Stained Glass Ceiling Broken

June 18, 2006 5:27 PM

Katherine Jeffords, Bishop of Nevada, has been elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, becoming the first female Anglican Primate Primate. Having been admonished by the global church about Bishop Robinson and homosexuality, ECUSA has aparently decided to put another thumb in the eye of conservatives.
posted by hob (32 comments total)

Jefferts. Dang.
posted by hob at 5:30 PM on June 18, 2006

Jefferts Schori, in fact. Gah.
posted by hob at 5:33 PM on June 18, 2006

the primate joke isn't funny.
posted by wilful at 5:48 PM on June 18, 2006

the primate joke is funny.
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 5:50 PM on June 18, 2006

Katharine.

/dies of haplessness
posted by hob at 5:52 PM on June 18, 2006

Let's start this again.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:05 PM on June 18, 2006

OK, so people don't have to wade through links: In 2003 American Episcopalians in New Hampshire elected Gene Robinson, a gay man, as Bishop. Lots of conservative American churches were offended, and the Anglican Communion (sort of an umbrella for Anglicans and Episcopalians everywhere, but more like a loose federation than a hierarchy) put together some solons of the church to issue the Windsor Report, which basically said that electing women and gays was scary and unsettling and people should think long and hard before they do it. Now here we are.
posted by dhartung at 6:18 PM on June 18, 2006

Bishop Robinson discussed previously here: 1, 2, 3 and 4.
posted by ericb at 6:25 PM on June 18, 2006

Well that's just ridiculous. Don't they know that Women everywhere are personally responsible for Original Sin?
posted by nightchrome at 6:37 PM on June 18, 2006

No, that was down to God when he recklessly failed to place appropriate warning notices ("WARNING : Consumption may lead to loss of immortality, and to having God be really Pissed At You. May contain nuts") on the tree of knowledge.
posted by kaemaril at 7:22 PM on June 18, 2006

kaemaril: Nuts! Classic!
posted by nightchrome at 7:25 PM on June 18, 2006

"May contain nuts" pretty much sums it up.
posted by joe lisboa at 7:37 PM on June 18, 2006

hob, email matt or jess and see if they will be kind enough to fix your typos.

This [almost] makes me want to join the Episcopal Church, just so I can tell my old Southern Baptist and Church of Christ friends about how I take church direction from a chick. The CoC especially would swallow their tongue, considering the bible admonishes women to be silent in church.

Also, the Primate joke was funny.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:50 PM on June 18, 2006

I really liked the cartoon with the bishops standing in the corner... reminded me a whole lot of Eddie Izzard's bit about the Anglican Church and how most of its members have no muscles in their arms.

"You must have tea and cake with the vicar or you die!"

CAKE OR DEATH!

Wait, what was going on? Someone did something awesome? Oh yeah, that's cool.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:53 PM on June 18, 2006

May contain nuts"
posted by kaemaril

That said it (apologies)
posted by taosbat at 7:55 PM on June 18, 2006

Lots of conservative American churches were offended, and the Anglican Communion (sort of an umbrella for Anglicans and Episcopalians everywhere, but more like a loose federation than a hierarchy) put together some solons of the church to issue the Windsor Report, which basically said that electing women and gays was scary and unsettling and people should think long and hard before they do it. Now here we are.

Not just conservative American churches, but conservative churches (and powerful clergy) all over the world. From this New Yorker story, (which also goes into some fascinating stuff about who gets to keep the extremely valuable physical property if a schism eventually happens):

"The consecration of an openly homosexual man to bishop caused immediate outrage in much of the rest of the Anglican Communion worldwide, mainly in the very evangelical, very orthodox Global South, and particularly in Africa. The most powerful Anglican cleric in the world is, nominally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but in reality it is a man named Peter Akinola, who is the Primate of Nigeria. Nigeria was Christianized by the evangelical wing of the Church of England, a very fervent, orthodox, evangelical, and literalist brand of the faith."
posted by Alexandros at 7:57 PM on June 18, 2006

Hmmm...

When I try to look at the broken image in the upper right of this page (the first link), I get penis pump. What's that about?
posted by taosbat at 8:24 PM on June 18, 2006

because the site it originated at, http://episcopaldiocesenevada.org/, is now some penis pump spam and any link in the domain goes to penis pump. The old image is here.
posted by puke & cry at 8:38 PM on June 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

Don't forget that a lot of the dissenting parishes and clergy were encouraged and even funded by powerful conservative groups outside the church. I posted about it here.

Anyway, I'm excited about this. Especially after finding out that 12 years ago my parish wouldn't even consider interviewing a female candidate for rector. Kinda hard for them to object to a female priest now that the Bishop is a woman!
posted by Biblio at 8:42 PM on June 18, 2006

It looks to me like a domain hijacking of some kind -- the image is linked against what looks like an old diocesan website that's no longer owned by the diocese of Nevada.
posted by hob at 8:43 PM on June 18, 2006

Someone might want to alert their current web master.
posted by taosbat at 9:00 PM on June 18, 2006

Y'know, like the TITLE tag is inside the BODY tag and they're linking to a spam site and all that.

I just don't get organized voluntary subjugation religion.
posted by taosbat at 9:06 PM on June 18, 2006

There's episcopalians in fucking Nevada? Why? "And we will build Jerusalem/On Nevada's brown and arid land."
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:09 AM on June 19, 2006

I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I went back to a service for the first time in nearly ten years...and had the joyous opportunity to realize how dreary it is. Incidentally, the only highlight came from a visiting female preacher. I suppose I toss a female primate in the "burn me for heresy, cause I don't care" pot.
posted by Atreides at 4:55 AM on June 19, 2006

Time for a schism. The US Episcopalians should break off and form a new, mainline, Christian denomination with clear values including women priests, gay bishops, complete racial and ethnic inclusion, combined with high church tradition, including the music, liturgy, and atmospherics.

Enough namby-pamby. A muscular, unapologetic, in-your-face Christian church amenable to the political left is long overdue.
posted by mono blanco at 5:46 AM on June 19, 2006

I was raised a Catholic in childhood and left long ago. At one point I tried the episcopal church and decided that it was just a case of "upscale catholics."

That being said, it's nice to see someone somewhere in religion land with some "balls," so to speak. At least some Episcopalians are willing to stand up to the conservative bigots and do what's right.

The Catholic church should take note. They long ago lost the moral high ground. I'm not sure they ever really had it.

And if any private organization pulled the sexist crap that the Catholic church does (no women as priests), they'd have been sued into oblivion.
posted by bim at 5:49 AM on June 19, 2006

The conservatives are upset because she voted for Robinson's elevation and supports most of the liberalization they oppose. While some of the most conservative anti-female-as-bishop elements from the UK may have issues with her being a woman, the U.S. conservatives are bent because of what she stands for.

Personally, as a member of the church, I consider Robinson unqualified as a bishop because he abandoned his wife and child for an affair with someone else. The fact that it was someone of the same sex is irrelevant to me.
posted by darren at 7:19 AM on June 19, 2006

Apparently you're intent on continuing to spread that garbage, darren, so I'll just repost the comments that were posted last time you tried:

I don't believe that's the case, that he left his wife for another man. FWIW, in a speaking engagement in August last year, Robinson explained that he didn't meet his lover until two months after his wife remarried.
posted by emelenjr at 8:16 PM PST on February 16 [+fave] [!]


Except that Robinson's ex-wife and kids approve of his current relationship, and supported his election to the episcopate.

I'm not saying it wasn't difficult for her, and I imagine it was, but your analogy doesn't quite scale.
posted by Vidiot at 8:28 PM PST on February 16 [+fave] [!]

posted by tkolar at 9:12 AM on June 19, 2006

Remember, schism within the big denominations is all about ownership of the property: the denomination technically owns all property, so if a congregation splits off, they lose their property. So, each side wants the other to split, so that their side can retain their the property.
posted by tippiedog at 9:31 AM on June 19, 2006

New US church leader says homosexuality no sin
posted by the_bone at 6:22 PM on June 19, 2006

Personally, as a member of the church, I consider Robinson unqualified as a bishop because he abandoned his wife and child for an affair with someone else.

Wasn't the original Anglican Church founded because Henry VIII wanted to abandon his wife for someone else?
posted by boaz at 7:09 PM on June 19, 2006

The battle against ignorance must be fought on every front. Go her.
posted by chicobangs at 9:22 PM on June 19, 2006