The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, elected leader of the nation’s 2.7 million Episcopal Church members, roused an audience of her denomination’s regional leaders in Roanoke on Saturday.
“Pester your legislators” to be more aggressive in battling poverty and hunger across the globe, urged Jefferts Schori. “Annoy them.”
The 53-year-old former oceanographer, who is said by religious scholars to be the only female top-ranked official of a major denomination — except for Queen Elizabeth II, whose crown makes her head of the Church of England — spoke with the conviction of a street preacher.
That’s this morning’s Roanoke (Va.) Times reporting on our Presiding Bishop’s address to the delegates assembled at the annual council of the Diocesese of Southwestern Virginia. Jefferts Schori had a busy day.
Later in the day, Jefferts Schori joined a group of about 180 youths at St. John’s Episcopal Church to help pack dry meals for shipment to Third World nations.
To be sure, one afternoon’s preparation of meals won’t go far among the Earth’s underfed masses, but Jefferts Schori recognizes the importance of symbols. She is one, after all, embodying a new era among Episcopalians.
And, as The Lead earlier reported, she also addressed Episcopalians in San Joaquin by a live video link yesterday.