Columbus, USA - The Episcopal Church elected Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada as its presiding bishop on Sunday, making her the first woman to lead a church in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Many Episcopalians gathered here for the church's triennial general convention cheered the largely unexpected choice of Bishop Jefferts Schori, 52, the lone woman and one of the youngest of the seven candidates for the job. Her election was a milestone for the Episcopal Church, which began ordaining women only in 1976.
She takes on her new responsibilities at a particularly fraught moment in the history of the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the Anglican Communion, the world's third-largest church body, with 77 million members. She was elected to succeed Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, who will retire in November when his nine-year term ends.
At the last general convention, in 2003, the church consented to the election of an openly gay man, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire. The decision deeply offended some Episcopalians in the United States and many Anglican primates abroad, who saw it as blatant disregard of Scripture.
Since then, some United States congregations have left the Episcopal Church, and primates overseas have threatened schism. Bishop Jefferts Schori supported Bishop Robinson's election in 2003, and the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada permits the blessing of same-sex unions. Moreover, that Bishop Jefferts Schori is a woman could further strain relations with three dioceses in the United States and many Anglican provinces that refuse to ordain women as priests and bishops, critics of the vote said Sunday.
But Bishop Jefferts Schori held out hope of mending any breaks that her election or previous positions on issues might cause.
"Alienation is often a function of not knowing another human being," she said at a news conference after her election. "I have good relations with almost all the other bishops, those who agree and those who don't agree with me. I will bend over backwards to build good relations with those who don't agree with me."
Bishop Jefferts Schori's election was a crowning moment in her meteoric rise in the Episcopal Church. She was ordained just 12 years ago, after leaving a career as an oceanographer.
"I'm thrilled," said the Rev. Susan Russell, the president of Integrity, an advocacy group for gay and lesbian Episcopalians. "I'm a cradle Episcopalian. I remember when there were no women priests. I remember when they said the church was going to split over the ordination of women. What we're giving as a Father's Day gift to the Anglican Communion is a woman primate, and that is wonderful."
But some at the general convention said Bishop Jefferts Schori's lack of experience as a church leader, especially of a large diocese, would be tested by the tensions in her denomination.
"Can she run a big ship of state?" asked the Rev. William L. Sachs, director of research at the Episcopal Church Foundation, the church's analysis arm. "She is certainly smart enough, and she gets it. But can she translate that into an actual program?"
Some critics were quick to focus on her sex, asserting that her election was an affront to others in the denomination who opposed the ordination of women. They described it as further evidence of the church's drift from the shared beliefs of the greater Anglican Communion.
"In many ways the election speaks for itself," Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. of Pittsburgh said in a statement. Bishop Duncan is the moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, a theologically conservative group of Episcopal dioceses. "For the Anglican Communion worldwide, this election reveals the continuing insensitivity and disregard of the Episcopal Church for the present dynamics of our global fellowship."
Bishop Jefferts Schori will be the 26th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. As such, she will represent the church in meetings with other Anglican leaders from around the world and with leaders of other religious groups. But her powers are limited because of the Episcopal Church's tradition of autonomy for its dioceses, including the right to elect their own bishops.
That regard for autonomy has allowed three dioceses — those in Quincy, Ill.; Fort Worth; and San Joaquin, Calif. — to resist the ordination of women. In Quincy, at least, Bishop Jefferts Schori would not be welcome, said the Rev. H. W. Herrmann, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church there.
"Just like we can't use grape juice and saltines for Communion, because it isn't the right matter, we do not believe that the right matter is being offered here," Mr. Herrmann said in an interview on Sunday.
But no issue facing Bishop Jefferts Schori is likely to be as daunting as the fight over ordaining gay bishops.
In October 2004, a committee appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, issued a report to head off a possible schism over the sexuality debate. That document, the Windsor Report, recommended that the Episcopal Church apologize for the consecration of Bishop Robinson, stop blessing same-sex couples and place a moratorium on the election of gay bishops.
Bishop Jefferts Schori served on a commission that responded to the Windsor Report with recommendations that were less stringent. A committee at the general convention has been struggling to amend those recommendations, which have yet to come to a vote before the clergy and the lay deputies.
Bishop Jefferts Schori's role on the commission has only increased the suspicion of some critics. "Her gender has to be combined with her response to Windsor," said the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, a critic of the church and theologian-in-residence at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Summerville, S.C. Speaking of other Anglican primates, he said, "Their anxiety will be focused less on her gender than her theology."
Beyond the fight over gay bishops, there is the question of how Bishop Jefferts Schori will be received by foreign church leaders and the heads of other religious groups. Church experts predicted that her election might further strain relations with the Vatican, which cooled to the church after the election of Bishop Robinson three years ago.
Her election may also increase pressure on the Church of England to break its deadlock over electing female bishops.