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EPISCOPAL CHURCH’S TOP BISHOP VISITS PB

By Larry Fugate/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, January 8, 2007 9:14 AM CST

The Most Right Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, wore a chasuble and miter of purple, yellow, red and orange, representing the colors of sunrise, Sunday morning as she entered Trinity Episcopal Church, the oldest church in the Arkansas diocese.

Earlier in the morning she said some members of the denomination have lost the focus of the Episcopal goal to evangelize and aid the needy.

Schori readily acknowledged a number of Episcopal churches have affirmed their membership in the worldwide Anglican Communion after first distancing themselves from the American-based denomination over issues of homosexuality and the ordination of women.

She attended a reception in her honor at Grace Episcopal Church, followed by a question-and-answer session in the church sanctuary. She then delivered the sermon at Trinity during a joint worship service of Pine Bluff’s two Episcopal congregations.

Both appearances were marked by laughter and applause.

She told a reporter during the reception at Grace that there are a number of women in the clergy, so she believes gender is really less an issue than many might believe in the schism.

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl Clark, rector of Grace, called the first visit by a presiding bishop of the church to Pine Bluff an “historic day,” describing the first female bishop of the church as “an extraordinary woman.’

Schori is the first woman to head any national church within the Anglican Communion.

The heart of the church’s mission “is to love each other and that means caring for your neighbors,” she said, and arguing about finer points of church doctrine is not on the list of the denomination’s goals.

One questioner at Grace drew laughter when she asked Schori what was the one question raised most often when she addresses Episcopal organizations.

Anglican Communion “is alive and well,” Jefferts Schori said in response. She also acknowledged that several primates have indicated they did not want to be seated at the same table with her when the church leaders meet later this year.

Evangelism, justice and peace are common goals among Episcopalians, she said, encouraging members to explain their views to others.

“We are about embracing the world and saying ‘y’all come,’ ” she added. She encouraged church members “to listen to people who are hungry.”

Evangelism means many things in words and music, observing that it is difficult to attract young people to Episcopal churches when “you speak in Victorian English.” She cited a successful youth program in one metropolitan area that attracts young people with hip-hop.

Conservatives have also been upset because she voted for the ordination of an openly gay bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 and they worry about the reaction to her election from churches that do not accept women as bishops.

Schori has already faced a number of Episcopal congregations and dioceses rejecting her authority as church leader.

While several congregations that have voted to leave the Episcopal Church, Schori emphasized the diocese will maintain control of their buildings and other assets, noting the physical property is a legacy of the church, not a congregation.

“Our focus needs to be on feeding people who go to bed hungry at night, on providing education to the young, on healing people with AIDS, on addressing tuberculosis and malaria. That ought to be the primary focus,” she said.

Other issues dividing the church include the recognition of gay and lesbian marriages and intelligent design versus evolution.

A former oceanographer, she views religion and science “as partners.”

One woman told Schori she wanted to worship as she “saw fit.”

“You are not alone,” Schori assured her.

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