A sheriff’s deputy who found an abandoned baby who was miraculously still alive said “It was the happiest 15-20 minutes of my career.”

Missoula County Sheriff’s Deputy Ross Jessup and U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Nick Scholz had spent hours looking for a missing baby in the woods when they heard a whimper in the darkness.

Jessop found the five-month-old baby boy face-down in a pile of woodland debris.

“I abandoned any police training or any chance of saving evidence there — I didn’t care,” Jessop recalled. “I scooped up the baby, made sure he was breathing. He had a sparkle in his eye. (I) warmed him up, gave him a couple of kisses and just held him.”

The Stream reports that the baby had been left alone in the woods for at least nine hours before he was found by the officers.

Although he was hungry, cold, and had incurred bruises and scrapes, the child was otherwise alright and is now in good condition after being taken to the hospital by the officers.

The boy was reportedly abandoned in the woods by Francis Crowley, who told investigators that he left the child in the woods after crashing his vehicle there because the child was too heavy.

Crowley is being held in jail at Missoula County Justice Court. His next appearance in court is scheduled for July 25. Crowley’s relationship with the child is…

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops have voted unanimously to re-admit the Cuba church as an official diocese of the mainline denomination, decades after officially cutting ties.

At the Episcopal Church’s 79^th General Convention in Austin, Texas, the Bishops voted on Tuesday to support a resolution that reunified with the Episcopal Church of Cuba, returning them to the status of a diocese.

Through an interpreter, Cuba Bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio expressed support for the House of Bishops’ vote, noting that many had “hoped we’d return to the church.”

“I feel the breath of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, everyone, for the support right now, but really for the support all these years,” said Bishop Delgado del Carpio, as quoted by Episcopal News Service.

Known as Resolution A238 and titled “Admit Episcopal Diocese of Cuba as a Diocese of The Episcopal Church,” the measure officially re-admits the Cuban church into the denomination.

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a District of Columbia appellate court judge, headed to Capitol Hill to meet members of Congress who will determine his fate, religious leaders and experts weighed in on whether he should be named the replacement for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

One group of evangelical Christians, mostly men, is hailing President Trump’s nomination as someone who will protect “the God-given dignity of every human being,” while a group of evangelical women is seeking a more centrist Kennedy successor who will help mitigate the culture wars. As those debates over faith and culture continued Tuesday (July 10), secular leaders worry Kavanaugh could be a “disaster” for the principle of church-state separation, while some conservatives think he will be a staunch defender of religious liberties.

Here’s a sampling of responses from faith leaders and organizations concerned about the role of religion in U.S. society:

Paula White, senior pastor, New Destiny Christian Center, Apopka, Fla.

“If President Trump hit a home run with Justice (Neil) Gorsuch, in the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh he’s hit a grand slam. President Trump has done it yet again, fulfilled a promise exactly as he said he would. In Judge Kavanaugh, we literally could not have asked for more. His excellent legal mind, along with his impeccable…

The Church of England has reported its first ever decline in planned donations since records started being kept, with some leaders pointing to millennials who are not giving as much as previous generations.

According to The Telegraph, figures from the General Synod discussion on the Archbishops’ Council’s budget for 2019 revealed that in 2016, planned giving fell by 0.4 percent, or £1.35 million, which amounts to around $1,786,000.

“We need to address the issue of giving by our millennial generation, the future of the church, but they are saddled with student debt and looking at being unable to buy a house,” said Julie Dziegiel, the treasurer of a parish in the diocese of Oxford.

John Spence, chair of the Archbishops’ Council Finance Committee, also noted that young people are not as likely to attend church compared to previous generations.

“An 81-year-old is eight times more likely to go to church than an 18-year-old. And that’s having its impact on finance. The numbers of people in our planned giving schemes declined by 13 percent since 2010,” Spence argued.

“Their commitment has grown individually by 27 percent or roughly four percent a year, enabling the overall sum to rise by 10 percent,” he added.