Spring 2025 51 ROB FINCH/THE OREGONIAN P R O F I L E the leader of the Episcopal Church — was approaching, in 2006, and a handful of her peers suggested she consider candidacy. All of the familiar self-doubts were there: her age, her gender, her relative inexperience — not to mention that most of the presiding bishops up until this point (all of whom had been men) had come from larger, more urban districts on the East Coast. “Yeah, right,” Jefferts Schori recalled thinking. At the time, the Episcopal Church was in the midst of a vicious debate over gay rights, which had produced divisions within the Anglican Communion at large. “There were people saying some pretty horrible things against each other,” said Charles Robertson, who served as her canon — essentially, her senior adviser— after she was elected primate. “Let’s put it this way: not unlike the political climate of more recent years,” he said. Jefferts Schori would be among the most liberal leaders on the ballot; she had supported the election of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop, in New Hampshire, in 2003, as well as the blessing of same-sex partnerships. She won again. The mere fact of Jefferts Schori’s election as the first woman to hold the position of presiding bishop made it impossible to look away from issues confronting the church. A contemporaneous National Public Radio report noted the parallels between debates over the role of women in the church in the ’70s and over gay rights in the ’00s. But her own experiences also made her especially suited to the challenge. “I’ve always had a penchant for supporting the underdog, because I’ve been there, as a woman,” Jefferts Schori said. The year she came to Oregon State was the first that women were permitted to embark on overnight research trips at sea. Explicitly conservative attitudes toward women in science were only just starting to budge. She recalls one voyage when a captain refused to speak to her directly — and she was the chief scientist on board. Jefferts Schori describes herself as someone who, by temperament, does not shy away from conflict. Instead, she sees it as a productive site of potential evolution — perhaps not unlike an ecosystem disturbance, in which a sudden change to an environment may spark new growth. Steering that evolution, as she tells it, is the primary role of the bishop.“Ifyou stay in one place and never invite another thought or another perspective, you’re dying inside,” Jefferts Schori said. On reflection, this might have been her greatest contribution during her tenure as presiding bishop: “I think I helped the church, and the people in the church, realize that new things could happen, and the world wouldn’t fall apart.” SHE SEES [CONFLICT] AS … NOT UNLIKE AN ECOSYSTEM DISTURBANCE, IN WHICH A SUDDEN CHANGE TO AN ENVIRONMENT MAY SPARK NEW GROWTH. ↑ Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the Episcopal Church, in Portland in 2009.
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