Bishop Rob and Bishop Angel, of Cuba, spend time together.
Report from Bishop Rob - House of Bishops Spring Meeting - March 17-25, 2026
It was a privilege for me to attend the spring gathering of the House of Bishops at Camp Allen in the Diocese of Texas. Though I always hate to leave my beloved Diocese of New Hampshire, I find the time enriching to be with my colleague bishops from the whole Episcopal Church, including from the dioceses in Latin America, Europe, and Taiwan.
By now a Word to the Church has been issued. Its intent is to offer a message of hope, unfailing in the Good News of Jesus Christ, even in times of crisis and discouragement. The new war in Iran—extending to the whole Middle East—the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, and other parts of the world weigh heavily on all of our hearts. Such suffering is a call for us all to pray, fervently, for efforts for a just and lasting peace. I am humbled by the work of my fellow bishops and their churches as they strain to hold together community in Christian fellowship even as forces of inhumanity toward immigrants are rampant and political rages foam.
We always come together in prayer. I have been part of a small but growing number of bishops who devote daily time on contemplation. We do this because as our world experiences such chaos, disorientation, and division, and even war, it is essential that Christians, especially Christian leaders, stay rooted in the awareness of God’s enduring, loving, and life-giving presence in the Incarnate, Crucified and Risen Jesus. Any word or action that is not rooted in prayer is, as Paul says, like a noisy gong to a clanging cymbal. I believe that the tenor of our discussions during the more business-oriented sessions of the House has been more open to deep listening and respect because of the critical mass of bishops who practice contemplative prayer, even those who consider themselves more activist on certain issues.
We spent much of our time discussing the state of theological education, particularly for the raising up of priests in our Church. The landscape of traditional seminary training has shifted significantly in the past 15-20 years. Our denomination has gone from relying on eleven 3-year residential and very expensive seminaries to something like seven, and each of those offering paths that are more accessible to postulants for Holy Orders in local settings, such as rural New England. Much of the changes in education have been driven by economic and demographic forces. The bishops’ discussion of these trends was much overdue. It was so confirming to me to see how our establishment of the School for Ministry, for laity, deacons and priests is something that is becoming more and more accepted and even normative in the wider church. As I spoke with bishops from Ecuador, Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Massachusetts and Pittsburgh, I was heartened to learn how we are all facing similar challenges in the urgent need to raise up new ministers of the gospel. New Hampshire’s hybrid model is something looked to and admired by such different settings in the Episcopal Church.
We also heard of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s diligent efforts to reform and reshape the organizational structure of the Episcopal Church in a way that supports evangelism, church planting, and redevelopment. There are significant and overdue changes being contemplated, about which we will hear in the coming months. This support for church renewal is of keen interest to us in New Hampshire as we initiate new missions in Manchester, Claremont, Portsmouth, and more in the coming years. This is so important to consider and welcome as demographic models predict a movement northward of the U.S. population in the coming decades. We have been praying for young adults and families for years. I pray that the spiritual and organization work we have done in our Diocese in recent years has helped us prepare for the growth that, God willing, is coming our way.
We discussed proposals in the wider Anglican communion that seek to deepen and further relationships with other provinces of the Church where relationships have been strained and in disrepair for a variety of reasons. The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals are fascinating to read because they imagine a church that is seeking ways to be in communion, and defining what communion means, in an era when the long-term trend for churches, religions, indeed almost every institution in society is toward greater splintering. Though the bishops are, in my view, rightly cautious about the proposals, it is encouraging to think of the many who continue to do the hard and sacred work of true reconciliation across serious differences of practice.
I was so grateful to hear a fulsome presentation from Bishop Ann Ritonia, Bishop Suffragan for the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries. Our church’s work to provide pastoral care and accompaniment to chaplains in the military, federal prisons and hospitals is truly essential, especially when so many of these chaplains encounter tremendous moral, spiritual, and physical trauma. I am grateful for Bishop Ann’s witness to both the gospel of Jesus Christ AND the U.S Constitution’s protection against the incursion of governmental establishment of religion of any kind.
Finally, the return home through a Houston airport stressed with dramatically fewer TSA agents and many more ICE agents felt like being in a country that has changed. As I walked through the labyrinth paths to the security check points, along with thousands of others, I thought of the many pilgrims throughout millennia who have walked the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem, recalling the path the Jesus took from his entry into that City, to his actions in the Temple, to his Trial, his Crucifixion, his burial and his Rising.
I hope that wherever your journey and observances this coming Holy Week takes you, you may know how Jesus Christ walks alongside you, sharing your hopes, your joys, and the depths of your sorrows.
He will raise us all in peace and glory.
Yours in the Risen Christ,
+Rob
Bishop Hirschfeld's Stay at Home Letter
March 27, 2020
Dear Friends in Christ,
We have just heard from Governor Sununu that the State of New Hampshire will be under a Stay at Home order until Monday May 4th. The purpose of this order is to slow progression of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Read more HERE.
Bishop's Pastoral Letter - March 24, 2020
Pastoral Letter from Bishop Rob Hirschfeld on Life and Worship During the COVID-19 Epidemic
March 24, 2020
Dear Clergy and Pastoral Leaders in the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire,
It is clear now that the congregations in the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, like many of those throughout the world, will be unable to assemble in person for our usual solemn and joyous celebrations of Holy Week and Easter. Efforts to stem the pandemic of the potentially devastating COVID-19 require each of our households to practice physical distancing, to refrain from gathering in groups of any size and to remain at home.
Bishop's Address at 217th Annual Diocesan Convention
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:11-12)
I address this convention of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire in the name of the One, Holy, and Living God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
So that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. Joy.
Could it be that the whole point of the Gospel message, the whole goal, vision, and purpose of the Church, the entire motivation of our ministry and mission, the reason for a Diocesan Council, a Vestry or Bishop’s Committee, an altar guild, a bible study, a fierce conversation about being hurt or causing hurt, a building committee, Commission on Ministry, elections, resolutions, and yes, even a Diocesan Convention is that the joy that is in Jesus may be in you and me, and that our joy may be complete, made perfect, resilient, astounding?
Prayer for Veterans' Day 2019
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld
Bishop
November 11, 2019
As our delegates from around the Diocese of New Hampshire are about to come together for our Annual Convention, we would be remiss if we did not pause to thank and honor our Veterans. We are deeply grateful to those who have sacrificed their time, their comforts, and unknown other opportunities available to them in service to our country. In addition, we are lift up in our grateful prayers those who sacrificed their own physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing as our military has confronted real threats to our security and freedom.
My Prayer for America
For a printable PDF version of the Bishop's prayer, click HERE.
My Prayer for America
“America, love it or leave it.” — seen on a church sign in New Hampshire.
Some six centuries before the birth of Jesus, a prophet burst on the scene in Jerusalem. Jeremiah was disgusted with the state of his nation which he saw was threatened, not so much by outside empires poised to invade and conquer, but by the loss of its soul. Even more repulsive to this lonely and passionate spokesperson for God was how the people of Judah, from its priests to its king, engaged in religious language to defend immorality, injustice, and cruelty.
Letter to Governor Sununu urging Support and Signing of Gun Violence Prevention Bills
On July 2nd, Bishop Hirschfeld sent the following letter to Governor Chris Sununu:
Office of the Governor
State House
107 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301
Dear Governor Sununu:
I realize that writing you to encourage your signing into law the gun violence prevention bills currently on your desk — legislation that you have already proclaimed pure politics — is probably in vain. However, just as you may feel called by your party to veto a bill calling for legislation that I believe will reduce gun violence in this and our neighboring states, I also feel called to speak out of my faith in a God who has chosen non-violence and to hope and pray for a change of heart and mind when it comes to gun safety.
Response New Hampshire repealing the Death Penalty
I give God thanks that the New Hampshire Senate joined with the House of Representatives to override the Governor’s veto and repeal the state’s death penalty. Today the Legislature fulfilled its moral obligation to the people of New Hampshire and demonstrated the courage to make the right decision.
The death penalty was ineffective as a deterrent to capital crimes, and was a waste of public resources — resources that could otherwise further advance the health and welfare of the people of the state.
More profoundly, the death penalty made us all complicit in homicide. When we put any person to death we do little but show how evil has succeeded in ensnaring us and in drawing us deeper into a web of increasing malice, hatred and violence.
I am deeply grateful to the many people, from a variety of religious and spiritual perspectives, as well as political parties, who worked persistently and with deep faith to abolish this morally repugnant practice.
In New Hampshire, the Diocese’s Prison Concern Committee will continue its good work to advocate for humane and just incarceration policies and practices, eliminate patterns of institutional racism, and promote effective re-entry of formerly incarcerated persons into caring communities.
An Easter Homily - Easter 2019
We gather at night to celebrate the Light.
There is meaning in this, is there not? To be a Christian means that we belong to a truth that says that light pierces the darkness, even as forces of darkness pierced the body of our Savior and God. Witness the tiny flicker of flame borne aloft on the Paschal Candle, literally, the candle of suffering that bears the nails, this year’s nails, that are stabbed into its beeswax flesh.
The wounds to the body of Jesus, though fatal, are not the ultimate end of our truth.
Testimony to the House Committee on Criminal Justice In Support of House Bill 455 to Repeal the Death Penalty in New Hampshire
February 18, 2019
Dear Members of the House Committee on Criminal Justice:
I write you in support of House Bill 455 to repeal the Death Penalty in New Hampshire.
The Death Penalty is morally repugnant because it makes us all complicit in homicide. The Death Penalty is ineffective as a deterrent to capital crimes. The Death Penalty is an obscene waste of public resources that could otherwise advance more wholesome duties of good government; for instance, in addressing the ever-growing gap in educational opportunity in the Granite State or enhancing our response to mental illness and our continuing opioid crisis.
Though as a Christian bishop, I am careful to apply pastoral theology or scriptural teaching to a public political process, I am led to do so because of the distortion of Christian teaching put forward by supporters of the Death Penalty. I have heard legislators in these halls tell me that Jesus’ own execution at the hands of the state serves as sufficient justification for the state’s perpetuation of this inhumane practice. “Just look at all the good that came out of the crucifixion,” I have been told. Such reasoning defies logic and reflects a toxic perversion of the Gospel message, the clear heart of which is that violence and hatred are not overcome, conquered or transformed by more acts of violence, but by the power of mercy.
When we put to death, even criminals who have committed heinous and contemptible acts, we do little but show how evil has succeeding in ensnaring us and in drawing us deeper into pernicious web of increasing malice, hatred and violence. We move closer to committing the very heinous and contemptible atrocities that those who have been convicted for the very inhumanity we condemn.
Alternatively, it is the hard work and high calling of good and sound government to prevent and protect society from being contaminated by this lethal dynamic. I urge, hope and pray that this legislature will not shirk its obligation to this hard, moral work and high calling and will finally Repeal the Death Penalty in our Great State of New Hampshire. Please put our money to more wholesome purposes. Much more importantly, save our consciences from the high and brutal cost of the moral injury capital punishment inflicts on us all.
Respectfully Yours,
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld
Bishop of the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire