California's first female Episcopal bishop ordained in Saratoga
Mary Gray-Reeves appreciates being a role model
By Kim Vo
Mercury News
Article Launched: 11/10/2007 10:03:22 PM PST
Episcopal bishop ordained
After she was ordained bishop of the local Episcopal diocese - the first woman to reach such heights in California - Mary Gray-Reeves gathered the female clergy for a picture. What was supposed to be a quick photo-op turned into an impromptu celebration as the women swayed, clapped and cheered around her. "We are marching," they jubilantly sang, "in the light of God."
Saturday's ordination marked several milestones, not just of gender lines but a new relationship between the faithful and their bishop.
Gray-Reeves was the first female bishop ordained by Katharine Jefferts Schori since the latter was elected last year as head of the national Episcopal Church. The sight of the nation's first female presiding bishop consecrating California's first female bishop was inspirational to those in attendance.
"It's thrilling - and to have my 11-year-old daughter see it!" said the Rev. Katherine Doar of St. Francis parish in San Jose. "My daughter didn't even know there was such a day when there weren't women bishops."
About 1,000 people packed St. Andrews in Saratoga for the daylong celebration. The ordination signaled a new start for the Diocese of El Camino Real, which was deeply fractured when its last bishop resigned under pressure in 2004. He was the second bishop to leave because of power and personality clashes within the young diocese, which went into an extended period of healing and introspection before calling for a new leader.
"Mary is a force for the future," said Deborah Kempson-Thompson, a member of All Saints in Carmel and a seminarian. "She's interested in moving on, and we need to move on."
With its new leader installed and relationships mending, the diocese is focusing on a more routine matter: how to increase falling membership. The diocese - which includes Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties - has only 12,000 members. Sunday attendance today is 5,200, down from 6,500 in 2000. It is projected to reach 4,400 by 2009 unless something reverses that trend. Attendance is shrinking while the surrounding population swelled. (GJ - Imagine that!)
Already, Gray-Reeves has asked each of the dioceses's 50 parishes to think of new ideas for revitalizing the church. "We've got nothing to lose," she says, "so we can try anything."
The diocese encompasses a multitude of languages, cultures and professions ranging from farmers to software engineers. That kind of diversity can make outreach challenging, members say, but it's also a gift.
That attitude was reflected Saturday. A Sudanese choir sang. Sherry LeBeau smudged the church with sage as her husband spoke in Lakota, a Native American language. And the day's prayers alternated between English and Spanish, as did the congregation's responses.
After Gray-Reeves read her vows, bishops who had come from around the world laid their hands on her head and consecrated her into the episcopate.
"Therefore, Father, make Mary a bishop in your church," they said. "Pour out upon her the power of your princely spirit . . ."
Bishop Leo Frade of southeast Florida - Gray-Reeves' former boss - wished upon her a "double share of God's grace" as she leads the diocese during a time of poverty, intolerance and high-tech innovation. A time when torture is justified, he said, and people are trying to create outsiders within the church.
The latter point alluded to the fractures facing Episcopalians over homosexuality since the ordination of an openly gay bishop in 2003. Since then, some churches - and in certain cases, entire dioceses, including the neighboring Diocese of San Joaquin - have threatened to leave the Episcopal Church.
In an earlier interview, Jefferts Schori said she hoped that acceptance of gay leaders would move faster than it did for women. The first Anglican woman priest was ordained in the 1940s in Hong Kong. More than three decades would pass before the Episcopal Church allowed women into the priesthood - they are still barred in certain dioceses. In the United States, all but a few Anglicans are called Episcopalians.
"For most people under 30, it's not an issue," Jefferts Schori said. "We're going to a place where we can see . . . the image of God in the people around us."
Gray-Reeves - the 15th female bishop in the Episcopal Church - longed for a day when she would be regarded simply as a bishop. "It's a great honor and a great privilege," she said Friday. "I think I'd feel that way if I were a man."
But she recognized that her status was significant for many, and she arranged for the photo so women in the diocese could indulge in the "rare moment" with both a female bishop and presiding bishop.
On Saturday, she reflected on her first inkling of being called to the priesthood. She was 9. And when she announced her intentions, the women in the room laughed. It was 1971 and they knew women weren't allowed as priests.
Gray-Reeves imagined another 9-year-old seeing Saturday's photo. Perhaps the girl lives in a country were women aren't currently allowed in the priesthood but feels the call nevertheless and thinks to herself: "If they can do it, I can do it."
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GJ: Grave-Reeves and Jefferts-Schiori share more than hypenated names and severe hair styles. Their ecclesiastic garments are definintely New Age. Symbols of Christian doctrine are almost completely absent.
