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.

Episcopal Buffet: the pre-game Convention roundup

There are several topics of information and news I wish to touch on and get out to my local parish as well as everyone else who stops by and reads my offerings. There is a survey that the Episcopal Church is urging everyone to participate in so we have an idea of where the Church might be in 2019.

There is also a wonderful account of the first woman priest to be ordained in the Diocese of San Joaquin! The House of Deputies may hold some unusual sessions regarding the controversial Bo 33 resolution that was passed at the last minute at GenCon 06 and which has large ramifications for this year's Convention as well as the Church at large.

Archbishop of the Church of England, Rowan Williams, will be making an appearance at this year's Convention in Anaheim. See the article below to know more about it.

Hat tips to the Episcopal News Service and their reporters as well as Bob Smietana at The Tennessean online "paper".

Survey invites Episcopalians to shape the future of the Church

By Lynette Wilson, June 24, 2009

What do you want the Episcopal Church to look like in 2019?

An eight-question survey posted online June 24 asks Episcopalians—lay and ordained—to envision the church in 10 years’ time and to prioritize the strategies toward that vision.

Do you favor a multicultural church? Is evangelism "less important," "important," or "very important" to you? Should advocacy and social justice define the church? Or should the church be a combination of mission and worship?

"We are looking at where we are as a church today and addressing hopes and desires," said the Rev. Christopher Johnson, a member of the Strategic Planning Committee formed by Executive Council at its January 2009 meeting in Stockton, California.

The committee’s mandate is to develop a strategic plan for the Episcopal Church Center and the Executive Council that would address mission and ministry, growth, finance, challenges and opportunities, issues and concerns, and to map a way to address those themes. Executive Council expects the committee to present a draft strategic plan by December 31, 2009.

"The survey results will provide us with feedback on the values and priorities of stakeholders … information that will allow us to be mindful in developing a strategic plan," Johnson added. "Of course one of the things that motivates us is, like most mainline Protestant denominations, we've experienced a loss of membership; we'd like to reverse that and initiate growth."

The survey may be completed anonymously. It is composed mostly of option buttons, but also includes text boxes that allow the participant to expand an answer. It can be completed in five to 10 minutes. July 28 is the deadline to complete the survey; the communications office plans to publish the aggregated survey results in fall 2009. You can read the rest of the article here.

SAN JOAQUIN: All-new spirit' prevails as diocese ordains first woman priest

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Tears, cheers, joy, applause and an "all-new spirit" filled the packed Church of the Saviour in Hanford, California, June 27 as the Rev. Suzanne Lynn Ward became the first woman ordained a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.

"This, my brothers and sisters, is a big deal day," said the Rt. Rev.
Edna Bavi "Nedi" Rivera, bishop suffragan of the Seattle-based Diocese of Olympia, and provisional bishop for the Diocese of Eastern Oregon, who was guest preacher.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_111509_ENG_HTM.htm

Episcopal Church disputes don't shake [presiding] bishop

From The Tennessean

The smile on Katharine Jefferts Schori's face was a mile wide.

A group of Sudanese women had just finished singing, opening a service honoring the 150th anniversary of St. Ann's Episcopal Church in East Nashville. And now a string ensemble and nearly 300 worshippers had joined in a familiar hymn, as St. Ann's choir, pastor and other clergy began entering in processional.

Near the end of the line was the Most Rev. Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, in all her vestments, clearly enjoying the moment. All this despite the heat, which was already close to 90 degrees, even at 9 in the morning.

"It was God's people gathered to give thanks," she said after the service was over. "What could be better than that?"

Jefferts Schori's visit to Nashville comes at an uneasy time in the Episcopal Church.

You can read the rest of the news story here.

House of Deputies may convene unusual sessions on Resolution B033

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The House of Deputies will be asked to consider meeting in two unusual sessions early in the 76th meeting of the General Convention to discuss Resolution B033 passed by the last convention.

"The purpose of this discussion will be to exchange information and viewpoints among the deputies, and to inform Legislative Committee #8 World Mission, to which committee all the resolutions relative to B033 have been assigned," House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson wrote in a June 29 letter to deputies and first alternate deputies.

Anderson wrote that she believes the House of Deputies "will benefit by having an opportunity to discuss B033 apart from the context of legislative procedure" and noted that "many deputies have indicated their longing to discuss B033 together as a house."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_111601_ENG_HTM.htm


Private meeting with Williams at convention will address sexuality, ministry

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Eight members of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies are scheduled meet privately with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at General Convention in a session that is intended in part to address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in the church.

General Convention meets July 8-17 in Anaheim, California, and Williams will be present July 7-9.

The session is not an official convention meeting and thus there has been no announcement of the plans. However, when contacted by Episcopal News Service, the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe of the Diocese of California confirmed the details.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_111717_ENG_HTM.htm