General Convention gets under way tomorrow. There’s much business to discuss – but a lot of interest will focus on the election of a new Presiding Bishop to follow Katharine Jefferts Schori. Like us, they are a bit unenthusiastic about hierarchy – hence a Presiding Bishop like a Primus rather than an Archbishop. However in this case the Presiding Bishop doesn’t have diocesan responsibilities.
I’m looking forward to hearing the four candidates – I know two of them – sharing with Convention their vision for the future of the Episcopal Church and their understanding of leadership in the church.
There is a growing debate about the role and what the church wants to see. Katharine has been well known for being constantly ‘on the road’. She has travelled throughout the church ceaselessly. She has also had the misfortune to hold office and have to defend the church through a period of sharp conflict. The mood seems to be for leadership which sees in new times opportunities for reconciliation – a more eirenic style.
We’ll see what happens and how much of that debate about the role may have resonance in Scotland