Presiding Bishop Visits St. Thomas, Dallas

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

The head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, will visit Dallas for a blessing service for a community garden Monday afternoon.

Episcopalians in the Fort Worth Diocese have chartered two large buses to travel to Dallas for the event, and many Episcopalians from Granbury, Wichita Falls and other cities near the Metroplex are also expected to attend, said George Komechak, who is helping to organize the trip.

The 2:30 p.m. service will be at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church's Community Garden, where church members grow vegetables for local food banks.

Schori will also tour restored church buildings, event organizers said.

The Fort Worth group will travel to Dallas for Schori's appearance, even though leaders of the Fort Worth Diocese do not support her...

You can read more about the St. Thomas the Apostle Community Garden here.

Katie Sherrod offers us a brief report:

Two busloads of Episcopalians from the Diocese of Fort Worth left Trinity Church's parking lot at 1 p.m. today to travel to Dallas to see the presiding bishop at St. Thomas the Apostle.

In addition to the people on the buses, there were others who came as individuals from Fort Worth, as well as twenty from Granbury and fifteen from Wichita Falls. Not bad for a Monday afternoon. Many more wanted to come but could not get off work.

We all wore these identifying badges to erase any doubt about why we were there...

...Those of us from Fort Worth came not only to celebrate the new garden, but also to see and hear Katharine. We needed to feed a different hunger, one for connection to the larger church, and for reassurance that we won't be forgotten.

Katharine delivered on both counts. The liturgy blessing the garden was lovely and well done, and her remarks and answers to questions at the reception that followed were handled with her usual calm gracefulness...

Yesterday we learned of a new organizational effort launched by faithful Episcopalians in Fort Worth. Now we hear about Bishop Katharine's visitation to a parish within easy commuting distance from Fort Worth.

Since Bp. Iker intends to abandon TEC this coming November, I would imagine we'll see an increase of activity among the faithful Episcopalians of Fort Worth during the next few months. Stay tuned.

J.

UPDATE: The Dallas Morning News offers us a video and a little more information about this visit. I thought the following was worth noting:

...Bishop James Stanton of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas did not attend Monday. His conservative views have sometimes put him at odds with Bishop Jefferts Schori.

But Bishop Stanton did give permission for the visit – something the Episcopal Church requires when the Presiding Bishop comes into a diocese – and provided a welcoming letter.

He said last week that he had told Bishop Jefferts Schori months ago that a long-standing family commitment would keep him from attending.

"This is not a protest of any sort whatsoever. It's just a matter of differences in schedule," he said. "She has decided to visit in smaller churches, and I commend that choice."