You might not know how many Californians are present in Columbus. Our deputies and bishop are here, but also a great number of folks who are here to support the work of convention, to promote ministries, to assist with the art and liturgy of worship. In fact, this photo probably represents about 50% of the folks in Columbus from the Diocese of California. 

The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church on Sunday, June 18, after five ballots.

One hundred eighty-eight bishops of the Episcopal Church gathered in Holy Trinity Church, Columbus, Ohio, and elected the bishop of Nevada as the first woman to hold the office. She is the first woman ever to be nominated for the office, and the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion.

Jefferts Schori, 52, was consecrated the ninth Bishop of Nevada on February 24, 2001. She currently serves a diocese of some 6,000 members in 35 congregations. Her service includes membership on the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion; the board of trustees of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in Berkeley, California; the CREDO Advisory Board; the House of Bishops peer coaching program; the General Board of Examining Chaplains; the Board for Church Deployment; the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Development, Racism, and Planning committees; the Court for Review of a Trial of a Bishop; and the Bishops of Small Dioceses group.

[General Convention, Columbus] On Saturday, June 17, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, suffragan bishop of Alabama and bishop-elect of California, introduced a statement to the House of Bishops titled "Mind of the House: The Ministry of Reconciliation and the Relief of Global Suffering." After an introduction by Andrus, bishops Jeffery Rowthorn of Connecticut, and Michael Curry of North Carolina spoke on behalf of the statement. The statement [text below] was passed unanimously by the House of Bishops. It is expected to be brought up for a vote in the House of Deputies on Sunday, June 18.

[General Convention, Columbus] On Wednesday morning, June 14th, the Joint Legislative Committee on the Consecration of Bishops met to hear testimony, and to decide whether to recommend consent to the election of the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus as bishop of California. After hearing testimony from bishops, clergy, and lay persons, the committee reported that they would recommend confirmation to both the House of Deputies and to the House of Bishops.

The Rev. Jack Eastwood, President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of California, was first to address the committee. Eastwood told of the process that brought together the Search and Transition Committees, that created the profile, and later presented the Diocese with nominees for bishop. He told the committee that there were two principals that guided the process, "First was to be as transparent as possible, and second, to keep focus on our spiritual lives. In the context of the hot winds that swirlled around us during the process, that [spirituality] was important to us."

On June 12, 2006, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church got under way in Columbus, Ohio. General Convention (GC), which meets every three years, provides the voice for the Episcopal Church, a church led by representational governance.

The Diocese of California is  represented by clergy and lay deputies and alternates, and by our bishop in the two houses of governance at GC -- the House of Deputies, and the House of Bishops. Along with the Rt. Rev. William Swing, Bishop of California, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop-elect of California, is also present, serving as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Alabama.

On May 22nd, Ken Reggio, Executive Director of Episcopal Community Services (ECS) and Richard Springwater, ECS Board Member, jointly announced the naming of its newest supportive housing site, the Bishop Swing Community House, in honor of William E. Swing, a founder of ECS and retiring Bishop of the Diocese of California.  The ECS Board of Directors wanted to recognize Bishop Swing’s inspiring leadership in creating programs and services for homeless people over the past two decades.  Bishop Swing Community House will provide permanent housing with on-site social services for 134 homeless adults in SRO-style apartments when it is completed in 2008.

To accomplish a building project of this size is truly a collaboration of the entire community and would be impossible without the partnership of the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing, the SF Redevelopment Agency, the SF Department of Public Health, and Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, and with the interest and assistance of numerous lenders and advocates including the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Low Income Investment Fund, and Catholic Healthcare West. ECS is well on its way toward development of Bishop Swing Community House located at 275 10th Street.  ECS expects to begin construction in 2007 and to open its doors in July 2008.  

[Grace Cathedral, San Francisco: May 6, 2006] Today the Diocese of California met in a special convention to elect its Eighth Bishop, and after three ballots the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Alabama, was elected to lead the Diocese into the future.

Five hundred fifty-six electors came together, and each voted after prayerfully discerning how each of the nominees might be called to be their next bishop.

The day began in worship, with the assembly praying in English, Chinese, and Spanish, reading from scripture, and singing hymns of praise. At 9:30 a.m., the business of convention commenced, and the first ballot was posted soon after. All three ballots were cast prior to the convention breaking for lunch, and when the electors and guests reconvened for the afternoon's business, the Rev. Jack Eastwood, President of the diocesan Standing Committee told the gathering, "I'm pleased to announce that we have an election." The results of the final ballot were immediately projected on a large screen and electors and guests burst into exuberant applause.

Bishop Andrus then addressed the convention by telephone [text below], an address that was interrupted by applause, and that was warmly received by those in attendance. Immediately following Andrus' address, the convention celebrated the Holy Eucharist, then adjourned.

After a process that lasted one-and-a-half years, and that included the prayerful and diligent work of the diocesan Standing, Search, and Transition Committees, the Diocese now celebrates and rejoices in the election of Marc Handley Andrus as Bishop of California. Following consent at General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio, this June, Andrus will be invested as Bishop of California in a celebration at Grace Cathedral on July 22, 2006.

Address by the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus to the Special Convention to Elect the Eighth Bishop of California on the occasion of his election. 

Delivered via telephone to those gathered at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco from his home in Birmingham, Alabama; 6 May 2006.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Sheila and I are gladdened, and humbled, by the trust you have placed in me, in us.

Publicly, I want to say that my heart is with the other nominees and their partners.  They are uniformly splendid people, and I was honored to be in their number.

Also, to all of you who have been so prayerfully working to bring this moment for your diocese, the election of a new bishop, you must know that you have exhibited every trait of a Christian community.  You are a witness to the vitality of the Church in your very way of being.

We must all understand, and here I address the diocese of California and those listening from elsewhere, that your vote today remains a vote for inclusion and communion – of gay and lesbian people in their full lives as single or partnered people, of women, of all ethnic minorities, and all people. My commitment to Jesus Christ’s own mission of inclusion is resolute.

And I share with you your strongly expressed commitment to youth, to those who do not yet know Christ, our calling as evangelists, and to God’s waiting, expectant creation.

I take this election to be an expression of our common desire to be part of the whole, the Communion and the world, in what may be a new way.

We will work together in the listening process, lending the unique voice of the Bay Area Episcopalians to this great conversation and working to end global human suffering.

Finally, let me say that being nourished as a bishop by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, fed by the historic and living witness of so many heroes of the struggle for human rights, whose words and deeds of compassion and justice have inspired and sustained me, I say to you the words of a west coast hero – “In the cause of peace, we cannot be sprinters, we must be long distance runners.

Please join me in prayer. God Be With You.

“O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: look favorably on your whole church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things are made, your Son Jesus Christ and Lord”  Amen.

On Saturday, April 29, Presentation Week came to a successful end with the concluding Walkabout at St. Peter's/ El Buen Pastor, Redwood City. More than 2,000 people attended the six Walkabouts (one in each Deanery), in an attempt to learn as much as they could about each of the nominees for bishop -- one of whom will be the Eighth Bishop of California.

Presentation week began on the evening of Saturday, April 22nd, with the nominees gathering to meet one another at Bishop's Ranch in Healdsburg.  On Monday morning, a packed tour schedule commenced that led the nominees from meetings with the Bishop to visits to a variety of diocesan ministries and programs. Nominees began each day at 10:00 a.m., and completed each day at 10:30 p.m. They did have some down time, but many of the nominees used free time to tour churches, and meet with clergy and others whom they might work closely with if elected. 

On April 2, 2006, in the quiet San Francisco neighborhood of 29th Avenue and Noriega Street, there was a great deal of excitement brewing with the institution of the Reverend David Lui as the new rector of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation.

The bilingual service, in English and Chinese, was presided over by the Right Reverend William Swing, Bishop of California. The congregation of over 160 people, reflecting the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Bay Area, gathered in prayer and celebration to support Fr. David’s new ministry at Incarnation. The Reverend Dr. Fran Toy, the Reverend Dr. Franco Kwan, the Reverend Dr. Gordon Lau, the Reverend Salying Wong, and the Reverend Vincent Jang served as assisting ministers for the service.  

On my last visit to a congregation a member of the choir, with tears in her eyes, said to me:  “My vicar retired, my bishop is going to retire, and the Episcopal Church has been kicked out of the Anglican Communion.  That is more loss than I can handle.”  Her genuine lament stays with me.

My short reply on the spot:  “You’ll soon have a wonderful new priest, this time next year you all and the new bishop will be off on high adventure pursuing the mission of Jesus Christ, and the Episcopal Church is very much part of the Anglican Communion.  You will be just fine.”

My longer reply with pen in hand:  the large issues that are now hanging in the balance are (1) freedom in the Body of Christ, (2) accountability of Episcopal bishops to the Episcopal Church, and (3) the nature of church property.  Let me explain. 

Over 500 guests enjoyed a festive evening of dining, dancing, and a live auction at the Night of Light: A Benefit for Episcopal Charities on Saturday, January 21, 2006 at The Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.  Guests were welcomed to a cocktail reception with complimentary specialty bars donated by Diageo and danced the night away to the music of the Richard Olsen Orchestra.   

On December 14, 2005, approximately 50 crime victims, along with corrections professionals and victims’ rights advocates, entered Vacaville’s California State Prison – Solano for a day-long symposium on victim/offender reconciliation. A prison would seem to be an inhospitable venue, but the location was necessary to permit the attendance of the symposium’s hosts. Of the one hundred attendees, half were inmate members of the Victim/Offender Reconciliation Group (VORG). 

During the coffee harvest season in Costa Rica, Isabel Gَmez begins each day at 3:00 a.m. She cleans, does the laundry, and prepares breakfast for her family as well as the lunch to be taken up the slopes where the coffee beans are picked. By 5:00 am the family has eaten, and Isabel and her husband, Adolfo, set off for the day’s work. The children have a long walk to school, and when they return in the afternoon they will join their parents for a time, learning the ins and outs of producing coffee, the family’s principal source of income.

Proud of his family, Adolfo is happy that both of his children are well fed and that they receive a good education. Isabel and Adolfo are members of a co-op of growers who are committed to producing organic, shade-grown coffee. Their co-op has also been certified to sell to the Fair Trade market, allowing them to earn much more than they would in the conventional system. Growers who are not a part of the co-op have to sell their beans to brokers, often at a very low price, and they sometimes have to wait months to be paid. Through the co-op Isabel and Adolfo are paid upon delivery of their coffee at a rate that is guaranteed to cover the cost of production, and a growing percentage of their beans is sold at the higher "Fair Trade" price.

[March 15, 2006] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of California today announced that the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, Officer for Congregational Development, Diocese of California, and the Rev. Donald Schell, co-rector, St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco, have been nominated by petition to stand for election for bishop on May 6, 2006. The reverends Barlowe and Schell were nominated in a petition process established by the diocesan Standing Committee, and their nominations bring the total slate of nominees to seven (see below for the full list of nominees). The petition process closed at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 13, and no more nominees will be added to the slate. 

[San Francisco Chronicle: Monday, March 13, 2006] James Tramel awakened Sunday in a prison cell. He went to sleep Sunday night in the rectory of a church he will help lead.

It was a day of transformation for Tramel, 38, who is believed to be the first prison inmate ordained as an Episcopal priest. He was convicted more than 20 years ago of murdering a homeless man in a park.

At the Berkeley church where he will live and serve as an assistant pastor, parishioners view him as a walking testament to the power of redemption.

"God came through!" said Linda Finch Hicks, a 51-year-old member of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, an exquisitely refurbished Victorian structure in West Berkeley.

"A lot of people have been working on this for a very long time. This is what church is about -- Jesus gave us an opportunity for redemption, and it's real."

 Read the rest of the story at SFGate.com

[Episcopal News Service] Reversing an earlier decision, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed with his state parole board’s decision to parole a convicted murderer who became an Episcopal priest while behind bars.

The California Board of Prison Terms voted in October 2005 to release James Tramel, 38, who was convicted in 1986 of killing a homeless man in Santa Barbara. Schwarzenegger, who rejected a similar decision by the parole board a year ago, declined this time around to review his case, said Julie Soderlund, an aide to the governor.

If a case is not reviewed by the governor, the board's decision stands. Schwarzenegger's office did not say why the governor changed his mind.

On Saturday, March 18th, a daylong conference for congregational communicators will be held at Church of the Resurrection, Pleasant Hill.

Who are congregational communicators? These are the people who write church newsletters, maintain websites, manage emails -- anyone who is responsible for getting the word out.

This event, hosted by Pacific Church News, will feature Laura Impellizzeri, Religion Editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Rev. Rosa Lee Harden, creator of via media, a tool for building vibrant congregations, and Sean McConnell, Editor of Pacific Church News.

The conference will also include workshops of interest to print and web communicators. The conference will run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. For more information, contact PCN Editor Sean McConnell at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or 415.218.2431.

There is great conflict in the world over the word sacred.  What is sacred and how do societies deal with it?  Some people just recognize the sacred like the leper in the story one minute ago.  He looks at Jesus, and he just knows he is standing in front of the sacred.  Primitive power that emanates from a sacred source was a few feet away from him.  And it could cleanse him.  Then follow his request, the Divine pity, the cleansing, and the problem.

The problem then − as it is now − is the crowd.  The religious legions ready to glorify or crucify.  Always quick to hoot or hosanna.  Jesus had a lot of things to accomplish, but the crowd most always got in the way.  Like they did in this story.  Probably still do.

Today the religious crowd in the news is in Iran, and Pakistan, and Kenya, and Afghanistan, and Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan.  They are protesting cartoons of Denmark.  Everyone in this Cathedral has been puzzling over this:  how to make sense of these events?  Plenty has been written from the perspective of sociology, politics, the clash of civilizations or cultures, etc.  I would like to focus on the dimension of the sacred.

On Monday, February 20, the Rev. Jackresident of the Diocesan Standing Committee, Eastwood, President of the Diocesan Standing Committee, announced a list of five candidates placed into nomination to be the eighth Bishop of California.

Below, is the text of the official announcement: 

I had the privilege of attending the Third Afro Anglican Conference in Toronto, Canada. The first one was held in 1985 in Barbados. The second conference was convened in South Africa in 1995. Neither one of these gatherings were known by me so when I heard about the Toronto event I knew I wanted to participate. I found my experience spiritually and intellectually stimulating.

When the Search, Standing and Transition Committees first came together in January 2005 to begin the Transition to the 8th Bishop of California, our work began with a Eucharist. Brother Tom Schultz of the Incarnation Priory in Berkeley preached the homily. In his role as chaplain to the three committees, he helped us prepare for the work of discerning the person whom God has called to be the next Bishop of California. I spoke with him in January 2006 as the Search Committee prepares to announce its findings. 

ANGLICAN COMMUNION: Those churches around the world which are in communion with each other and with the See of Canterbury, (i.e., Church of England) and hold the same faith, order, and worship. According to the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Communion is composed of 38 autonomous churches together with a small group of extra-provincial dioceses and approximately 70 million baptized members. There are Anglican congregations or jurisdictions in more than 160 countries.

Almost all dioceses of the Episcopal Church are actively engaged in companion diocese relationships. Episcopal seminaries enroll and generally fund students from around the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission, a network of more than seventy independent and church-wide agencies focused on mission in the larger Anglican Communion, is partially funded by the General Convention.

The Episcopal Church is governed by a bicameral General Convention, which meets every three years, and by an Executive Council during interim years. The General Convention consists of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.