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Consecration of Church's Second Woman Bishop 'Points to the Future'

Episcopal News Service. December 3, 1992 [92237]

A week after the Church of England voted to move ahead with the ordination of women to the priesthood -- and while the nation's Roman Catholic bishops meeting a few blocks away fretted over a pastoral letter limiting the role of women in the church -- the Diocese of Washington (DC) consecrated the Episcopal Church's second woman bishop as a "symbol of hope" for women around the world.

"I am a symbol of the inclusiveness of God," the Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon told a press conference on November 19, the morning of her consecration. With a mixture of grace and self-confidence, Dixon fielded questions about her election and what she meant by inclusiveness. While some people still oppose the ordination of women, Dixon said that her election was a "sign that the spirit of God moves in new ways throughout the world." When asked about her controversial support of the ordination of gays and lesbians, Dixon made it clear that she is committed to the "inclusion of all people of God."

Anyone searching the service at Washington National Cathedral for symbols of inclusiveness found them easily. During the Eucharist, for example, all the world's women Anglican bishops gathered at the altar -- all three of them. Dixon was joined by Bishop Barbara Harris of Massachusetts, consecrated in 1989 as the Anglican Communion's first woman bishop, and Bishop Penelope Jamieson of New Zealand, the first and only woman to head a diocese. And dozens of women priests fanned throughout the cathedral to serve the congregation, mixing among people of many races and nationalities.

The courage of her convictions

Alluding to Dixon's firm position on inclusiveness, lay theologian and mentor Verna Dozier said in her sermon, "Jane is a person who has the courage of her convictions but the grace and humility to know that none of us can equate our ways with God's ways, our thoughts with God's thoughts."

Contending that Dixon's openness on the ordination issue cost her an election in another diocese, Dozier said, "For the first time in history, the Episcopal Church in the United States is on the verge of schism between those who see the faith as absolutely once delivered and those who see God as always doing a new thing."

Two voices of objection during the service contended that the election was "divisive," but objections were swept aside when Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning said that the issues had been dealt with during the election and the subsequent consent process.

In announcing his intention to continue, Browning said that "it is clear that there is broad, informed and enthusiastic support in both this diocese and in the larger church" for the consecration of Dixon. When the presiding bishop asked, "Is it your will that we ordain Jane a bishop?" the cathedral erupted with a resounding, "That is our will," followed by sustained applause.

While the congregation intoned, "Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire," 28 bishops surrounded the kneeling bishop-elect. With outstretched arms, using an ancient rite to communicate and pass on authority, the bishops welcomed the latest addition to the historic episcopate, the 876th bishop in the American succession.

Not an easy path

Dixon's path to the priesthood and episcopate was not an easy one, she acknowledged. Speaking to the Episcopal Women's Caucus in September, Dixon movingly wove together her own personal story, beginning with strong support from a mother and grandmother during a privileged Presbyterian childhood in Mississippi, college at Vanderbilt, "following the track for proper young Southern women into marriage," a short teaching career and life as a mother and wife in suburban Washington.

Election to her vestry and a mentoring conversation with Dozier, who urged her to "be who you are," changed Dixon's life. Dixon told the caucus meeting that she "stepped out of the kitchen into a new and different world" and, at the age of 40, enrolled in seminary.

Following her graduation and ordination as a deacon in 1981, Dixon said that it was very difficult to find a parish situation but eventually, with the support of the late Bishop John Walker of Washington, Dixon went to St. Philip's in Washington in 1986, the second woman in the diocese to serve as a rector. She described those vital years, wrestling together with the people of God, almost wistfully, acknowledging that she will miss that intimate relationship with a parish now that she is a bishop.

A bishop for the parishes

Bishop Dixon will, however, be spending a great deal of her time with the parishes of the diocese. "Bishop Dixon will have the specific responsibility of overseeing our mission churches, including university ministries," Bishop Ronald Haines said in describing the episcopal partnership in the Diocese of Washington. Alluding to Dixon's experience as former president of the diocesan standing committee, Haines said that "she also will provide episcopal oversight for our ordination process, as well as for clergy deployment."

Haines said that he shared "in the joy that we are an inclusive church -- certainly not a perfect one but one growing in grace. There is much to be done, but Jane's election and consecration point to the future."