FORT WORTH: First woman priest to be ordained Nov. 15

By Pat McCaughan, October 28, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Thirty-three years after the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and to the episcopate, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, is following suit.

The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. (Ted) Gulick Jr., bishop of Kentucky and provisional bishop of Fort Worth, is set to ordain the Rev. Susan Slaughter to the priesthood on Nov. 15 at St. Luke's in the Meadow Episcopal Church, where she currently serves as deacon.

Slaughter will become the first woman ordained to the priesthood in the history of the diocese, founded in 1983. She will also become the first woman to serve as rector of a diocesan parish -- also at St. Luke's in the Meadow.

"It is with a deep sense of awe in the mysterious ways of our Lord that I arrive at this moment," Slaughter said recently. "I am filled with gratitude toward those persons, lay and clergy, who have encouraged and supported me over the years. St. Luke's in the Meadow has been especially supportive and has helped me discern more clearly my true vocation."

It's been a long time coming for Slaughter, who was introduced to the Episcopal Church when she was eight years old, by two friends. She soon convinced her parents and brothers to join her.

"I loved the liturgy, joined the junior choir and was confirmed at age 12," she recalled recently. "I was the first in my family to attend and be confirmed in the Episcopal Church."

A graduate of Bellaire High School, she earned a bachelor's degree from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and taught speech pathology and audiology. She earned a master of education degree in guidance and counseling from North Texas State University in Denton.

Although she sensed a call to ordained ministry in the 1980s, diocesan bishops declined to ordain women to the priesthood, forcing her to "push aside the sense of call," she said.

She became an active lay minister at her home parish, St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Arlington. There, she developed a Stephen Ministry, training lay people to provide one-on-one compassionate listening and care to hurting people within the congregational setting. She was also a lay reader and server, led women's Bible studies and taught adult Christian education.

Eventually, she completed seminary training at the Anglican School of Theology in Dallas but still found the priesthood elusive.

Former Bishop Jack Iker told her she'd have to leave the diocese to be ordained to the priesthood. Unable to relocate, eventually she returned to Iker believing that her call must be to the diaconate. He ordained her a deacon on October 12, 2002.

For the past several years, she has served as deacon at St. Luke's and is credited with helping to stabilize the parish after the November 2008 departure of Iker and other diocesan leaders. Citing theological differences over the ordination of women and gays, they disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church and realigned with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

The continuing diocese reorganized in February 2009 with Gulick as provisional bishop. Under his leadership two women priests have been licensed to serve in the diocese, the Rev. Maurine Lewis, who serves displaced congregations, and the Rev. Melanie R. Barbarito, a pastoral associate at All Saints Church in Fort Worth.

Finally, Slaughter, who is currently enrolled in a master of theological studies program at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, will realize her call to ordained priesthood.

The Fort Worth diocese was formed from the western part of the Diocese of Dallas. The founding bishop, A. Donald Davies, and his successors, Clarence C. Pope and Iker, all left the Episcopal Church over women's ordination.

At least 15 women seeking ordination to the priesthood left the diocese during their collective tenure, according to Katie Sherrod, diocesan communications director. They have been invited "home" for Slaughter's ordination.

Slaughter has seven grandchildren. She was widowed in 2007 after 28 years of marriage to Jerry Slaughter.

She may be the first -- but is not the last -- woman ordained to the priesthood in the Fort Worth diocese.

The Rev. ClayOla Gitane, also serving as a deacon, will be ordained to the priesthood Dec. 5 at Trinity Church, Fort Worth, by the Rt. Rev. Bavi Edna "Nedi" Rivera, bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Olympia and provisional bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon. It will be the first time a female bishop has performed an episcopal act in the diocese.

Ordination of women in the Episcopal Church began in 1974 when 11 women were irregularly ordained to the priesthood in Philadelphia. Four others were ordained in Washington, D.C., in 1975. The Episcopal Church's General Convention approved women's ordination to the priesthood and episcopate in 1976.

-- The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal News Service correspondent for provinces VII and VIII and the House of Bishops. She is based in Los Angeles.

May it also be noted that on the same day she was ordained a priest, she was installed at her new parish as rector.

From the "I can't believe it, yet I can" category...

When we thought things were getting back to a new normal for the Diocese of Fort Worth, what happens? A misogynist and defrocked bishop formerly of Fort Worth raises his silly head against a man of character and imbued with the Spirit. Read on, the ridiculous reality that is Jack Iker, former bishop of the true Episcopal Church, in name only because he never obeyed canon law or resolutions about, among other things, the ordination and equal place of women in the Church...can you tell I feel strongly about this issue among many?

From Episcopal News Service:
FORT WORTH: Breakaway bishop seeks challenge to authority of Episcopal bishop, others

September 9 hearing set in breakaway dispute

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Attorneys for Jack Iker have asked a Texas court for permission to
challenge the authority of Provisional Bishop Ted Gulick Jr. and the standing committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Iker, who left The Episcopal Church in 2008 but refused to relinquish church property or assets, is responding to a pending lawsuit filed by The Episcopal Church and the continuing Diocese of Fort Worth in April to establish the authority of the new diocesan leadership and to recover diocesan assets, according to chancellor Kathleen Wells.

Full story can be found here.

If you would like to know more about the goings on in the New, Bright and Beautiful Diocese of Fort Worth, join Facebook and go here to follow the reports of Thomas Squiers+ who administers the page. Or go to their website by clicking here.

And here is an upside to the Episcopal Church...well, ANOTHER upside to being in the Episcopal Church, at least in my humble view:

Subject: Sandra Day O’Connor – Another Reason to Be Rather Fond of the Episcopal Church by Chris Yaw, administrator of the Facebook page by the same name, Another Reason to Be Rather Fond of the Episcopal Church. You will need to be a Facebook member to view the page, but believe me, it is worth it.

With all the attention this summer on the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court let’s turn the spotlight on the woman who paved the way - Sandra Day O’Connor.

O’Connor was raised on the family ranch in Arizona. She attended Stanford University for undergraduate and law school. Her gender prevented her from working in law upon graduation so she turned to public service in California then in the Arizona state legislature. In 1975 she was elected judge in Maricopa County. She would be appointed to the Supreme Court six years later by Ronald Reagan, becoming the first woman ever to serve on the high court.

A cradle Episcopalian, O’Connor was married at All Saint’s Episcopal Church in El Paso, Texas. Today she is an active member of the Cathedral Chapter of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Last month she received the presidential Medal of Freedom alongside another famous Anglican, Desmond Tutu.

O’Connor’s accomplishments are a legacy to her keen mind, hard work and tenacity. And they remind us of the gifts God has given you and me. And just like us Justice O’Connor has found something worthwhile in the Episcopal Church. Perhaps it’s a tradition of intellectual rigor in approaching ethical issues, perhaps it’s the beauty of the liturgy that acknowledges God as the supreme judge, or maybe it’s a place to feel comfortable presenting our gifts as we look for discernment.

Chances are none of us will ever serve on the Supreme Court, but we are called to use our gifts to their highest and best. In what ways has our church helped us discern? Has the Episcopal Church helped clarify a difficult issue in your life? Feel free to stop by the message board and post a comment.
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See? A happy ending to an otherwise groaning post.

The Bishop of Kentucky / New Fort Worth on the 76th General Convention

Bishop "Ted" Gulick Jr is the Bishop of Kentucky and appointed Interim Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth Reorganized. Here is his report on Convention from his standpoint and that of his deputations from Kentucky and from New Fort Worth:

A high point of Convention happened on Wednesday, July 14. ... when the House of Deputies ended its morning session with prayers sung in Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions, all three of which trace their roots to Abraham. ... all of whom were part of a group of ecumenical and interreligious guests at General Convention. Each of the singers in turn sang a prayer and then combined their voices into what was called "a sung Abrahamic blessing to this house." As the individual voices soared and then blended together in the vast space of the House of Deputies, it became holy space, blessed space, and everyone in that space was changed, connected with one another in a new way.

Read his entire report.

I'd also like to point out that for the first time in the history of the Diocese of Fort Worth, reorganized or otherwise, that women are coming into their own at last, a privilege denied them by the former and now dissident bishop who has left The Episcopal Church for another Province.

One of the biggest deals was that women were in the deputation and one of them was Katie Sherrod of the blog Desert's Child. When you visit her blog you will meet her and be able to read in her archive the pain and grief of being denied her baptismal rights as a woman in that former diocese. I am happy and proud to say that Katie was elected to Executive Council this Convention...how sweet it is!

Different voices to preach at daily worship services during Episcopal Church General Convention 2009

The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in Union with The General Convention

has provided a schedule of who is celebrating and preaching during Convention courtesy of Thomas Squiers of the real Diocese of Fort Worth. You can visit the new diocese by clicking on the link above.

Here is the schedule:

Eight preachers – ranging from the Presiding Officers and the Archbishop of Canterbury to a popular TV correspondent and an internationally-known activist – will be among the many voices at the daily worship services during General Convention 2009 of The Episcopal Church.

Episcopalians will gather this summer for General Convention 2009 (GC09), July 8 – 17 at the A naheim Convention Center in California (Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles).

A theme has been designated for each daily Eucharist, with a bishop of The Episcopal Church as celebrant. Additionally, a different preacher will address the daily theme. The Eucharists will be held daily at 11:30 am (Pacific); Sunday Eucharist will be held at 10 am (Pacific).

The daily themes were developed by the Liturgy and Worship Subcommittee of the GC09 Planning and Arrangements Committee, chaired by the Rev. Canon Carol Wade of the National Cathedral in Washington DC and the Rev. Frank Wade of the Diocese of Washington (DC).

All the sermons will be available for viewing through the innovative Media Hub, presented by the Office of Communication to bring the actions of General Convention to those who are there and those who can’t be there.

Celebrants and Preachers

On Wednesday, July 8, the worship service celebrant and preacher will be the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.

On Thursday, July 9 the theme is God’s people. The celebrant will be Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles , the host diocese for GC09. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will conduct a Bible study during the worship service.

On Friday, July 10 the theme is Unity. The celebrant is Bishop Steve Miller of the Diocese of Milwaukee, co-celebrated by a member of the Moravian clergy. The preacher will be President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson.

On Saturday, July 11 the theme is Hospitality. The celebrant is Bishop Frank Brookhart of the Diocese of Montana; he will be joined by a member of the Methodist clergy. The preacher will be Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and formerly of NPR’s Talk of the Nation.

Sunday, July 12 will be the main General Convention Eucharist and the Ingathering for the United Thank Offering (UTO), a mission and grant-awarding program of The Episcopal Church. Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will be the celebrant and preacher.

On Monday, July 13, the theme is Domestic Poverty. Celebrant will be Bishop Prince Singh of the Diocese of Rochester with preacher Courtney Cowart, Director of Advocacy and Community Affairs for the Office of Disaster Response in the Diocese of Louisiana.

On Tuesday, July 14 the theme is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The celebrant is Bishop Rob O’Neill of the Diocese of Colorado who is also the chair of Episcopal Relief & Development. The preacher is Abagail Nelson, Senior Vice President of Programs for Episcopal Relief & Development.

On Wednesday July 15, the theme will be Creation and Environment. The celebrant will be Bishop Greg Rick el of the Diocese of Olympia and preacher will be Bishop Steve Charleston, former Dean of Episcopal Divinity School who offers a focus on environmental issues.

On Thursday, July 16, the theme is Evangelism with celebrant Bishop Wilfrido Ramos of the Episcopal Diocese of Ecuador Central. The preacher is Brian D. McLaren, internationally known speaker and activist and author of important works including Finding Our Way Again, and Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope.

On Friday, July 17, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will be the celebrant and preacher at the closing Eucharist.

The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, held every three years, is the bicameral governing body of the church. General Convention, the second largest legislative body in the world, is comprised of the House of Bishops, with upwards of 200 members, and the House of Deputies, with clergy and lay representatives from the 110 dioceses, at over 700 members.

The Episcopal Church, with 110 dioceses in 15 nations, is a member province of the Worldwide Anglican Communion.