5:15 PM Hyatt Regency Ballroom
The Rev. Canon Bob Williams, Moderator, Director of Communications, Episcopal New Service, introduced the Most Rev. Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop. He was attired in a black cassock with a red bishop’s sash at his waist. He introduced the Presiding Bishop-elect. They stood together at the lectern for photos for a moment, then he sat down.
The Presiding Bishop-Elect Addresses the Press:
“Thank you, Dean Werner. It is a great honor and privilege to be with you. I am awed and honored and deeply privileged to be elected. [Then she repeated this phrase in Spanish – very good Spanish.] I give thanks for all of my brother bishops who walked this journey with me. I hope their dioceses have been blessed as they walked this journey with me.
“I have deep and abiding thanks for the wide and prayerful example of Presiding Bishop Griswold and I pray that he stay healthy until November. [Muffled laughter; no applause.]
“I need to publicly express my thanks for the love and support of my husband Dick Schori. He already had to leave his home once to follow into the surprising ministry his wife has been called to and will have to do that again. Daughter Kate and her husband Aaron are here with us. [polite applause]
“And finally I need to thank the people of Nevada, who called a stranger to dream with them in the dessert. We have pushed and prodded and made a good way there even better. The hardest part of the day will be to say adios. God will continue with them but it will not be easy to go.
“May the will of God prevail in building the church of our day. Glory to God for doing more than we can imagine. Glory to God in Christ Jesus, forever and ever. Amen.”
Canon Williams took the lectern and questions began.
-What are the implications of your election on International relationships?
“Face to face. People build relationships face to face. 30 years ago I was chief scientist on oceanographic cruise. Captain wouldn’t talk to me simply because I was a woman. That lasted about 15 minutes and then he got over it. That incident has shaped my thinking about building relationships.”
--Would you talk to us about how you see the “Reign of God?”
“The Reign of God is the grand vision in Isaiah: one in which Jesus reads from the Torah in his first public ministry in Nazareth. In this passage, the poor are fed; have good news preached to them and the blind have their sight restored and the sick are healed. Justice and Peace will reign in this season.”
--What message does your election send to the Anglican Communion?
“God welcomes all to His table. TEC [The new acronym for The Episcopal Church. No, we are not ECUSA any longer.] has always been a strong voice, insisting that all marginalized are especially welcome at the table.”
--The new Secretary General will take his/her seat at UN in January. How will you relate Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) that you have adopted to him?
“I look forward to meeting and working with this person. The MDG’s are about feeding the poor, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. All great religions have these concepts at their core.”
--Those alienated by the consecration of V. Gene Robinson and your election. What do you say to them?
“Alienation is about not knowing another person. I will bend over backwards to build relationships with those who disagree with my election.”
--Your election looks like just another step in the radical progressivism the Episcopal Church is caught up in. Last week, a resolution passed the House of Deputies stating that the Bible is Anti-Jewish. George Gallup says Episcopalians come to church less than any other denomination. How would you respond?
“The Bible is not an anti-Jewish document; it is founded in the Jewish religion. All need to learn from where we have risen.”
--You served on a Commission on Anglican Communion. How does that inform your ministry?
“Sitting down, face to face with a broad spectrum of people with many ideas and different points of view, gives us the opportunity to build relationships with those who we might not have sought to build relationships with.”
--Your election appears to be one more point in very isolating trend that only further marginalizes the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion. Do you have a comment?
“I have gotten to know some from Anglican Communion. I know David Moxen one of the newly elected Co-Primates of New Zealand. This job will be a grand adventure that I look forward to.”
--Please tell us about your training in science and how you came to be a pilot.
“The first part of my adult life was spent as an Oceanographer, investigating things that live in the mud at the edge of the ocean. My doctoral research area was systematics, describing species and their living in a vertical sense in the mud. I dealt with fisheries problems and squid.
“My training as scientist gives me gift of looking at the world carefully, not knowing how it works but willing to investigate. I found an incredible diversity of creations and marvel at the wonder of the way we are all made.
“In college, my dad said If I passed my written exams, he would pay for flying lessons. Did so in 1972. It is an expensive hobby. I rediscovered those skills in Nevada. Especially the view one has from several thousand feet above the earth. It gives you a whole new perspective on your problems.”
--The average Anglican is black, 42 and has children and may have Aids. What can you say to her?
“The average Anglican deals with hunger, inadequate housing, unclean water and inadequate education for their children. Dealing with one’s sexuality is much higher on the list of needs after those issues are solved.”
--I am in training to be a Deacon. What can deacons do?
“Deacons take the word of God into the world and bring concerns of world into the church. They are great tools for evangelism.”
--Will you support our work on develop a rite for blessing same sex unions?
“Pastorally it is happening in many congregations and I support that but I am not the Presiding Bishop, am not on that committee. It will have to work its way through the General Conventions.”
--You will become the chief Consecrator of all new bishops. There will be those that won’t be consecrated by a woman how will you deal with that?
“The Act is not dependant on the holiness of the consecrator, but on the act of God.” [This is referent to the Thrity-Nine Articles and is an appropriate response to this question.]
--Do you agree with moratoria?
“Haven’t seen it (the resolutions); don’t know what is coming. Can’t comment
--You didn’t grow up in the Episcopal Church and so may be more willing than many to revitalize the church and get it back to evangelism. Are you a late-comer to TEC?
“My parents brought me to the Episcopal Church when I was 9. Prior to that I attended a convent school in Seattle. The nuns taught me to rejoice in God’s creation and value the life of the mind. Coming to TEC at 9 gave me a sense of community. I am a Deeply rooted Episcopalian. Second question is about structure and evangelism. Ch always needs to be nimble and agile. Executive Committee needs to ask those hard questions: What functions well and what doesn’t and then act on those things that do no work.”
--Do you support repentance for consecration of V. Gene Robinson?
“I do not sense any willingness to repent of that action. We are willing to repent for hurt and lack of consultation. Don’t know what that committee will bring to us and can not comment.”
--As a new person in leading Spanish ministry what is your thought? Would you consider moving the Church Center out of New York City?
“I want to include all language groups and all tribes, all nations, all kinds of people. We are all immigrants. None would be here without the human urge to move. I was in Mexico during the big demonstrations last month and it was import to hear from the people in Mexico why people have to come to the United States to earn a decent living.
--Would you comment on the peace process in Israel and Palestine.
“No one would deny that there needs to be reconciliation. They come from the same tribes and same people-group roots, if you go back far enough. This church may still have an opportunity to be a vehicle for reconciliation there. And I hope so. “
--Will the Executive Council divest from Israel?
“Don’t know. Ask me in November.”
AT this time, her family joined her on the dais and the press was invited to take pictures. Someone joked with Dick Schori, ”Hey are you used to this yet?” His reply, “I don’t think I will ever get used to this.”
