DAILY BULLETIN:  Finally, News! The Holy Spirit Showed Up!

Written end of Sunday, June 18, 2006

The Holy Spirit works in amazing ways. If GenCon 2003 put the cat among the pigeons, 2006 will blow them out of the water. While the mother Church of England is still arguing over women bishops, the Episcopal Church has elected the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori as its 26^th Presiding Bishop. In a bold and surprising move, the House of Bishops today elected Schori by a margin of fifteen on the fifth ballot.

Her election was greeted with loud applause and amazement in the House of Deputies who then confirmed her election by a vote by orders with all except about thirteen dioceses out of 110 in agreement. As deputy after deputy rose to praise Jefferts Schori’s integrity, consistency and faith, only one brave deputy, Eddie Blue of Maryland, went against the trend, saying that he was shocked and saddened by our decision which isolates us further from the rest of the Communion. (Several provinces were already in ‘impaired communion’ with us prior to 2003 because we have women clergy). Blue claimed that we seemed to be carrying on ‘as imperialists often do’.

Us imperialists tried to stick to the rules and not applaud (cheer and throw our hats in the air) and not immediately phone all our friends, but the number of cell phones that suddenly started ringing in the exhibition hall suggests that one or two imperialists failed to keep to the rules of the Deputies Hall. The news of the election was greeted with spontaneous joy and wet eyes. Over and again women in the bathroom line said ‘I never expected… not in my lifetime…’

But not all were elated. One conservative journalist was overheard in unusual incoherence, “O my God, O my God [quoting from Psalm 22]… I can’t believe it… that’s two strikes against them… she went to seminary, I guess…it makes it doubly hard…its another wedge… O my God… she’s pro-gay, well she’s pro-Robinson…she’s said some pretty outrageous things…I didn’t think she had a chance…O my God, she’s only been a bishop for four years…’

The conservative leadership were more contained. David Anderson of the American Anglican Council said it was not helpful to have a knee jerk response. He couldn’t, he said, speak for the Primates, it would take time for their response.  No-one is sure how this is going to play in the international arena. Kendal Harmon prophesied that the Archbishop of Canterbury would make a statement tomorrow and that the Primates would then meet in groups to decide on their response. He did welcome the ‘breath of fresh air’ she will bring to 815, and welcomed her ability to take a new look at a system ‘which no longer works’.

It’s clear that Jefferts Schori does not meet the standards of the ‘orthodox’. You can read their background information on her here. They see the Episcopal Church continuing on its trajectory away from orthodoxy; none of the nominees were completely acceptable to the conservatives, but for some of the folks we talked to, the election of Schori shows clearly that the Episcopal Church is indeed turning further away from their standards and toward the New Episcopal Religion (a ‘new-fangled religion we have invented to respond to the 21st century’ according to English Bishop Nazir Ali).

The Holy Spirit has brought us a leader who is a former oceanographer who rejoices in God’s creation, and believes that God welcomes all people; people who agree, people who disagree - all of the marginalized, she says, are most welcome. She has a quick wit and speaks with authority. Faced with a question full of presumptions that silenced the Deputies and Bishops at yesterday’s press briefing, she dispatched it with aplomb and a rapid reference to the Donatist heresy. In her current diocese she has supported same-sex blessings in parishes where this is appropriate and yet even the AAC admit she has not ‘yet’ taken any hostile action against the ‘orthodox’.

Bishop Schori is a woman who considers the being the first female Primate a challenge, a grand adventure, and who says she ‘will bend over backwards’ to build relationships with those with whom she disagrees. Fending off a hostile question form Anglican Mainstream’s Chris Sugden, she pointed out that the poor ‘who make up the majority of the Anglican Church’ according to Sugden, will be far more concerned with getting enough food, housing and clean water than with issues of sexuality. The Church’s new commitment to the Millennium Development Goals is absolutely in line with her commitment to feeding the hungry and embracing the marginalized.

A few other things did happen today. Finally the Special Committee dealt with the issues of the ordination of gay bishops and blessing same sex unions. The Committee’s divided nature came to the fore and they were unable to reach consensus. Bishop O’Neil preached a ‘spirituality of relinquishment’ as they allowed a compromise resolution to go to the floor. It’s expected to arrive in the House of Deputies tomorrow and we look forward to a lively debate.

People ‘don’t want the stigma’ of belonging to the Episcopal Church, claimed David Anderson (of the AAC) in a press conference after the Presiding Bishop’s election. Today we’re proud to be members of an Episcopal Church which can take the extraordinary risk of listening to God’s call and obeying. Even if it blows us all out of the water!