Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori
26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church
Jefferts Schori during her term as Presiding Bishop (2010)
Church	Episcopal Church
In office	2006–2015
Predecessor	Frank Griswold
Successor	Michael Curry
Other post(s)	Bishop Assisting of Los Angeles Diocese(2019-2024) Assistant Bishop of Wyoming (2024)
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Nevada (2001-2006)
Orders
Ordination	1994 (priest)
Consecration	February 24, 2001 by Jerry Lamb
Personal details
Born	(1954-03-26) March 26, 1954 (age 70) Pensacola, Florida, United States
Denomination	Episcopal
Parents	Keith Jefferts Elaine Ryan
Spouse	Richard Schori
Children	Katharine
Alma mater	Stanford University Oregon State University Pacific Church Divinity School

Katharine Jefferts Schori (born March 26, 1954) is the former Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Previously elected as the 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, she was the first woman elected as a primate in the Anglican Communion. Jefferts Schori was elected at the 75th General Convention on June 18, 2006, and invested at Washington National Cathedral on November 4, 2006, and continued until November 1, 2015, when Michael Bruce Curry was invested in the position. She took part in her first General Convention of the Episcopal Church as Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in July 2009.

She is serving as Assistant Bishop of Wyoming in July 2024.

Early and family life

Of Irish and Swiss ancestry, Jefferts Schori was born in Pensacola, Florida to Keith Jefferts, an atomic physicist, and Elaine Ryan, a microbiologist. Jefferts Schori was first raised in the Catholic Church. In 1963, her parents brought her, at the age of eight, into the Episcopal Church (St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, New Providence, New Jersey) with their own move out of Roman Catholicism. Her mother converted to Eastern Orthodoxy a few years later and died in 1998.

Jefferts Schori attended school in New Jersey, then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Stanford University in 1974, a Master of Science degree in oceanography in 1977, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1983, also in oceanography, from Oregon State University. She is an instrument-rated pilot, and both her parents were pilots.

She married Richard Schori, an Oregon State professor of topology, in 1979; they have a daughter.

Early career

Jefferts Schori earned her Master of Divinity in 1994 from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and was ordained priest that year. She served as assistant rector to William R. McCarthy at the Church of the Good Samaritan, in Corvallis, Oregon, where she had special responsibility for pastoring the Hispanic community as a fluent Spanish communicator, and was in charge of adult education programs.

In 2001, Jefferts Schori was elected and consecrated Bishop of Nevada.

She was awarded honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 2001, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in 2007, and Sewanee: The University of the South in 2008.

In 2003, Jefferts Schori voted to consent to the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered man, to which some conservative Episcopalians objected.

Election as Presiding Bishop

The Episcopal Church met in General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, in June 2006. Jefferts Schori was elected to serve a nine-year term as Presiding Bishop by the House of Bishops, on June 18, from among seven nominees on the fifth ballot with 95 of the 188 votes cast. The House of Deputies, consisting of deacons, priests and laity, overwhelmingly approved the House of Bishops' election later that day. Jefferts Schori was the first woman primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion and the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Although Jefferts Schori's election was an indication of widespread support in the Episcopal Church in the United States for ordaining women to the historical episcopate, the Diocese of Fort Worth, which opposed women in holy orders, asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to place the Diocese under the oversight of a different primate. As not all churches in the Anglican Communion uphold the ordination of women, the election of a woman as primate also proved controversial in some other provinces.

At a news conference on June 18, 2006, the Presiding Bishop-elect articulated a willingness to work with conservatives. She expressed her hope to lead the church in the reign of God, rooted in imagery from Isaiah and including such United Nations Millennium Development Goals as eradicating poverty and hunger: "The poor are fed, the Good News is preached, those who are ostracized and in prison are set free, the blind receive sight."

Jefferts Schori became Presiding Bishop on November 1, 2006, and her investiture was held on November 4 at Washington National Cathedral. Her official seating was held the following day, also at the National Cathedral.

Jefferts Schori was the 963rd bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church. She was consecrated by Jerry A. Lamb, Bishop of Northern California; Robert Louis Ladehoff, Bishop of Oregon; and Carolyn Tanner Irish, Bishop of Utah.

Presiding Bishop

In 2008, groups from four dioceses (Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy, and San Joaquin) broke off to become part of the Anglican Church in North America as part of the Anglican realignment. Jefferts Schori authorized lawsuits against departing dioceses and parishes, with $22 million spent as of 2011. She also established a policy that church properties were not to be sold to departing congregations.

Jefferts Schori supported same-sex relationships and of the blessing of same-sex unions and civil marriages. Like her predecessor, she is a supporter of abortion rights, stating that "We say it is a moral tragedy but that it should not be the government's role to deny its availability." She also supported the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate on birth control. In 2007, her church's blessing of same-sex marriage led 7 Anglican archbishops to refuse communion with her during a meeting in Tanzania.

After her opening address to the 2009 General Convention, some within the church questioned her remarks regarding salvation, prompting a clarifying statement from her in the following week. In 2013, Jefferts Schori's sermon in Curaçao about Paul driving out a demon from a slave girl (Acts 16:16–34), drew criticism from conservative Christian websites for her interpretation.

End of term

Jefferts Schori announced on September 23, 2014, that she would not seek another term as Presiding Bishop. On June 27, 2015, the General Convention elected Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina as the 27th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

From 2017 to 2019, Jefferts Schori was an assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego.

Since 2019, Jefferts Schori is one of the assisting bishops in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

References

^ Banerjee, Neela (June 21, 2006). "For an Episcopal Pioneer, the Challenge Is to Unite". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
Carole Beers (April 7, 1998). "Obituaries: Elaine Ryan; To Her Life Was Just A Smorgasbord To Be Sampled". Seattle Times Newspaper.
Presiding Bishop: Biography Archived 2011-07-02 at the Wayback Machine. Episcopalchurch.org (2001-02-24). Retrieved on 2010-11-25.
"Presiding bishop candidates". Episcopal Life Archives. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009.
Goodstein, Laurie (February 21, 2007). "Many Episcopalians Wary, Some Defiant After Ultimatum by Anglicans". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
Davey, Monica (August 6, 2003). "Gay Bishop Wins in Episcopal Vote; Split Threatened". The New York Times.
Banerjee, Neela (November 5, 2006). "A Woman Is Installed as Top Episcopal Bishop". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
Goodstein, Laurie (December 3, 2008). "Episcopal Split as Conservatives Form New Group". New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
Hemingway, Mollie Ziegler. "Twenty-First Century Excommunication". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
Hagerty, Barbara Bradley (April 10, 2012). "A Church Divided: Ruling Ends Va.'s Episcopal Battle". National Public Radio. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
^ Kaleem, Jaweed (March 27, 2012). "Katharine Jefferts Schori, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop, Speaks About Gay Clergy And Birth Control, 27 March 2012". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
LaFraniere, Sharon; Goodstein, Laurie (February 17, 2007). "Anglican Prelates Snub Head of U.S. Church Over Gay Issues". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
Kwon, Lillian (August 28, 2009). "Episcopal Head Clarifies 'Heresy' Comments". The Christian Post. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
Chemberlin, Peg (July 12, 2009). "Great Western heresy — that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God?". Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
Oppenheimer, Mark (June 21, 2013). "For Episcopal Church's Leader, a Sermon Leads to More Dissent". The New York Times. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
Jefferts Schori, Katharine (September 23, 2014). "From Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori". EpiscopalChurch.org. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014. I recognize that standing for election as Presiding Bishop carries the implicit expectation that one is ready to serve a full term. I do not at present believe I should serve and lead in this ministry for another nine years.
Schjonberg, Mary Frances (June 27, 2015), "North Carolina Bishop Michael Curry elected as 27th Presiding Bishop: History-making decision will bring first person of color into church's top leadership office", Episcopal News Service, The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, archived from the original on January 18, 2016, retrieved June 27, 2015
"Katharine Jefferts Schori to be assisting bishop in San Diego". Episcopal Church. June 29, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2018.

External links

Episcopal Church elects first woman Presiding Bishop — Episcopal News Service
News article on her taking her leave from the Church of the Good Samaritan
In Their Own Words: Katharine Jefferts Schori Archived June 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine — Witness Magazine
Interview with the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada Archived August 31, 2006, at the Wayback Machine — Witness Magazine
Into the Breach: Interview with Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori — Guardian UK
State of the Church: Questions for Katharine Jefferts Schori - New York Times Magazine
Katharine Jefferts Schori Oral History Interview

Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded byStewart Zabriskie	Bishop of Nevada 2001–2006	Succeeded byDan T. Edwards
Preceded byFrank Griswold	Presiding Bishop 2006–2015	Succeeded byMichael Curry

v t e Presiding Bishops in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
By seniority	William White Samuel Seabury Samuel Provoost William White Alexander Griswold Philander Chase Thomas Brownell John Hopkins Benjamin Smith Alfred Lee John Williams Thomas Clark Daniel S. Tuttle Alexander Garrett Ethelbert Talbot
By election	John Murray Charles Anderson DeWolf Perry Henry Tucker Henry Sherrill Arthur Lichtenberger John Hines John Allin Edmond Browning Frank Griswold Katharine Jefferts Schori Michael Curry Sean W. Rowe

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