It's a Girl!

Very historic day in the House of Deputies yesterday. I was sitting in the visitors' gallery (staff aren't allowed close-up seats!) when the news came down that our new Presiding Bishop is to be Katharine Jefferts Schori. The rule in the HoD is no applause, or show of approval / disapproval, etc., but I gotta tell ya' - gasps, tears (of joy), hugs, barely contained hysterics were the order of the moment.

No one - no one - could believe it. Never in a million years did we think she'd get the job. We all assumed the bishops would do the safe thing in light of the Windsor Report fiasco. But they were very courageous - they elected the best person for the job, whatever the gender. Keep in mind that there are only 5 or 6 women in the House of Bishops, so Schori was elected by the boys.

I got to attend her press conference last night (sorry the shot is fuzzy) and she is one very smart cookie. As someone (a guy) said, she had a whole different take on the questions - always answering from the personal, human point of view rather than a hierarchical point of view.

There is such energy around this - people smiling, laughing, feeling great about what happened. Folks who were at General Convention three years ago say the mood is very different. Then, folks were somber, worried about what the reaction to the Robinson thing would be back home. No one's worried about this. The best person got the job. Period. Wow!

On a personal blog-note, I'm not able to respond or add comments to Blogger on this laptop, for some reason. Please know that I appreciate your reading and commenting - I'll try to catch up when I get back to New York on Friday.

From Columbus - goodnight and woo-hoo! The girls are kickin' ass!