I don’t appear in any of the shots, alas, but I sang in the choir (with other members of my church choir) for this exciting event. I’m actually just to the right of the organ console in that very brief shot. Too bad they didn’t include more of the music…it was magnificent! We had a brass section and a trio of bagpipers in addition to the massed choir and organ (the TV recording really distorted “Amazing Grace” in this clip…probably to get it quiet enough for them to talk over it. At that point it was all of us singing, plus all the instruments (including the pipes), and I swear they must have heard it in San Francisco! )
Most of us here in the U.S. fall into that category these days.
So far, I’m very impressed with Bishop Mary. I think she will be a uniting, rather than a dividing force, and I think she’s strong enough to handle this huge and rather diverse diocese.
I was just so glad to be a part of this service, as I was rather put off by the music at the ordination service a month or so ago (at which I also sang). After we finished singing the Parry coronation anthem, I grinned at the person next to me and said "and THAT’S how it’s done in the Anglican tradition! We had trumpets, we had bagpipes, we had Vaughan Williams and Parry, we had a carillon…high church all the way, baby!
Congratulations-- it must be exciting to play a little part in history like you just did.
Now, what’ll be REALLY nice is when this sort of story doesn’t even make the news…
The Presiding Bishop Katherine Schori will be at our Southwest Virginia Council in a couple of weeks. Wish I was going to be there too. But a friend is going so I’ll get to hear about it anyway.
Sadly, we found out last week that our priest of the past 17 years will be retiring in a few months.She has been great. I hope we can get another woman.
I don’t care about the sex of a priest, so long as that priest is validly called, and a good fit for the parish. I believe that both men and women can be called to the priesthood. Unfortunately, in our area, women have been fast-tracked through ordination without regard for their calling or their psychological suitability, which has left several parishes with “priests” whose callings are questionable, and a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouths (three churches within our little deanery have had to sever relationships with megalomaniacal female priests who were little more than poster children for the movement…all from the same seminary…in the past 9 years). We wrestled with this in our own parish, as there were several people who were uncomfortable even considering a woman after our last experience (fair or not, I’m afraid, that’s what people do) What’s sad about that is that it makes one gun shy…sad because of the many validly called female priests out there whose reputations have been tarnished by these few who were, sadly, highly recommended by the “powers that were” at the time.
If a parish (or diocese), prayerfully and with due consideration, calls the priest who, in the opinion of the search committee and the vestry, is the best fit for the parish, that’s really all that should matter.
I’m excited by the calling of this bishop not because of her sex, but because I think she’s the right person for our diocese at this point in our rather tumultuous history. I know a few of the people who served on the diocesan search committee, and I know how long and hard they searched and prayed for just the right person to lead our diocese…I think they found us a good 'un.
What scares me about our priest retiring is that I’m not sure we can find another priest we can afford, for one thing.Ours is a small and dwindling congregation as folks get older and die. (well that is what happens) We “share” our priest with another church in a neighboring town due to finances. Our retiring priest is single so did not need as big a paycheck as one with a spouse and family will require. Frankly, the only reason our church is still around is due to the generosity of one of the original members who left his estate to our church. The invested moneys have supported this church for almost fifty years now.
I understand what you mean by them having a “calling”. Our discernment committee once had the difficult task of turning down a member who had decided she wanted to be a deaconess.Of course alternatively, our sister church also had the pleasure of recommending one of their young folks who has now entered seminary. Our retiring priest left a job in teaching to enter seminary when she was 40. That was a calling and probably why we love her so much.- she really was called. After so many years with a lady teacher/priest, it will be tough to find someone to fill her shoes. Whew, I’m glad I’m not on the vestry this year.
We were very much in the same boat a year ago. We had been driven nearly to our knees by the cost of ridding ourselves of a rector who should never have been allowed into seminary, we’d lost much of our younger membership, and weren’t sure we’d be able to afford a priest (especially as this is such an expensive area in which to live). The irony, of course, is that the right priest can often grow a parish. We struggled through two years (with two excellent interims…both women, by the way!) before we were ready to try again. I actually WAS on the vestry during this period (and my husband was on the search committee…talk about two people having to bite their tongues to avoid saying anything about the process to one another! But we were both very good, and somehow managed to completely sidestep the topic). We now have a new rector, who I like very much, but it was a long, introspective, and sometimes painful process.
The one bit of advice I’d give a parish in similar circumstances is DON’T rush into calling a new pastor. Take your time. Share a priest with another parish as needed, or call a part-time interim (one of our interims was actually a newly ordained deacon! I was skeptical, but she was an excellent pastor and administrator, and we had a parishioner who was a priest and able to consecrate the sacraments for us, so it worked out nicely). Better to wait then to rush into disaster (experience for us was, alas, a harsh teacher. But things are much better now!)
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Wish I’d been there! I love high church.