Police calls are rarely the full picture, only showing why someone initially called 911 and not necessarily the outcome of the call.

Still, no residents interviewed by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS said they were convinced conditions had changed.

“If cameras made a difference, my friends would still be alive,” Shoreline Plaza resident Sarah Amberg said.

“However, what are you going to do to solve it? It’s low income, it’s mental health. It’s everything.”

Spokespersons for the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) said Monday they were working on answers to clarifying questions and would provide a response after the holiday. Related Companies did not respond Monday to requests for additional comment.

In a letter to residents late last week, the company said it is working with police to “secure the property” and ensure residents and staff “have what they need.”

Residents also shared well wishes on Monday for on-site property manager Jan Peterson, one of the shooting victims who is still recovering. Kennedy and Amberg said she has been a bright light in the building.

“My manager’s recovering. Her second surgery is happening. And that was the heart of the building,” Kennedy said.

“I really love her, and I miss her… Just come together. We gotta fix this.”