[fable]

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church, 30 years after it allowed women to become priests and bishops, has elected a woman as its Presiding Bishop. Katharine Jefferts Schori, 52, bishop of Nevada, was elected from a slate of seven nominees, on the fifth ballot June 18, as the 26th Presiding Bishop. She is the first woman to hold the top post in the church's nearly 400-year history. Her nine-year term officially begins November 1; she will be invested and seated November 4 during a liturgy at Washington National Cathedral.

Jefferts Schori breaks tradition in other ways. The airplane pilot and former oceanographer addressed deputies and visitors who gathered in the Columbus Convention Center in both Spanish and English. She thanked the other nominees and reassured the church of her passion for mission. She also offered a vision of reconciliation and actualization of the reign of God...

The other nominees were bishops J. Neil Alexander of Atlanta; Edwin F. Gulick Jr., of Kentucky; Henry N. Parsley, Jr. of Alabama; Stacy F. Sauls of Lexington; Charles E. Jenkins III, of Louisiana, and Francisco Duque-Gomez of Colombia.

"I give deep and abiding thanks for the ministry of the current Presiding Bishop," she said after an introduction by Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. She added that she hoped his "gifts continue to be shared within the church and the world in years to come because he has very much to give us all."

Among the deputies who spoke in support of Jefferts Schori was Blanca Echeverry, wife of nominee Bishop Francisco Duque-Gomez of Colombia. "I stand before you to urge you to support her election," Echeverry told the gathering in Spanish, through an interpreter, before the vote was taken. She praised Jefferts Schori as someone who understands the church in Latin America with the assistance of the Rev. Yamily Bass-Choate, rector of La Iglesia Memorial de San Adreas, New York, former Province IV Coordinator of Hispanic Ministries, and a native of Colombia...

However, Deputy Eddie Blue of Maryland, said he would not support Jefferts Schori's election. "I am shocked, dismayed and saddened by the choice of the House of Bishops," he told the House. Citing strains within the Anglican Communion concerning issues of gender and sexuality, he added: "We are acting as imperialists, as we often do."

There's much more to it, but the point is that the Anglican communion is already in a turmoil. The US recently gave it another first, a gay bishop, and now this. There is serious discussion among the bishops about demanding that the US group recant, or leave the communion; or that the African and South American Anglicans will do so.

Remember, too, that when the Anglican bishops agreed to allow women into the pastorship, at least a few of their number jumped to Roman Catholicism. It would seem that Anglicans are facing perilous times, though in my opinion they are at least facing them, as opposed to facing the 6th century and declaring it the permanent future. No points for figuring out which religion or religions I might mean.

What's your opinion?