Episcopal Press and News

Chinnis is Doctored -- Again

Episcopal News Service. February 19, 1999 [99-009E]

(ENS) Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, was honored by her alma mater, the College of William and Mary, with an honorary doctorate of humane letters at ceremonies on February 6. The citation commended her for having "served your church, this college, higher education, and our society with boundless energy, quiet wisdom, and subtle wit, and have earned both respect and affection from all who know you." The citation pointed out that Chinnis was the first woman to serve as senior warden of her parish in Washington, D.C., president of the diocesan and national Episcopal Church Women, first woman to preside over the House of Deputies, member of the church's Executive Council, delegate to the Anglican Consultative Council, chair of the Presiding Bishop's Committee for the Full Participation of Women in the Church, and numerous councils and commissions. At a meeting of the Executive Council in Denver, a few days later, Chinnis said that she also preached at historic Bruton Parish in Williamsburg, where she was confirmed while a student at William and Mary. "Standing there in the pulpit, I remembered myself as an eager young coed being drawn deeper into the power of the Gospel and the life of the church. It was an extraordinary experience. I am so deeply grateful to have found my way into the Episcopal Church," she said.