Five years ago, Jefferts Schori, 52, left Corvallis, where she had been assistant rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan, to become the bishop of Nevada. Now, she is preparing to leave that diocese to become presiding bishop of the 2.4 million members of the U.S. church.

The Episcopal Church (USA) is one of 38 provinces in the worldwide Anglican Communion. In 2004, conservative leaders of the communion issued the Windsor Report, which proposed that the Episcopal Church place a moratorium on the ordination of openly gay bishops and stop blessing same-sex unions.

As the 75th General Convention ended June 21 in Columbus, Ohio, delegates approved a resolution that fell short of the Windsor Report's demands. The House of Deputies, at Jefferts Schori's urging, agreed to "exercise restraint" in electing bishops "whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

This week, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, proposed a two-tiered solution that would divide the Anglican provinces between "constituent churches" with decision-making privileges and "churches in association" without them.

Jefferts Schori recently spoke with The Oregonian about her Oregon connections, her shift from science to the sacred and the challenges she will face when she takes office in November.

Years after you graduated from Oregon State University with graduate degrees in oceanography, you decided to become an Episcopalian pastor. How does a scientist shift to the study of theology?

[i]In the Middle Ages, theology was called the queen of the sciences. What science means is a way of knowing, of seeking knowledge. The kind of science that I did as an oceanographer involved looking at the world in all its diversity and making sense out of that. The kind of knowing that I'm engaged in now involves meaning issues: Why are we here? What are human beings' roles in creation? How do we live together? I see them as complementary ways of looking at the world.

When I'm feeling flip, I tell people that I'm still fishing.
[/i]
How does your church experience in Oregon compare with your new national responsibilities?
[i]
The challenges of the church in Oregon had to do with smaller congregations in rural settings and urban congregations with different challenges. They were all beginning to wrestle with multicultural issues. Small-church vitality is close to my heart. Two-thirds of the parishes in the Episcopal Church are small churches. They have fewer than 75 people on Sunday mornings.[/i]

Was the church in Oregon divided over gay rights during your tenure here?

[i]I left in the beginning of 2001, so my involvement predated the election of Gene Robinson (the practicing gay bishop of New Hampshire), but issues of sexuality were matters of conversation. I recall that the parish I served in Corvallis was a participant in a discussion of human sexuality in the late 1990s. Around the diocese, people were talking about it.[/i]

How would you describe the process of becoming nominated for the office of presiding bishop?

[i]It was a struggle. Several people over the years suggested it to me. About three years ago, the bishops had to elect someone to serve on the nominating committee. I thought I would be interested in doing that. And one of the bishops said, "You can't. We can't elect someone who might be eligible as a candidate." I thought that was pretty ridiculous, and I told him so. I had only been a bishop for two years. I was a woman. I was pretty young. I was serving one of the smaller dioceses in the church.[/i]

Once the voting began, did you think about withdrawing because of the tension your election might create?

[i]No. If you say yes to being nominated, you are saying yes to the movement of the Spirit.[/i]

The response to your election has been described as "wan" on the archbishop's part and almost hostile from other quarters. One pastor said you would not be welcome in his diocese. What do you make of these reactions?

[i]They are quite predictable. There are three dioceses in this country that don't ordain women. No one expects these bishops to respond any differently. I can understand that my presence among the rest of the primates is going to challenge some of them, and that it might make the archbishop of Canterbury's job harder.[/i]

Will you be the only woman sitting at that global table of primates?

[i]Yes. But I've spent most of my adult life as a woman in occupations that are primarily male-dominated. It's where I've always functioned.[/i]

In your homily at the closing session of the General Convention, you said, "We children can continue to squabble over the inheritance or claim our name and heritage as God's beloved." Did you have your critics in mind?

[i]That wasn't in my consciousness as I wrote it. I was trying to address the challenges of the convention and what people would face when they got home.[/i]

And what were those challenges?

[i]We had just finished wrestling with our responses to the Windsor Report. It had been a challenging road. We did the best we could have done at this point in our history. We have to all be willing to stretch, especially with people who are the most challenging.[/i]

How far you can stretch?

[i]We're all human beings. We all have our limits. I don't know what mine are.[/i]

Is a schism or break in the Anglican Communion the worst thing that could happen during your nine-year tenure?

[i]I think that the worst thing that could happen would be for the church to forget why it's here, to forget our mission. That mission looks different in different places. We can work at healing the world around us, at transforming the communities in which we live -- or we can spend our time arguing.[/i]

As presiding bishop, will you need to set aside your personal convictions on gay rights for the greater good of the church?

[i]That is a piece of who I am. I am not going to set that aside. It is a piece of my vocation.[/i]

The Oregonian
nancyhaught@news.oregonian.com

http://www.nvdiocese.org/BISHOPSPAGES/Oregonian06.07.01.htm