From Episcopal Life-
Delegates to the 33rd annual Convocation of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland June 12-14 overwhelmingly approved creation of a leadership conference to facilitate the elections of an interim bishop in September and a Navajo, or Diné, bishop for Navajoland, an area mission of The Episcopal Church, by 2013.
With Navajo vestments and crozier, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori officiated at a June 12 opening Eucharist and healing service attended by about 150 people, including 40 delegates at Good Shepherd Mission in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Meeting sessions were held in a tent pitched on the grounds.
The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, who was chosen to serve as the assisting Navajoland bishop by then-Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold during General Convention 2006, continues to lead ministry there. He also became the first National Indigenous Bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada in 2007.
"The Archbishop of Canada has been pushing me. He wants Mark there full-time," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the gathering about MacDonald's dual role.
"It is my hope to ordain a Navajo bishop during my tenure as Presiding Bishop," Jefferts Schori added. Navajoland is the only area mission in the Episcopal Church. It functions much the same as a diocese but with more oversight from the office of the Presiding Bishop and the House of Bishops. Development of indigenous leadership, a longstanding policy of TEC, has continued to be a priority in Navajoland during MacDonald's tenure there.
More here-
http://www.episcopal-life.org/81803_110046_ENG_HTM.htm
1 comment:
Jim,
Something's not quite kosher if you read and compare the Living Church article with the ENS article.
And then a red flag in the mix - how is it that a priest, Canon Bailey, is brought forward (according to the LC report) as an "episcopal presence." It almost reads like the PB suggested the Navajoland convocation elect her suggested choice right then as bishop, with her guarantee of his being consecrated by the early fall! Wow...that's pushy and presumptive all at once, if true.
No wonder - if that is true - the convocation discussion on the floor turned to a "we're not ready for that yet" concensus (not reported in the ENS article). There is an awful lot to read between the lines there, and I don't want to speculate without further discovery.
How do you read it all?
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