wfn.org | Rosemari Sullivan of Virginia appointed

[John Rollins <rollins@intac.com>]

executive officer of General Convention

98-2226
Rosemari Sullivan of Virginia appointed
executive officer of General Convention

by James Solheim
     (ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and Dr.
Pamela P. Chinnis, president  of the House of Deputies,
announced September 21 that they were appointing the Rev.
Rosemari Sullivan, rector of the Church of St. Clement in
Alexandria, Virginia, to the  position of executive
officer of the General Convention Office in New York. She
succeeds the Rev. Canon Donald Nickerson who retired in
June.
     "The choice was made from a list of three finalists,
all of whom possessed good  qualities," said Chinnis, who
has known Sullivan for nine years. "When you have all
good people whom you know and like, it is difficult to
make a decision." Sullivan will  assume her new position
November 1 in time to attend a meeting of the Executive
Council in Oklahoma City.
     "The presiding bishop has, I think, used wonderfully
the metaphor of  conversation," said Sullivan. "Part of
the role of the executive officer, as I see it, is to
provide the hospitality for that conversation to take
place." In an interview, Sullivan pointed out that
"General Convention is really a process  that is
happening all the time-not just the visible meeting that
happens every three  years." She wants the church to see
how her office "helps the ministry of the church  happen,
keeping us constantly in mission."
     The General Convention Office not only coordinates
plans for the triennial  meeting but also the work of the
interim bodies-the meetings of the church's  committees,
commissions, boards and agencies that carry out the work
of the church  between conventions.
     As deputy to the 70th General Convention, Sullivan
was a member of the  legislative committee on Prayer Book
and Liturgy. She chaired the committee at the 71st  and
72nd conventions. At the 1997 convention in Philadelphia
she also served as chaplain  to the House of Deputies,
the first woman to serve in that role. A native of
Scranton, Pennsylvania, Sullivan entered the cloistered
Order of the  Cross and Passion after her graduation from
high school. She left the religious life after  four
years and earned the Bachelor of Arts and Master of
Social Work degrees at the  Catholic University of
America's School of Social Service. She received her
Master of  Divinity degree from Virginia Theological
Seminary in 1985. She and her husband  Edmund, who is a
senior civil servant in Washington, DC, have two adult
children, Ned,  who is in the United States Marines, and
Meg, who is a college student.
     As a candidate for bishop in several dioceses,
Sullivan said she has learned a few  things about the
church. "Participating in that process gives you a flavor
of the  uniqueness of each diocese, a glimpse of how the
church is carrying out its mission." She  added that she
has been "energized by the insights of people doing
mission at the local  level." And she is eager to make
the connection between that ministry and her office  more
visible. One of the functions of her office is to certify
consecrations, so she will  attend many in the coming
years, giving her what she calls "a good look at the
pieces that  make up the tapestry of the church-and maybe
even help put them all together."
     The Sullivans found a home in the Episcopal Church
when they stopped at a small  parish in rural Virginia.
"It was almost a homecoming," she said when the family
began to  attend services that were welcoming and lively.
"And that was it for us."