More Waging Reconciliation from pecusa

Presiding Bishop in Dallas: "Have You Been Watching San Joaquin?"

POSTED ON: April 29, 2008

Using a traditional Rogation service, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori blessed a new community garden at St. Thomas' Church, Dallas,
during a visit to that diocese April 28. About 140 persons from the dioceses of
Dallas and Fort Worth attended the blessing. The group met in the parish
hall for an informal question-and-answer session after the ceremony, which
followed a two-hour session with diocesan clergy in the morning.

Clergy and laity from the Diocese of Fort Worth comprised a little less than
half of those attending the reception. Their questions dominated, with
some pleading with the Presiding Bishop for "help to get us out of the
wilderness we now find ourselves in." Fort Worth is one of several dioceses that are
likely to consider leaving The Episcopal Church when their conventions are
held this fall.

Bishop Jefferts Schori assured her questioners that a plan similar to the
one employed in San Joaquin has already been prepared. When the Fort
Worth delegation declared that they have been forgotten in this battle, the
Presiding Bishop replied, "Have you been watching San Joaquin? They
were not forgotten and now show dynamic signs of new life. You will not be
forgotten, either."

Throughout much of the question-and-answer session retired Bishop Sam B.
Hulsey of Northwest Texas stood in the back of the parish hall. Last January
Bishop Hulsey held an organizational meeting for clergy from the Diocese of
Fort Worth, offering continuing care to those who wish to remain with
The Episcopal Church, an action to which Bishop Jack Leo Iker of Fort Worth
objected. Since then Bishop Hulsey has visited a handful of Fort Worth
congregations.

St. Thomas' new garden is located where the former rectory once stood.
Three years of constant work prepared the ground for the garden. There are 16
neighborhood tenants, each committed to donating a tithe of their produce to
any community group that feeds the hungry. Two large pantry plots are
growing food to be donated to the North Dallas Shared Ministries and
Resource Center of Dallas. The first harvest will occur in late summer.

Cheryl M. Wetzel