After almost an hour of answering sharply pointed questions at length,
when asked “What do you think LGBT folks should do now?” the Presiding
Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, didn’t hesitate — and
she didn’t go on and on either.
“I think it’s more about being. Being holy people.” And she
left it there.
That answer epitomizes the two sides of our new Presiding Bishop that emerged
during a late November sit-down with Integrity at the church’s headquarters
in New York City. The Presiding Bishop can be analytical, like the scientist
she is. She holds things up to the light, looks at them from all sides, and
then she makes her observations. But like the priest she also is, ++Katharine
can be very clear on where she stands with God.
Good. Clarity is what everyone, Integrity included, is looking for.
We sat in the Presiding Bishop’s office, which was quite pleasant but
almost bare. She’d just moved in after all. There was a canoe paddle
propped in the corner — presumably in case she found herself up
the proverbial creek without one — but as the interview began, the Presiding
Bishop didn’t seem to be in a joking mood.
Unbeknownst to the outside world, she had just the day before helped hammer
out the momentous primatial vicar proposal. And now, the day after, she
was cycling through a series of get-acquainted meetings with all The Episcopal
Church Center staff. So in that moment, she was revealing another contrast — the
serious player who is seriously tired.
Immediately, I asked “What did you mean when you told a Washington Post
reporter in early November that the church would have to refrain from the election
of gay bishops and the creation of rites of same-sex blessings ‘for a
season?’ Just how long is a ‘season?’”
++Katharine admitted, “I don’t think anyone knows. What the convention
[General Convention 2006] did was call for a pause in what we’re doing
for now.” Then in what might be considered the understatement of the
triennium, the Presiding Bishop continued, “We’re waiting to see
if it was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do.” I reminded
her that at General Convention in June she had said the issue of a moratorium
on additional gay bishops “has to be revisited in the very near future.” I
asked whether the evolution in her language from “the very near
future” to “a season” reflected an evolution in her thinking?
“No, no. I don’t think anybody is saying — and I am certainly
not encouraging people to say — we don’t need to continue to investigate
and wrestle with this issue. It’s certainly not something that is going
to go away for the rest of the Communion.” While the LGBT members of
her flock wrestle with both the immediate future of their lives in the church
today and building for the millennium, the Presiding Bishop takes the long
view on LGBT inclusion, “Part of the charism of the church on this continent
has always been to encourage the wider church to look at challenging
issues. I think that’s part of who we are, part of our gift, even though
it is a gift that’s not always welcome.” (If there was a tea leaf
to be read among her statements, this understanding of “our gift” might
be the most predictive.)
Looking around the office with its soothing green carpets and cushy furniture,
this interviewer’s mind turned to Barbi Click. Barbi is an out lesbian
who’s just been elected to the board of Integrity and who is struggling
with the schismatic situation in her home diocese of Fort Worth. (Look for
Barbi’s “Letter from Fort Worth” elsewhere in this issue
of the Voice.) I described Barbi’s predicament and asked ++Katharine, “Do
you have words of hope for the Barbi Clicks of the church?”
It turned out that the Presiding Bishop knows Barbi Click. “I have corresponded
with her.” What about those words of hope? “The rest of the church
is praying for people in dioceses where they are feeling burdened, oppressed
by the decisions of their leadership, and I think that’s true on both
ends of the issue.” If that response sounded rote, the next thing she
said sounded anything but: “I think our gift as Episcopalians has
always been to embrace that breadth, that diverse set of understandings and
to say that we’re all welcome because it’s God’s table, not
our table.” (Integrity’s emphasis.)
Katharine Jefferts Schori was catching her second wind. The energy and the
engagement in the room changed noticeably.
After 30 years of advocacy for the LGBT faithful, did she ever see a day when
Integrity would be able to go out of business? The Presiding Bishop was sanguine. “This
isn’t a challenge that’s going to go away in the next year, in
the next five years, or the next 20 years; but if I talk to young people today,
people under 30, this is not an issue for 90 percent of them. It’s simply
not part of their world view.” She seemed to be implying, hold on, the
future is on your side.
If so, her example of Galileo, whose scientific breakthroughs took 500 years
to achieve church acceptance wasn’t encouraging. Then she cited the 150
years since slavery that it has taken the church to begin liberating itself
from racism. The Presiding Bishop was clearly not talking about “the
very near future.” (Galileo’s back in the news; elsewhere in the
Voice look for our reprint of Buzz Thomas’ USA Today piece about the
revolutionary scientist and threats to the church’s moral authority.)
Since ++Katharine herself had brought up the example of slaves literally being
counted as partial human beings in antebellum times, I asked her “By
placing limits on the roles and ministry that gay and lesbian people can
have and the ways that their lives and relationships can be celebrated, isn’t
the church saying that gay and lesbian people are not quite as fully present
in the Body of Christ as other people?”
“I can certainly see that that perception is accurate,” she
answered in her best biologist’s voice.
We spoke about the challenges to evangelism among the LGBT community
created by anti-gay actions like B033’s prohibitions. In particular,
the United Church of Christ is unequivocal in its support of gay and lesbian
people and has a very successful evangelism campaign called “God Is Still
Speaking” targeted at marginalized populations. How, I asked, would
she and her office be encouraging evangelism outreach to gays and lesbians?
The formidably informed Katharine Jefferts Schori appeared to be stumped. On
reflection, it seemed to her that domestic evangelism in general could use
a higher profile in The Episcopal Church. She answered my question with
her own question “How do we raise consciousness about evangelism in the
broad sense?” But she also got the drift: as Integrity has been emphasizing
for some years, The Episcopal Church has an evangelical opportunity with
LGBT people that we are squandering by sending them mixed signals.
For instance, I asked, did she know that, as of our late November meeting,
when visitors go to The Episcopal Church website and enter a search for “gay
and lesbian ministries” they get a link to Integrity? That’s
not all bad. Integrity has a bodacious website, and it was immediately commended
to the Presiding Bishop. But only a link to Integrity? The larger church has
nothing of its own to say to lesbian and gay people on its website?
The Presiding Bishop was grateful for this “bit of consciousness
raising.” Luckily, Canon Robert Williams, the Director of Communications
for The Episcopal Church, was sitting in and the high-level executive side
of ++Katharine made a brief appearance when she asked Canon Williams to
look into the situation.
High-level questions seemed to be in order, too. I asked whether, as the once-inclusive
Archbishop of Canterbury apparently has been, “Now that you’re
Presiding Bishop, have you felt pressured to moderate your position on homosexuality?”
She answered right away, “I think I’ve been pretty clear about
what my position is. That’s my position.” Then she drew a
distinction between her personal position and the church’s, saying “The
church has taken a stand at General Convention that says we’re going
to pause with this for a bit, and my feeling is to go forward.” The mixed
response suggested that the Presiding Bishop is still working through
the boundaries between her personal and ecclesial commitments.
Time was running out, and there was still much more on my gay agenda. In a
discussion about last year’s immigration protests and “The Day
Without Latinos,” I asked what she thought a “Sunday without Gays” in
The Episcopal Church might look like. Chilled and intrigued, she answered, “It
would be very lonely. It would be very lonely. Very interesting. That whole
image.”
In all likelihood, a partnered lesbian or gay priest is going to be elected
bishop while she, ++Katharine, is Presiding Bishop. On that key aspect of the
struggle toward inclusion, I wondered whether she would ask the diocesan
bishops and standing committees to refrain from consent in such cases. Her
answer? “I have thus far been clear that my role is not to interfere
in the consent process.”
Not so quick. I followed up, asking, “Okay, but let’s say
if there was such an election and consent, would you participate in the consecration
of such a bishop?”
She answered, “The Presiding Bishop’s role is to preside at the
consecration of new bishops whenever possible.”
The Presiding Bishop’s role also appears to be to say as little to offend
her diverse flock as possible. Inevitably, she will have to offend someone.
With that in mind, and her vow to “guard the faith, unity, and discipline
of the Church,” I asked her for a reaction to the fact that gay
weddings appear to be taking place within the physical confines of Episcopal
churches in Massachusetts? That is, civil authorities are apparently marrying
same-sex couples and then clergy complete the ceremonies for those assembled.
We talked about one very public instance where, if The New York Times Weddings & Celebrations
section is to be trusted, in November 2005, a state senator married two gay
men, and then the Bishop of Massachusetts, Thomas Shaw, celebrated the Eucharist.
(See http://tinyurl.com/ylknh6 for the full article. Integrity asked, via e-mail,
for comment from Bishop Shaw’s office, but had not received a reply before
going to press.) After some fact-checking and discussion amongst all in
the room, the Presiding Bishop knew what she wanted to say: “I think
it is always appropriate to go to church and bless that which is good.”
And with that Katharine Jefferts Schori unexpectedly broke into a broad, warm
smile that was light-years removed from the tense grin with which she had begun
the interview. The smile, and the relaxation, was infectious.
Counting the month she had spent essentially on the road since her investiture,
the Presiding Bishop had had only a few days to settle into her new big-city
home when we talked in late November. I asked her what it felt like to go from
the land of the Grand Canyon to the glass and steel canyons of New York
City.
“I’m looking for wild things, but I’m not finding many,” she
said. To my remark that she wouldn’t have much trouble finding wild things
in New York City, she laughed “A different kind!” And then
she added wistfully, “I think that’s what I miss more than anything.”
After an observation that she was a long way from Nevada, the Presiding Bishop
corrected me. “The natives say N’vaaduh.” They use a flat,
extended, short “a.”
Thus reminded that most of Katharine Jefferts Schori’s adult life has
been spent in the far west of the country, I wanted to know more about how
a boot-wearing Westerner got to be a full-inclusion supporter. Noting that
she had consented to Gene Robinson’s consecration and spoken in
favor of a Nevada diocesan convention resolution permitting same-sex blessings,
I asked, “How did you come to that place of affirmation for yourself?”
No surprise, it took her “a season,” and science had a lot to do
with it.
“It certainly wasn’t something that came to me overnight. As a
biologist I look at the natural world where
same-sex behavior is present in many, many, many species. Today we can look
at sexual development happening very early in a person’s life. As a person
of faith I would look at that and say, it happens before the age of reason;
it’s a matter of creation, not a matter of choice.”
The Presiding Bishop takes that personal journey and applies it to the church.
She thinks, “It’s really the church’s task to help all Christians
to live holy lives. I think God created us, most of us, as sexual beings, and
we’re meant to express that sexuality in healthy ways. Therefore, I believe
it’s the church’s job to help us get that idea. And we haven’t
really come there yet, in it fullness. The issue with Gene Robinson’s
consents would have been far clearer if we as a church had gotten to a
place of saying, well, here is a way for appropriate sexual expression for
people of same sex orientation. We hadn’t done that yet. We still haven’t
done that.”
What remains to be seen is whether we will get to that place of fully including
LGBT people in the holy life of the church — and how this scientist-priest,
this woman who searches for wild things, will make her way through the thicket
of the church’s current schismatic politics. Will she be able to change
it or will it change her? Will she figure out how long “a season” is,
or needs to be, for the good of the church? Will the Communion embrace or shun
her? And whatever happens for the Presiding Bishop, how much longer will LGBT
people have to wait to claim the full and equal blessings and responsibilities
of their church? All questions for another interview. And as it happens
we’ve got nine years to schedule it in.