Bethlehem's Episcopal faithful welcomed their bishop Monday to an evening prayer service and a forum that touched on gay clergy and other contentious issues in the church.The Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori serves as chief pastor to the church's 2.4 million members in 16 countries and is the first woman to hold that level of office throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion, which is rooted in the Church of England and has the Archbishop of Canterbury as its spiritual head.
This was her first visit to the Diocese of Bethlehem, which serves 16,000 communicants in 14 counties of eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania.
In her sermon during the hourlong Evensong service at the Bethlehem's Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Jefferts Schori reminded the faithful that as Episcopalians, they are called to missionary work -- indeed, the formal name of the church in the United States is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.
''This expression of Christianity is focused on God's mission here and abroad,'' she said. ''You and I as God's hands and feet in the world are meant to be leaders of transformation.''
She commended the diocese for its support of the poor in the Diocese of Kajo Keji, a region in southern Sudan, and for heeding the church's call to action on domestic poverty, climate change and social justice.
The diocese's New Hope capital campaign has raised about $4 million, 75 percent of which is earmarked for Sudan and the rest for projects to serve the needy in northeast Pennsylvania.
Jefferts Schori, a Seattle-area native who abandoned a career as an oceanographer to answer a call to the priesthood, was ordained in 1994. She served six years as Bishop of Nevada before her 2006 election to a six-year term as presiding bishop.
During the forum after the service, Jefferts Schori discussed the Vatican's recent decision to establish a formal structure for disaffected Anglicans.
The move makes it easier for traditionalist Anglicans unhappy with the church's embrace of gay and female clergy to enter communion with Rome while retaining certain liturgical traditions.
It's a bigger issue in England than the United States, where traditional Episcopalians have already formed conservative structures and are thus unlikely to seek communion with Rome.
And, Jefferts Schori said, provisions allowing Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church already existed, with four ''Anglican Use'' congregations operating in the United States.
The two churches have a long history of losing members to each other, she added: ''The road between Rome and Canterbury is pretty well-traveled.''
Jefferts Schori said the Episcopal Church also continues its decades-long debate on homosexuality. As Bishop of Nevada, she supported the Diocese of New Hampshire when it elected Gene Robinson -- a gay man in a long-term relationship -- as bishop.
Robertson ''is not the only gay-partnered bishop,'' she said. ''He's the only one who's open about it.''
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