Woman elected as Episcopal leader: Move may add friction to the rocky relations among Anglicans
COLUMBUS, OHIO - In a shocker, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada was elected Sunday as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the first woman leader in the 215-year history of the denomination and the first woman elected head of a national church in the Anglican Communion. Denominational liberals hailed Jefferts Schori’s election, but conservatives were dismayed. Jefferts Schori voted for the consecration of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson three years ago and is supportive of blessings for same-sex unions.
Why does this even have to be an issue? Who CARES that a woman was elected as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church? Will we ever see the day when CHristains stop worrying about things that don’t matter and focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ- which, allegedly, is why the Episcopal Church exists in the first place?
I know nothing about Katherine Jefferts Schori, and to be honest I care even less. I have nothing against her, but neither am I particularly interested in the internal political convulsions of a Christian denomination. Honestly, if these folks cannot get past choking on the idea of a woman in a leadership position, they’re little more than misogynistic hypocrites who do refuse to recognize the basic humanity and equality of all human beings.
Is it as simple as Conservative, inflexible men feeling threatened by the reality that women are every bit as capable of running the day to day affairs of the Church? Are these knuckle-dragging troglodytes so wedded to their idea of women as second-class citizens that they cannotrecognize that there is no Biblical justification to deny women the opportunity to lead?
Conservatives predicted that the election would roil already rocky relations with the worldwide Anglican Communion.
“It seems to me a gesture of defiance,” said Bishop Jack Iker of Forth Worth. “It adds fuel to the fire of division and separation.”
Defiance? Of whom? The well-fed men who have historically called the shots? Where in the Bible does it state definitively that women are not fit to lead? Perhaps it’s about damn time that a woman got a shot; it’s not as if the men have such a bang-up job running things. All they’ve managed to do is to create a church hierarchy more concerned with rules, exclusivity, and the maintenance of the traditional patriarchal order of things than the teaching of Jesus Christ, which they profess to be following.
Liberals, however, rejoiced. “I am ecstatic,” said Robinson as bishops returned from voting at nearby Trinity Episcopal Church to the Greater Columbus Convention Center where the denomination’s General Convention is under way. “I think she is going to be a wonderful presiding bishop and primate (national church leader),” Robinson said.
“My heart is bursting and I hope yours is, too,” said Jefferts Schori as she addressed the more than 800 clergy and lay delegates of the House of Deputies.
Why are Episcopal leaders not celebrating this historic change of leadership? Could it be because the men feel threathened? Clearly, the age-old patriarchy is in danger of going the way of the dinosaur…and I imagine some of the old guard is none too happy about it. This should be cause for celebration. Perhaps now the Epsicopal Church can finally get down to the business of following the teachings of Christ, instead of worrying about to exclude and marginalize those whose gender or lifestyle some within the Church feel render them second-class citizens. How CHrist-like is that?
