"I think above all it means living with hope. The kingdom of God may be glimpsed here and there, but we're not there yet in its fullness and, therefore, there's more to discover, there's more to hope for, more to look for, more to wonder about."The Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori
[ENS] Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori October 2 told a historic gathering of ordained Episcopal women part of her story and connected it to the way she thinks about leadership.
The text for the gathering is the stories of their lives and the stories of those whom they represent, said Jefferts Schori, as the first speaker at the "Imagine: Claiming & Empowering Ordained Women's Leadership" conference, which runs until October 6 at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
It is the first Episcopal Church-wide gathering of ordained women in the 30 years since women were admitted to the orders of priest and bishop. Many of those attending had their costs paid for by their bishops. Ordained women from Europe and Uganda are part of the group.
In addition to receiving coaching about leadership, the participants are being asked to imagine the kind of church they want to lead.
Jefferts Schori told approximately 200 women that her parents encouraged her intellectual curiosity and never had a pre-determined idea of what a girl could and could not do. As a child, Jefferts Schori's curiosity took the form of building a crystal radio set and learning to work in a darkroom when she was six years old. It later meant taking both bugle and harp lessons, as well as learning to fly and to scuba dive.
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2 comments:
I saw in the article that Bp. Jeffers-Schori went to a convent school run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. If this is the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ), then they are such a woooonderfully subversive group of nuns. I had a liturgy class taught by an RSCJ nun (not saying who or where, mind you), and one day during a class on the Eucharist, she led a "Meditation on Bread and Wine." She made it clear this was NOT a Eucharist but simply a group meditation on the sharing of bread and wine as Jesus did with his disciples. ;-) That's also in addition to telling us how to use RC canon law to get around newer directives on the liturgy put out by the Vatican.
The words and actions of Bishop Katharine are heaven sent! Yes she is still human and though some don't understand her position on B-033, the end all and be all of her reign as PB does not rest on one issue but on all issues relevant to the inclusion of all the baptized and the mission of the Episcopal Church to bring Christ's love and care through us, His messengers, to all the world. Long live the Reign of God and Her instrument, Bishop Katharine!
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