Our new Presiding Bishop - The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada

Well folks, its official - my church is still the best one in town!! From all the accounts I've been reading from GC 2006, it sounded pretty much like any other legislative meeting. But this year we made history.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH HAS ELECTED ITS FIRST WOMEN PRESIDING BISHOP!!


Katharine Jefferts Schori, 51, was consecrated the ninth Bishop of Nevada on February 24, 2001. She serves a diocese of some 6,000 members in 35 congregations. Jefferts Schori is the first woman selected as a nominee for Presiding Bishop.

Her service to the wider church includes current membership on the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion; the Board of Trustees, Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California; the CREDO Advisory Board; the House of Bishops peer coaching program; the General Board of Examining Chaplains; the Board for Church Deployment; the House of Bishops' Pastoral Development, Racism, and Planning Committees; the Court for Review of a Trial of a Bishop; the Episcopal visitor team for the Community of the Holy Spirit; and the Bishops of Small Dioceses group.

From 2001-2003 she was a member of the 20/20 Strategy Group, and served as secretary of the House of Bishops Ministry Committee at the 2003 General Convention.

She is the author of "When Conflict and Hope Abound," Vestry Papers (March-April 2005); "Building Bridges/Widening Circles" in Preaching Through Holy Days and Holidays: Sermons that Work XI, Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer, eds. Morehouse (2003); "Multicultural Issues in Preaching" in Preaching Through the Year of Matthew: Sermons That Work X, Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer, eds. Morehouse (2001); and "The Nag" in Preaching Through the Year of Luke: Sermons That Work IX, Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer, eds. Morehouse (2000). Her Maundy Thursday sermon was included in What Makes This Day Different? by David Schlafer, Cowley (1998).

She is an active, instrument-rated pilot with more than 500 hours logged.

At the time of her election as bishop of Nevada, Jefferts Schori was assistant rector at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Corvallis, Oregon, where she also served as pastoral associate, dean of the Good Samaritan School of Theology, and priest-in-charge, El Buen Samaritano, Corvallis. She was ordained deacon and priest in 1994. Prior to ordination, she was a visiting assistant professor at Oregon State University's Department of Religious Studies, a visiting scientist at Oregon State University's Department of Oceanography, and an oceanographer with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.

She received a B.S. in biology from Stanford University, 1974; an M.S. in oceanography from Oregon State University, 1977; a Ph.D. from Oregon State University, 1983; an M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 1994; and a D.D. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2001.

Jefferts Schori was born March 26, 1954, in Pensacola, Florida. She has been married to Richard Miles Schori, a retired theoretical mathematician (topologist), since 1979. They have one child, Katharine Johanna, 24, who is a second lieutenant and pilot in the US Air Force.

Perhaps the two things I personally like best about her are that she is a licensed fixed-wing pilot and - she grew up in Seattle!

The Witness published a great interview covering her ideas on subjects such as:

the moral dimensions of the federal budget

the Windsor Report and the challenge of remaining in communion

the future of the Episcopal church

multicultural and Total Ministry

There are some dioceses that will be shocked - let's be honest - shattered, by this election. But I am confident that the Holy Spirit was at work in this and this will be a new season in our church.

I attended the UNCSW meetings this year and the main focus was seeing that women must step up into positions at the head of the decision-making table in order to claim their full participation in social, environmental, and political change. This is a wonderful example of what can happen when a women takes the challenge and is recognized as the right leader for the times.

The next nine years will be full of obstacles. We are already straining the company of a Communion where gender and sexuality are used to keep people out of positions of power. This will further annoy those who are already upset at our decisions. But God has given us this time to stand up and use our voice for reconciliation and empowerment. I am so glad to be part of this church at this time.