wfn.org | Frank Griswold of Chicago elected

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

August 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1902
Frank Griswold of Chicago elected 
25th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church

by Mike Barwell and James Solheim
     (ENS) Pledging to be "a presiding bishop who belongs to all,"
Bishop Frank Tracy Griswold III of the Diocese of Chicago will lead the
2.4 million member Episcopal Church into the 21st century.
     Griswold was elected the 25th presiding bishop July 21 by 214
bishops gathered at historic Christ Church in Philadelphia, where
William White was elected first presiding bishop in 1789. He will assume
the office January 1 as successor to Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning.

     The election came on the third ballot when Griswold received 110
votes and Bishop Herbert Thompson Jr. of Southern Ohio received 96.
For the first time, the vote tallies were announced before the House of
Deputies was asked to assent, which they did with an overwhelmingly
positive vote.
     Escorted by the deputation from his diocese, Griswold greeted
both houses in a joint session and drew on a quote from Roman Catholic
bishop Helder Camara of South America: "The bishop belongs to all....
Let no one be alarmed if I am seen with compromised and dangerous
people on the left or the right. Let no one bind me to a group. My door,
my heart, must be open to everyone~absolutely everyone."
     
Early reactions to election
     Response to Griswold's election was swift and largely supportive.
     "I understand he's a great reconciler and I think that's what's
needed at this time," said the Rev. Julia Phillips of the Diocese of the
Central Gulf Coast.
     "He will be able to dialogue with the conservative and liberal
agendas," said the Rev. Dennis Nichols, of the Diocese of New Jersey.
     The Rev. Dane Bragg, of the Diocese of Southern Virginia,
agreed, suggesting Griswold "will continue Bishop Browning's legacy of
inclusiveness."
     "I think all of us who have worked for him feel that we're giving
a great gift to the Episcopal Church, but it's a sacrificial gift," said
Phoebe Pettingell of Wisconsin, who served three years with Griswold on
the Standing Liturgical Commission.
     "He's somebody who is able to convey such a vision to everyone
that you feel that you are working for love and you feel that you're
inspired with a vision of God's kingdom," Pettingell said. "There's no
question in my mind that he's the person who can give this church the
vision that can remind us that we're in Christ and that whatever
differences that we have, we're united in the work that we do to be
Christ's hands in the world."
     Griswold also was credited by many for his strong ecumenical
work with Roman Catholic dialogues, ongoing leadership in
conversations with the Russian Orthodox Church, and with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is based in Chicago.
     Katie Sherrod from Forth Worth, vice president of the Episcopal
Women's Caucus, said, "I think he will continue the philosophy that
there are no outcasts in this church." She called him someone capable of
providing the "kind of balance that is sorely needed in the church."

Hope for healing wounds
     Conservatives in the church also responded quickly with
expressions of support and hope for the future. Yet some adopted a "wait
and see" attitude.
     Bishop John Howe of the Diocese of Central Florida said
Griswold "is an extremely gracious leader within the church and an
accomplished bishop, and I wish him well." He pointed out that in the
House of Bishops "the vote on virtually all of the hot-button issues before
this convention reveals an almost equal split," including the election. 
     Griswold has "as his first order of business," Howe said,
"reaching out to those on the other side of the great divide. If he does
not do that, it is hard to see how these two constituencies will continue
under one roof."
     Some traditionalists expressed hope that Griswold would heal
wounds from the past. 
     Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and
Democracy and a member of the board of the American Anglican
Congress (AAC), an umbrella organization pulling together many of the
conservative organizations in the church, said in a press release: "We
pledge to encourage and assist Bishop Griswold in the much-needed
efforts to restore godly civility and common decency to the Episcopal
Church."
     Roger Boltz, administrative director of the AAC, added, "It is our
hope that he will be more committed to holding the Episcopal Church
together and to improving our relations with other provinces of the
Anglican Communion. Important steps to these ends would be to see that
all points of view are fairly represented on national committees and to
speak to the public on behalf of the whole church only when the whole
church truly has one mind and voice."

Staying grounded
     At his first press conference, Griswold said that "the ministry of
the presiding bishop is to stand at the center." When asked whether he
would offer some hope to conservatives who feel marginalized, he said,
"I hope I am orthodox in my theology. All of us have truth to tell." 
     He said that "the church is destined always to contain
diametrically opposing views" and part of his task is to "help the
different voices hear one another" through continuing conversation. "I
see myself as an Anglican with the breadth to live with ambiguity and
contradicting perspectives and stay grounded."
     Known for his ability to listen, Griswold talked about how he had
been stretched as a bishop of Chicago. When members of the black
community shared their painful stories with him, "I realized that my
perspective on racism was naive and that their reality had to become my
reality," he said.
     When asked about the church's continuing division over sexuality
issues, he declined to predict the outcome, but insisted that opposing
sides might enrich and transform one another through their conversation. 
     "We must acknowledge the very different perspectives in our
community," he said, emphasizing the importance of staying at the table
together. 
     "Discovering truth and catholicity is what I commit myself to as
presiding bishop," he said. Pointing out that conversation and conversion
have the same root, meaning to turn or be turned, he added, "We are
designed to discover truth together through conversation."
     "Conversion is a sacred enterprise in which I am turned around, I
am changed by making room for, by considering, by being hospitable
toward the opinions, the word, the lived and incarnate truth of another,"
Griswold said later in a sermon at the closing Eucharist (full text in
News Features). "Left to our own devices, we are critical, fearful and
protective of our own take on truth."
     Through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, he said, we can
"welcome the paradox, complexity, ambiguity and outright contradiction,
which is where real life is lived and the grace and peace of God are truly
to be found."
     At the closing press conference, Griswold expressed his hopes
that "the community of faith must remain resilient and learn to travel
light," especially as it tries to deal with major cultural shifts in society.
Part of his duty will be to "point to the larger picture" as the church
struggles to deal with difficult issues.

Assumes office in January
     Griswold, 59, is in his 10th year as bishop of Chicago. His term
has been marked by greater acceptance of women priests, a shift to a
voluntarily funded diocesan budget, a revamping of congregational
development policy leading to self-sufficiency for assisted congregations,
and more emphasis on the work of the 13 social service agencies of the
diocese's Episcopal Charities.
     Griswold assumes office January 1 and will be formally installed
January 10 at Washington National Cathedral. Because of a revision in
canons at the 1994 General Convention, he will serve a nine-year term
rather than a 12-year.
     Griswold was born and raised in Bryn Mawr, a suburb of
Philadelphia, and served three area parishes as an assistant priest or
rector for 22 years before he was elected bishop coadjutor of Chicago in
1984.
     A graduate of Harvard and Oxford universities, Griswold was
ordained priest in 1963. He served as curate at Church of the Redeemer,
Bryn Mawr, the parish in which he was baptized and confirmed, and as
rector of St. Andrew's in Yardley and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in
Philadelphia. Griswold succeeded Bishop James Montgomery in 1987 as
bishop of Chicago.
     On the national level, Griswold is known for his skills as a
liturgist and spiritual director, and for his role overseeing ecumenical
dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic
Church. 
     Griswold and his wife, Phoebe, have two adult
daughters~Hannah and Eliza~who joined him, along with Eliza's
husband Chris Allen, at the convention.

~Mike Barwell is communications director of the Diocese of Southern
Ohio, and James Solheim is director of news and information for the
Episcopal Church. Carol Barnwell of  Houston, Texas, contributed to
this article.