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Episcopalians Celebrate Consecration of the Anglican Communion's First Female Bishop

Episcopal News Service. February 19, 1999 [99-003]

Tracy J. Sukraw, Editor of Episcopal Times, the Newspaper of the Diocese of Massachusetts

(ENS) The tenth anniversary of the historic consecration of Barbara C. Harris as the first woman to serve as a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion brought hundreds of Episcopalians from throughout the Episcopal Church to Boston for a weekend celebration February 13-14.

The celebration drew well wishers from the Diocese of Massachusetts and New England to three spirited liturgies, two at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul and one at St. Bartholomew's Church in Cambridge. Former presiding bishop Edmond Browning came from his retirement home in Oregon to serve as a celebrant, joined by the diocese's former bishops, John Coburn and John Burgess, the first black bishop to head a diocese in the church, as well as bishops from the dioceses of Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island.

The weekend was an opportunity for remembrance, refocusing and rededication, "a mantra that I think all of us as Christians as we face the ending of a millenium and the dawn of a new one have for ourselves," said the Rev. Edward Rodman, canon missioner of the diocese, in his sermon at St. Bartholomew's. "Are we captives of our fears -- or prisoners of our hope?" he asked the congregation.

An exhibit at the diocesan offices celebrated a decade of women in the episcopate and included numerous photos and artifacts from the election and consecration of Harris, with handwritten notes taken during the election in September 1987, badges from her attendance at the 1988 Lambeth Conference as a member of the press corps -- and 1998 when she attended as a bishop, as well as newspaper articles and letters of congratulations and condemnation in the wake of her election.

A lifetime of service

In his sermon at the principal service, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw spoke of the importance of the consecration-an event that took place before a congregation of almost 8,000 and a much wider audience via live television and international media coverage. "I am proud to be your partner because of your historic consecration and what that's meant for women in the church and for men as well -- and because of what this means for people of color, for all oppressed people," he said.

Shaw put the five-year partnership as bishops in Massachusetts he has shared with Harris in a wider context, saying that he had come to understand that the real significance of the event in 1989 that made her famous should be seen as her lifetime service in the Episcopal Church that led her to take her place in history -- as a child going to church every Sunday and singing in the choir, as a woman with an active lay ministry at parish, diocesan and national levels in the church, as a civil rights activist devoted to the causes of social justice. "Not this big offering in your sixth decade, but all the offerings along the way," he said.

Shaw said that Harris was "an icon for us, somebody we can look at and see that power of Jesus Christ in you. You encourage us and you help us along so that we can make that next step. And all along the way, like you, if we make that offering we can liberate people," he said. "We have enormous gratitude for the 10 years that you have given to the life of this diocese, a decade of offering yourself in all kinds of situations." Shaw thanked Harris for helping him as a bishop. "If I couldn't count on your courage, if I couldn't count on your wisdom -- and if I couldn't count on your humor, I never would be able to offer myself this next day, this next step."

During an emotional presentation, Shaw gave Harris a gold pin featuring her initials, set with 10 diamonds. "How many monks in Christian history have gotten to give gold and diamonds to a woman?" he quipped, provoking a standing ovation from the packed congregation at the cathedral. The offering was designated for a proposed new camp and conference center, to be named for Harris, and for her home parish, Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia

Forum highlights women in episcopate

During an opening forum, Browning, who was chief consecrator, at the Harris consecration, and the Rev. Suzanne Hiatt, retired professor at Episcopal Divinity School and one of the first 11 women ordained to the priesthood during an "irregular" liturgy in 1974, sketched the key events that paved the way for women in the church.

Browning recalled the controversy in the church and some of the mean-spirited reaction prior to the consecration of Harris. He shared his reaction to protests during the consecration service, telling the forum, "My legs started shaking so bad. I think it was because of anger, that I was really upset. All of a sudden the Holy Spirit descended upon all of us," he said. While the protestors spoke, Barbara's mother Beatrice walked across the aisle and placed her hand on her daughter's arm. "And I could feel her hand on my shoulder, too," Browning said. "Suddenly my legs weren't shaking any more and I stood up and said, We've been through all of this and we will proceed with this service. The whole place went berserk. I've never heard such an ovation in my life, and that ovation has been going on for the sake of justice."

Another participant in the forum, the Roman Catholic lay feminist theologian Jane Redmont, spoke of the ecumenical impact and the controversy it provoked, particularly among those in Catholic and Orthodox traditions who were convinced that the consecration of Harris was a threat to Christian unity. "We are not dying and fighting over rifts between Anglicans and Greek Orthodox and Protestants and Catholics," she said of her response at the time. "The rifts are between races. The rifts are between northern and southern hemispheres. The rifts are between men and women. The rifts are between rich and poor -- and the rifts are within each of our community denominations, between fundamentalists and non-fundamentalists." She concluded, "By those standards, Bishop Harris is a maker of unity, and not a breaker of unity."

Hiatt said that, despite some "retrogressive things about women bishops" at last summer's Lambeth Conference, there is "no question that the ordination of women has changed the face of ministry. It has made a kinder, gentler church, and those of you who remember the church of the old days would probably agree to that. But we haven't come as far as we should. The real problems that women are having in the world are much greater," she said, citing the continuing problems of poverty and violence.

At a gathering of friends and family, Harris thanked those who "have shaped and molded me and my ministry into what it is today and continue to do so. I know God isn't finished with me yet," she said.

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