Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s tribute to First Lady Barbara Bush, released April 20:
Today and tomorrow, as the Bush family and the nation they have served so faithfully give thanks for the life and witness of Mrs. Barbara Bush, we of the Episcopal Church likewise give God thanks for her life and her witness to us. While her husband President Bush, her family, friends and colleagues know this more intimately than those of us who only knew her from afar, we saw in her a witness to the virtues of personal integrity, devotion to family, commitment to speak truth come what may, and service to her country and to the well-being of the breadth of the human family of God. Because of her commitment to literacy, there are many today who behold new worlds and have hope because of the written word. And, because of her life and real faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and his way of love, we have beheld a great soul, and have hope that we can live likewise.
May the soul of Barbara and the souls of all the departed, through the mercies of God, rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.
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.
