Doesn’t the Presiding Bishop remind you of Ronald Reagan?
Not, obviously, in her politics, but in her ability to work through the media to amplify her message. One of the things tht the people around Reagan understood was that the press corps was not monolithic, and that reporters at local newspapers were often interested in issues that left the national media cold. Heck, sometimes they were simply interested in the fact that you had visited their town, or spoken on an issue that their readers cared about.
During her first year-and-a-half as Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori has visited dozens of dioceses, granted interviews to the influential dailies in those areas, and generally emerged looking good–and having made the Church look good, too. She’s trading, partly, on the fact that, as our first female Presiding Bishop, she is something of a novelty. But in the process, she is establishing herself as someone whom the media looks to as an interpretter of religious and environmental issues, and that is likely to pay dividends in the future.
Here are some recent articles some of which we’ve pointed to earlier:
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Question authority, says bishop.
From The Seattle Times: “Schori, an oceanographer before she was ordained in 1994, is a compelling guide to lead an exploration of environmental topics and faith.”
This, from the very capable Peggy Stack at The Salt Lake City Tribune: Episcopal leader: We need to talk about sexuality
There’s this from The Palm Beach Post: Katharine Jefferts Schori’s biography notes that the 54-year-old is an instrument-rated pilot, a former oceanographer, the wife of a retired theoretical mathematician and mother of a grown daughter, who is also a pilot. But tellingly, The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori defines herself as a peacemaker.
This, from The San Diego Union Tribune: Church leader battles division
And a Q and A in the South Bend Tribune.
That’s six media markets, most of them major. Not a bad couple of weeks’ work.