SAN DIEGO: Diocese welcomes Presiding Bishop; mission focus central

The Presiding Bishop offered the children a short lesson that opened the April 6 Sunday liturgy at St. James by-the-Sea, La Jolla. She leaned down and encouraged them to share God's love with their neighbors, saying "that will change the world."

Jefferts Schori's time at St. James capped her April 4-6 visit to the Diocese of San Diego, which reaches from the Pacific Coast to Yuma, Arizona, encompassing 50 congregations. The chief pastor to the Episcopal Church's 2.4 million members in 16 countries and 110 dioceses, she was elected to a nine-year term in 2006.

Through public appearances and tours of local ministry sites, the Presiding Bishop met and spoke to hundreds of clergy and lay people in San Diego.

Ministry site visits
San Diego Bishop James Mathes and Episcopal Community Services (ECS) executive director Lesslie Keller led Jefferts Schori and her husband, Richard Schori, on a Friday-afternoon tour of three ministry sites.

The first stop was ECS' Downtown Safe Haven, a transitional home for chronically homeless people who suffer from severe mental illnesses. A cool breeze and warm sunshine filled the courtyard where residents and staff shared their lives with the Presiding Bishop.

When asked about the transitional home, Jefferts Schori said the residents "are learning to say, 'Yes, I want to give back to community, to change and enter community as a partner.'"

Mathes beamed with pride as the Presiding Bishop moved about the campus, talking with residents. "This is a great moment for Safe Haven to tell resurrection stories," he said. "New life -- that's what this is about."

Client Jennifer Van, in her quiet, shy way, related the importance of Safe Haven: "This place has been a Godsend. To get such great help in the city is a blessing for me."

The tour continued at the second stop: ECS' Head Start in National City. The program is designed to promote social and educational development in children and to assist families whose incomes fall below the national poverty level. Children receive thorough dental and physical examinations, immunizations and nutritious, hot meals every day. Jefferts Schori spent time talking with the teachers and children.

She received a brief history lesson about St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, where the Head Start program is located. Through short presentations inside the century-old sanctuary that was originally a ship, she learned about Dorcas House, a Tijuana orphanage, and Recover San Diego, an interdenominational fire relief effort formed in response to the 2007 wildfires.

The Learning Center in North Park was the final ministry on the tour. A tutoring center for Sudanese refugee children, the center provides help with schoolwork, hearty meals and the love and support of a generous mother-figure, Molly Moores, who started the tutoring program.

Moores received the Channel 10 News Leadership Award last year and is held in the highest esteem by the children and their grateful parents. Siama Agory arrived in San Diego in 2000 and is a mother of a student who comes regularly to The Learning Center. When asked about Moores, she held up her arm and said, "We may be different colors, but we are one blood."

The Presiding Bishop listened as the children discussed school and their favorite subjects -- math, poetry, art. Their eyes lit up when they talked about cleaning up after the fires at Camp Stevens. She looked at their artwork and photos of trips they'd taken to museums and ballgames. She got on her knees to see them more closely and to hear their soft voices. Just before she left, she told the children: "I'm very honored to be here and to meet each of you. You are going to be significant leaders as poets, artists, mathematicians and more."

The Tutoring Center impressed Jefferts Schori. "They're very serious children -- very focused on schoolwork," she said. "That's been the experience of every immigrant population -- they know that education is vital. Here is this woman, Molly, leading the way with creativity and passion. They are gifted children finding their ways."

The tour gave Jefferts Schori a good idea of the work in which San Diego Episcopalians engage. At the day's end she commended the diocese on its work.

"The Episcopal Church has always valued education and considered it central to our faith," she said. "ECS is doing a great job of focusing on education from the earliest opportunity, from the tutoring programs for children to the reeducation of residents of downtown Safe Haven."

Public address, clergy dialogue
The Presiding Bishop received a standing ovation from more than 600 people when she walked through the door at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church on Saturday afternoon for a public forum coordinated with the campus ministry program serving nearby UCSD.

With the afternoon's theme of "A Reasoned Faith," Jefferts Schori spoke of her own spiritual journey. People gathered from the farthest reaches of the diocese, including Palm Springs and Yuma, Arizona, to hear her personal faith story. She spoke about her childhood and knowing from age 10 that she wanted to be a scientist. Her sense of wonder about life, and curiosity informed by heady reading material, such as Being and Time by Martin Heidegger, shaped her worldview.

She spoke about her transition from oceanography to ordained ministry. "There was a lot of grief associated with the realization that I couldn't continue in the direction that I'd spent the better part of 20 years preparing for, but at some point I recognized that it wasn't a waste. That preparation could still be used in another field. I am still fishing and I am still working in the depths."

She described etymology of words, shedding new light on familiar topics. "Science is a word that means knowing….Faith and religion ask questions about meaning. Science asks questions about mechanism and connection," she said. "They can be essential important partners in the human endeavor of knowing. Einstein said, 'Religion without science is blind; science without faith limps.'" She spoke about the importance of one informing the other and the enormities that result when they don't.

In relating faith to science, Jefferts Schori cited the Franciscan view of ministry to "show up, pay attention, tell the truth and leave the results to God," saying "that's another spin on the scientific method."

Asked about the literal story of Easter and the Resurrection, Jefferts Schori said, "I think Easter is most profoundly about meaning, not mechanism."

When she shared a favorite quote, "Jesus died to take away your sins; not your mind," applause and cheers rang out.

Her humility revealed itself in many moments throughout her visit, but especially when she said, "I was as surprised as anybody else when I was elected."

The calm, intelligent way she handled the questions touched the audience. "She was eloquent and answered every question without becoming flustered," said Kate Myler, a 25-year-old who attended the event with a friend.

The Presiding Bishop's afternoon address followed a morning dialogue with diocesan clergy following Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego. Clergy spouses attended a presentation offered by Richard Schori, and Terri Mathes, wife of San Diego's bishop.

The gathering concluded with lunch hosted in the cathedral's Great Hall, where displays of the Guadalupe Art Program highlighted the work of young women exploring their own spiritual gifts and identity. Original art included a portrait of the Presiding Bishop, titled "Nuestra Obispa," presented to Jefferts Schori by the program's director, the Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson.    

Sunday breakfast and service by-the-sea
Starting her Sunday visit to St. James in La Jolla with breakfast in the parish hall, the Presiding Bishop brought greetings from Episcopalians around the world, noting that the Episcopal Church encompasses more than just the United States and includes overseas dioceses.

The Rev. Randal Gardner, rector of St. James, La Jolla, summed up the sentiment of many when he thanked Jefferts Schori for bringing the Church's message with "hopeful serenity and sensible accommodation."

Breakfast highlights included a presentation by parish youth. In a question-and-answer period, Jefferts Schori spent time educating people about the Church's mission on a global level.

"Millennium Development Goals are about developing nations overseas; they're not about work in the United States," she said. "Ten of our dioceses are overseas and some are in nations targeted by MDG work."

One questioner asked: "What's the most surprising thing about being the Presiding Bishop?" "The media's interest in the church," she responded.

When asked about conflict in the church, Jefferts Schori said thoughtfully, "I'm convinced when we focus on the needs of our neighbors and not our own self interest, we have the potential to build not only bridges, but a fully functioning Christian community. It's when we get more interested in our neighbors and their suffering than in our own peeves that we begin to change the world and the tenor of relationships within this church."

The Presiding Bishop's sermon drew upon her recent trip to Gaza where she saw Muslims and Christians working together to provide welcome areas to one another. She spoke about immigrants, aliens and refugees, the significance of which was not lost on San Diegans who live embroiled in border issues.

"We are aliens," said Jefferts Schori. "We're the ones living outside of God's dream, the heavenly city; we're the ones waiting outside the gate, eager to build a new city where all will be citizens of the household of God. In some real sense, none of us gets to be a citizen there until we all are."
"In my short time here in the diocese, I've seen lots of examples of how this part of the church is working to give aliens a home: the resettled refugees from Sudan and Burma who are being tutored after school; the homeless mentally ill who are getting help to stabilize their lives and living arrangements; the children of immigrants who are learning social skills and nutrition along with their alphabet and numbers, skills they're going to need to grow up and be full members of this community."

Jefferts Schori's preaching was concise, thought-provoking and ended with a haunting question: "The next time we meet an alien, will we recognize Jesus in our midst?"

The anthem during the service contained one line that echoed the Presiding Bishop's message: "We make God's love too narrow by false limits of our own."

Many commented on the hope she inspires in their lives. "She gives me hope for the Church," said the Rev. Canon Lee Teed, retired priest at St. Paul's Cathedral. "She carries the presence of God so graciously. I've truly never met someone so centered and peaceful in the midst of utter chaos at the height of power."

During the service, Mathes bid the Presiding Bishop farewell: "I'm grateful for your spirit, leadership, courage -- just for you. We have been richly blessed; you have empowered us with your presence." His voice wavered when he said, "We send you with our blessings and our whole support."

After the service, parishioners commented on her insightful message, and said the way she celebrated the Eucharist made an impression on those who attended.

A parishioner at St. Paul's Cathedral, Joanna Smith, put it this way: "It seems like she's living her message, not just preaching it."