History-making bishop Barbara Harris retires

Christian Century, Nov 20, 2002

To hear Bishop Barbara C. Harris tell about the historic occasion of 13 years ago, few of her peers noticed the day she became the first woman ever to claim a seat in the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops. Of course, she knew speculation was rife on how her election as suffragan (assistant) bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts might change the course of church history.

But the bishops at their first mixed-gender meeting seemed to think she had married one of their colleagues. "It was easy to be ignored," Harris said as she looked back recently. "At that first meeting, I got lost in this sea of wives."

At age 72, Harris concluded a career that none in the religious world could ignore for long. She retired on November 1, having been the first woman and the first black woman to serve as bishop anywhere in the Anglican Communion. With 11 women now in the office of bishop in the U.S., Harris proudly asserts that "we are a recognized presence in the House of Bishops."

But as she stepped down, she was remembered not only for standing out as a trumpeter of social-justice causes but also for effectively blending in at a time when naysayers saw her bishopric as a sign of a church bound for ruin.

"Her episcopacy has shown how the church doesn't change radically when women come into leadership," said theologian Mary Hunt, director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual in Silver Spring, Maryland. "Those of us who want to see institutions become much more horizontal rather than vertical and hierarchical might have wished for something else. In her case, it has assured some within the church that things haven't changed entirely."

When Massachusetts Episcopalians nominated Harris for bishop in 1989, the church faced an implicit summons to rethink bedrock expectations for what a bishop should be. Not only was the nominee neither white nor male, she held neither an undergraduate degree nor a master of divinity degree, both of which had previously been assumed to be credentials for a bishop.

What's more, critics said, while she may have had knowledge of the business world as a public relations executive, she had scant parish experience since her ordination to the priesthood in 1980. Most of her priestly work had been in editing Witness, an unoffical church magazine geared toward left-wing advocacy.

After the historic 1989 election, expectations soared for her to purge the church of sexism and reverse Boston's painful history of racial tension. Her first challenge "was to make expectations realistic," she recalled. "I could have made a full-time job out of speaking across the country," Harris said. Instead, she focused on enabling her diocese's members to work collaboratively with diocesan staff and with one another.

On the national level in the House of Bishops, Harris kept attention on social issues: opposition to the death penalty, public education funding and gay rights, to name a few.

Though planning to enjoy retirement, she will also continue her work for social justice as an "assisting bishop" to Bishop John B. Chane of Washington, D.C. Chane said that beginning next summer, Harris will help Washington congregations "more effectively understand and address poverty, racism, war, international concerns, and the need to seek reconciliation within the life of the Christian community and the broader interfaith community," the Washington Post reported.

"I couldn't change that old-boys club by myself," Harris said. "It was important that other women be elected so those changes [in discourse] could take place. It's like eating an elephant--one bite at a time. The job isn't done yet. The elephant is yet to be consumed."--RNS