Adapted from the Diocese of Long Island:
Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, has invited the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori to lead a day of election on “Women Leading Change toward Abundant Life for All” as a feminist scholar-in-residence.
Jefferts Schori, who completed her term as presiding bishop in November 2015, is Provisional Bishop of San Diego.
The free teaching event on June 16 is sponsored by Grace Church and its Gender Equity in Word & Deed Committee, the Diocese of Long Island and its Mercer School of Theology, and the parishes of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn Heights, and All Saints, Park Slope.
“As the #MeToo Movement has challenged our society to reckon with the sins of the past and present, our Church — and all organized religions — must also participate in a broad-based reckoning,” said the Rev. Marie Tatro, the diocese’s vicar for community justice ministry.
“In particular, we need to confront the history of discrimination that has systematically excluded women from leadership,” she said. “Bishop Katharine’s 2006 election as our first female presiding bishop, and first Anglican primate in the world, not only broke through the ‘stained glass ceiling,’ it launched a rocket through it, and her voice and wisdom are vital to our conversation.”
The event, which begins at 10 a.m., ends at 3:30 p.m., and includes a lunch break, will feature a morning address by the bishop and an afternoon workshop. The parish requests reservations and offers an optional buffet lunch for $20.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
