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Episcopal Diocese of West Texas (Use your browser print commands then click back to the webpage.) |
Live from Columbus - June 18, 2006
Volume 2, No. 8
NEW!
Live from Columbus Audio recording
Bishop Lillibridge reflects on the election and the work on the Windsor Report to come.
West Texas reaction to Jefferts Schori election
When
the West Texas deputation gathered for their evening briefing
following the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Gary
Lillibridge told the group that it was important to put it into a
"spiritual, prayerful framework."
He led the group in evening devotions, including reading from Isaiah 43:19 in which God proclaims to "do a new thing," and from the book of 1st Samuel, in which David is anointed as the king of Israel against everyone's expectations. Recognizing that "few expected this," including some of Jefferts Schori's own supporters, Lillibridge said it is either a work of the Holy Spirit or it isn't, and like many discernments in the Spirit, time will tell if, in the words of Isaiah, God is doing "a new thing."
It is important, he said, that the people of West Texas come together for the good of the diocese, no matter what each one's emotional reaction to the election may be.
His greatest fear, he said, is that this will be seen as sending a message to the Anglican Communion that the Episcopal Church does not care about those provinces where women bishops are not accepted.
Lillibridge characterized Jefferts Schori as an extremely humble person. "I hope that the response to her election will not lead to the demonizing of this faithful Christian."
Lillibridge was convinced that the election of Jefferts Schori was, in fact, not a political move among the bishops. "Ninety-five bishops did not vote for her just because she is a woman," he said. He did recognize, however, that "this is a divided Church, and Bishop Jefferts Schori will need to reach out to the other half of this Church."
Bishop John MacNaughton, the seventh bishop of West Texas, now retired, said that before and during their election, the House of Bishops prayed, sang hymns, and reflected on meditations. "We prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit over and over," he said, and it is possible that "the Holy Spirit answered our prayers and brought us to this place."
The Rev. David Reed, chair of the West Texas deputation and bishop suffragan-elect, said the deputation had very little time to discuss among themselves before having to vote on concurrence to the election. "My own reason for voting 'yes,' " he said, "was that I could not think of a compelling reason to vote 'no.' " He said, "It is more productive to work with people you disagree with" than to work against them. "I need to get to know Bishop Jefferts Schori and be her brother in Christ."
Jefferts Schori elected 26th Presiding Bishop
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The 26th Presiding
Bishop-elect at a |
The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church on Sunday afternoon by the House of Bishops. The election came on the fifth ballot; with 188 bishops voting and 95 needed to elect, Jefferts Schori gleaned 95 votes. The Rt. Rev. Henry Parsley received 82 votes on the same ballot. Jefferts Schori is the current Bishop of the Diocese of Nevada. She is the first female primate in the Anglican Communion.
When the election results were given to the House of Deputies, which must concur with the House of Bishops before the election is accepted by the General Convention, scores of female deputies rose to urge the House to concur. Jefferts Schori was described as brilliant, thoughtful, and committed to the clergy and laity of the church. She was also lauded for her work in Hispanic ministry.
One woman deputy who rose to urge the House to concur said she was 10 years old in 1976 when the Episcopal Church voted to allow women to be ordained as priests. She said, "I will be so glad to bring the news to my daughter, who is almost 10, that our new Presiding Bishop is a woman."
Although the Ven. George Werner, president of the House of Deputies, asked specifically twice if there were any deputies who wanted to speak against concurrence, only one deputy did so. Acknowledging that "the tides are against me" the Rev. Eddie Blue from the Diocese of Maryland said this election comes at a time when the Anglican Communion at large is wrestling with the role of women in the episcopate.
Several male deputies also urged concurrence with the bishops' action. The Rev. Ian Douglass of Massachusetts said it had been his pleasure to serve with Jefferts Schori on the Special Commission that considered the response of the Episcopal Church to the Windsor Report, and that she was always one of the first to take on the hard duties.
Among those who enjoined the House of Deputies was Blanca Echeverry from Colombia whose husband, Francisco Duque-Gomez, was one of the nominees for Presiding Bishop. In Spanish she told the deputies, "She knows the Latin American countries, and I encourage the House to support her."
Indeed, the House of Deputies did concur with the bishops; on a vote by orders, with 109 dioceses voting in the lay order, 94 voted "yes," 8 voted "no," and 7 diocesan votes were divided. In the clerical order, with 111 dioceses voting, there were 98 "yes" votes, 9 "no" votes, and 4 divided votes. A divided vote means that of the four deputies, two were in favor and two were against. A divided vote, for all intents and purposes, counts as a no vote.
New PB is "awed and honored"
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The Jefferts Schori family (L
to R): Richard |
With her husband, Richard, and her daughter and son-in-law, Kate and Aaron Harris, by her side, the 26th Presiding Bishop-elect told the House of Deputies that she was "awed and honored and deeply privileged" to have been elected. Speaking first in English and then in Spanish, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she was grateful to all of the bishops who stood for election, especially Francisco Duque-Gomez, Bishop of the Diocese of Colombia, and his diocese.
"I pray that the Church will be strengthened because they have walked this ministry, and I would ask you to give thanks also," she said.
Jefferts Schori has been noted for her ministry with Latin Americans, and she bore witness to that when she again spoke in Spanish at a news conference late in the afternoon on Sunday.
She is also regarded as someone who is interested in relationships; when asked how she would relate to her fellow primates in the Anglican Communion who do not ordain female bishops, she said that her international experience is that "face to face, human beings build relationships, and gender is much less of an issue than it is in the abstract."
She said her vision for the reign of God brings her back to the grand vision in the words of Isaiah, which Jesus reads in his first public act of ministry in Nazareth, where the poor are fed, the poor have good news preached to them, those who are ostracized or in prison are welcomed and set free, the blind have their vision restored, and the ill are healed. She pointed out that this General Convention has made justice and peace as its top priority in its budget priorities.
In terms of what kind of message her election sends to the wider communion as the communion struggles with issues of human sexuality, Jefferts Schori said she believes that "God welcomes all to his table, people who agree and people who disagree." The Episcopal Church, she said, "has always been a strong voice for including a variety of theologies and opinions and insisting that all of the marginalized are brought to the table."
She also said that alienation is often a function of not knowing the other. "I think my witness needs to be about reconciliation," she said. "I have good relationships with almost every member of the House of Bishops, and I will bend over backwards to have a relationship with those who disagree with me."
Jefferts Schori said that her background as a scientist had given her the gift of looking at the world carefully, "not assuming I know how it works."
Jefferts Schori biography
Katharine Jefferts Schori, 51, was consecrated the ninth Bishop of Nevada on February 24, 2001. She serves a diocese of some 6,000 members in 35 congregations. Jefferts Schori is the first woman selected as a nominee for Presiding Bishop.
Her service to the wider church includes current membership on the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion; the Board of Trustees, Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California; the CREDO Advisory Board; the House of Bishops peer coaching program; the General Board of Examining Chaplains; the Board for Church Deployment; the House of Bishops' Pastoral Development, Racism, and Planning Committees; the Court for Review of a Trial of a Bishop; the Episcopal visitor team for the Community of the Holy Spirit; and the Bishops of Small Dioceses group.
From 2001-2003 she was a member of the 20/20 Strategy Group, and served as secretary of the House of Bishops Ministry Committee at the 2003 General Convention.
She is the author of "When Conflict and Hope Abound," Vestry Papers (March-April 2005); "Building Bridges/Widening Circles" in Preaching Through Holy Days and Holidays: Sermons that Work XI, Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer, eds. Morehouse (2003); "Multicultural Issues in Preaching" in Preaching Through the Year of Matthew: Sermons That Work X, Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer, eds. Morehouse (2001); and "The Nag" in Preaching Through the Year of Luke: Sermons That Work IX, Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer, eds. Morehouse (2000). Her Maundy Thursday sermon was included in What Makes This Day Different? by David Schlafer, Cowley (1998).
She is an active, instrument-rated pilot with more than 500 hours logged.
At the time of her election as bishop of
Nevada, Jefferts Schori was assistant rector at the Episcopal Church of the
Good Samaritan in Corvallis, Oregon, where she also served as pastoral
associate, dean of the Good Samaritan School of Theology, and
priest-in-charge, El Buen Samaritano, Corvallis. She was ordained deacon and
priest in 1994. Prior to ordination, she was a visiting assistant professor
at Oregon State University's Department of Religious Studies, a visiting
scientist at Oregon State University's Department of Oceanography, and an
oceanographer with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.
She received a B.S. in biology from Stanford University, 1974; an M.S. in
oceanography from Oregon State University, 1977; a Ph.D. from Oregon State
University, 1983; an M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific,
1994; and a D.D. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2001.
Jefferts Schori was born March 26, 1954, in Pensacola, Florida. She has been married to Richard Miles Schori, a retired theoretical mathematician (topologist), since 1979. They have one child, Katharine Johanna, 24, who is a second lieutenant and pilot in the US Air Force.
--The Episcopal News Service
For more from the Episcopal News Service on the election
-- From Columbus: Episcopal Church elects first woman Presiding Bishop
By Pat McCaughan
Sunday, June 18, 2006
LINK: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/75383_76174_ENG_HTM.htm
-- On May 3, 2006 ENS released video interviews with the seven Presiding Bishop nominees. LINK below:
Other stories at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens
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