Diocese of Alaska Elects its First American Indian Bishop
Episcopal News Service. October 10, 1990 [90264]
Owanah Anderson, Staff Officer for Indian Ministries of the Episcopal Church
For the second time in a year, Native American Episcopalians have reached into their ranks to elect a diocesan bishop.
On October 6, the Rev. Steven Charleston, a 41-year-old Oklahoma-born Choctaw, was elected the sixth bishop of Alaska on the first ballot at the diocesan convention near Anchorage. A year ago the Rev. Steven Plummer was elected bishop of Navajoland. Both are the first Native Americans to lead their dioceses.
"More people from the Yukon villages came to the convention than before -- and more participated," said the Rev. Norman Nauska, a Tlinkit who serves as part-time vicar of a small parish near Anchorage. Many of the villagers who live along the Yukon River and its tributaries are Episcopalians as the result of a mission to native peoples that began before the Alaska gold rush. Approximately half of the communicants in the enormous diocese are American Indians and Eskimos.
Nauska said the convention was "electric," adding, "There were three powerful candidates, and there was a lot of prayer. People were quiet before they voted; you could just tell they were praying. Then, when the vote was announced, there was lots of cheering, applause, and 'Praise the Lord."'
When asked what characteristics of the bishop-elect appealed to him personally, Nauska said, "It's his spirituality, his personal knowledge of Jesus, his wit, his sense of presence."
For the past six years Charleston has been director of cross-cultural studies at Luther Northwestern Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and priest-in-charge at Holy Trinity/St. Anskar Parish in Minneapolis.
"When I went to Episcopal Divinity School in 1973, I was one of only four Indian people at a mainline seminary anywhere in the United States," Charleston said in an interview. "And I felt like it. But the struggle to understand if I could be both Indian and Christian was the start of my whole life as a Christian person."
Charleston was originator of the Native American curriculum resource In the Spirit of the Circle released last year. He said he expects to learn more about the indigenous training programs that the Maori Church in New Zealand has initiated. "The key, I believe, is ongoing training and support systems. Any person called to ministry deserves our very best efforts in training and continuing education."
The bishop-elect has been outspoken on a number of issues. He has said that the church's role as an advocate for economic justice for all peoples is "Gospel clear." Racism, world hunger, drug exploitation, environmental destruction, and violence are realities that "grow from a human family where some people live in luxury while others starve. In response, the call of Christ to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the oppressed lifts us up as Christians and compels us to act. Our role is prophetic. We must be the conscience of the nations."
Charleston added, "One of the great gifts of Native people to the church is this theology: You cannot abuse nature and care for people at the same time. One cancels the other out. The question of preserving both land and people is not environmental; it is profoundly spiritual."
The consecration is set for March 23, 1991.
The other candidates were the Rev. Bruce Caldwell, vicar of St. Stephen's Church in Fort Yukon, and the Rev. Charles Eddy, priest-in-charge of St. Mary's in Anchorage. The Rev. Gregg Riley of Iowa was nominated from the floor.