Conversation with the Presiding Bishop

From June 28th-July 1st, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori made her official visitation to the Diocese of Connecticut. Presiding Bishops serve for a term of 9 years, and during that 9 years, it is one of their official duties and responsibilities to visit each of the 111 diocese of the Episcopal Church. Bishop Jefferts-Schori chose to make her official visitation to the Diocese of Connecticut for the occasion of the consecration of our new Bishop Suffragan, Laura Ahrens.


On the morning of Friday, June 29th, Bishop Jefferts-Schori spent a couple of hours with the clergy of our Diocese. It was a very informal gathering, and it was almost entirely a Q&A format. Jefferts-Schori was intellectually quick and very good humored thoughout, deftly handling questions ranging from "what do you do with your spare time?" to "do you think there should be/can be reconciliation between the factions in the Episcopal Church?"

Bishop Jefferts-Schori opened the discussion by explaining her understanding of the word "conversation." She said that the root of the word in Middle English literally means "to hang out with," and she noted that only part of that "hanging out with" involves words. Real 'conversation' involves knowing each other - spending time together and really understanding the whys and hows of each others worlds. Jefferts-Schori also noted that the ability to know one another is facilitiated by each of us first knowing ourselves.


For each of us, there is one deep truth about ourselves that we must know in order to have and maintain great relationships: "You are beloved." Each of us must know that God loves us more than we could ever ask or imagine. God's love gives us deep security and confidence; nothing can take God's love away. Grounded in that place of security and stability, we can open ourselves to knowing and loving others without fear, because nothing they can do or say to us changes that one most important truth: we are loved.

"A-ha!" I thought, as I was listening to Bishop Jefferts-Schori, "That explains how she does it." Spending time with Jefferts-Schori was such a delight because she is so present. Confident without being cocky, light-hearted without being flip, direct without ever being the least bit uncaring. Her lack of pretense and defense was truly refreshing.


Against the advice of some, Bishop Jefferts-Schori stands ready and willing to meet with people who vehemently opposed her election and/or who openly challenge her theology and authority. Bishop Jefferts-Schori is free to converse with her detractors because she is secure in God's love. She doesn't consider it a waste of time to converse with people who disagree with her because she really listens - because she truly respects their dignity and because she believes she might learn something from them.


Oh, yeah. There's one other reason that Jefferts-Schori doesn't believe it's a waste of time to converse with people who disagree with her: hope. "Hope," she says, " is where I live."

Faithfully yours,
Janet Waggoner+