Anne Peterson, Chris Mackey-Mason, and Randy Kimmler
Tim Safford catching up on his reading during a slow part of the debate
On the floor of the House of Deputies
June 19, 2006
Who’d have thunk it?
June 18, 2006
What a wild, amazing, Spirit-filled, historic day behind us — may God give us grace for the wild, amazing, Spirit-filled journey ahead of us!I am still fairly stunned by the rapidly accelerating sequence of events that left us at the end of the day with the historic choice of the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion as the Rt. Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori (Bishop of Nevada) was elected (on the fifth ballot) the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Thrilled on so many levels at her election I am also deeply, powerfully aware of how far this church has traveled in order to allow it to MAKE this courageous and historic (I know — third time I've used historic … well it IS!!!) choice possible.
I remember the deep pain, division and anguish of the 1970's when the ordination of women (the last great threat to global Anglicanism and Western Civilization as we know it) was the thing that was going to split the church. I remember the lines for communion stretched out at diocesan convention with folks jockeying to get into position so they wouldn't have to receive communion from (horrors!) a woman priest. I remember my own Aunt Gretchen whose congregation (one of four) tried to "leave the Episcopal Church" over the ordination of women in the Diocese of Los Angeles in 1977.
And I carry with me, close to my heart, the stories of sister priests who had to cross police lines to get to their own ordinations because of the bomb threats.
And so the very idea that the bishops of the Episcopal Church could elect a woman to lead them … and the House of Deputies concur OVERWHELMING to that election with barely a murmur of dissent is so overwhelming I'm almost afraid to go to bed tonight lest I wake up and find out it was all a dream.
I am so proud of this church I could just burst. (more…)
Ed’s Convention Blog #3
Anne Peterson, Lori Kizzia, and I testified this morning at a hearing of the Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee of General Convention. At issue was a resolution calling for strict adherence to a church canon that requires all who come to the Eucharist to be baptized. The proposer of the resolution spoke, reporting that he had googled churches that have open communion and had found at least 14 who make that claim on their websites. He went on to argue that we should not open communion to everyone only people who are baptized. After two other priests made similar arguments, we three took our turns, explaining how crucial our practice is at All Saints. Anne and Lori told moving personal stories.
I made the point that whenever we at All Saints have conversations in which we ask people why they came to All Saints and what keeps them here, more than half of the answers talk about our weekly invitation to the Eucharist– "Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith…" I argued that this is critical to stating in an outward and visible way what is at the heart of our mission, that God is a loving, forgiving, healing, and empowering God for ALL, without conditions. I believe with all my heart that Jesus placed no limits or conditions on inviting people to the table where he loved to gather all sorts and conditions of humanity as his friends and for the experience of Gods love and grace. (more…)
Ed’s Convention Blog #2
Dear All Saints Friends:
"Gracias" was the first word she spoke to thousands of us gathered in the House of Deputies when Katharine Jefferts Schori was introduced as soon as she had been elected the first woman primate in Church History. Rumor began to reach us around 2:45 pm that all of the bishops of the Episcopal Church sequestered in Trinity Church, Columbus, Ohio since 10:30 this morning had elected Bishop Jefferts Schori to be our first woman Presiding Bishop on the 5th ballot. I found a seat in the House of Deputies gallery and began text-messaging several friends who would be in the know, asking for confirmation.
As the numbers began to swell, and a buzz had to be gaveled into silence by the chair, two friends texted me saying they had heard the same rumor, and the energy became electric with excitement, I felt something momentous was afoot. An hour later when the new 26th Presiding Bishop was ushered to the podium to a thundering applause and standing ovation and she spoke briefly, eloquently, and bilingually, I knew the Church had changed as significantly as I knew it changed at last General Convention when Gene Robinson was elected the first openly gay bishop in Church History. (more…)
Louise, on the new PB
WOW!!! She’s unflappable. Those were my thoughts as I left the first press conference given by our new PB-Elect Katharine (with an a) Jefferts (no hyphen, we were told) Schori.
What a surprise! The scuttlebutt on the floor prior to the election had been mixed: some said +Alexander was a shoo-in. Others thought +Stacy Sauls had it wrapped up. No one said +Schori. They all thought she’d get a symbolic vote on the first ballot and then be forgotten. Well, everyone was in for a surprise. The House of Bishops rocked! And our conservative brothers and sisters in the AAC and the ACN are still reeling from the shock. SHE’S THE FIRST WOMAN PRIMATE EVER!!!!
Even the jaded news media reps were excited as the announcement was made to the House of Deputies. Everyone was warned to be silent as the news was delivered but the magnanimity of it was overwhelming.
There were shouts and clapping and tears of joy. I was brought to tears myself as Howard Anderson+, Warden of the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. hugged me and proclaimed, “There’s no turning back now!” He had tears streaming down his face. He was thrilled. Everyone was re-charged after a grueling week of convention work.
My friend, Sara McGinley, a deputy from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who brought her five month old baby girl with her to the convention, said, “Naomi (that’s her daughter) will never know anything different!” How amazing is that?
Kendall Harmon+, one of the AAC spokespersons, was livid. “She was a SCIENTIST”, he protested, as if that were some kind of a curse. He was very anxious about how she will she lead this church with that background. She had been, at one time, an oceanographer who studied squid, she told us during the news conference. And she still goes fishing.
She was asked all the hard questions: Will you be responsible for breaking the Communion? Will you continue to ordain lesbians and gays? Will you still endorse same-sex unions? She didn’t flinch. She seems to be smart, saavy and graceful all at once. And, as far as I was concerned, she gave all the right answers.
The conservatives have been clammering for “clarity” at this General Convention. Now they have it. Now we all have it. The Holy Spirit has once again, moved this church in a new direction.
WOW!!!
