25 years after consecration of Bishop Barbara C. Harris
25 years after consecration of Bishop Barbara C. Harris
Communion still counting its firsts
By Tracy Sukraw
[Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts] The world was watching on Feb. 11, 1989, when Barbara C. Harris was consecrated before a congregation of nearly 8,000 at Hynes Auditorium in Boston, thus becoming the worldwide Anglican Communion’s first female bishop.
The historic and, at the time, controversial nature of that event signalled for many a hoped-for sea change toward church leadership that looks more like the church’s actual membership, a majority of which is women.
Twenty five years later, however, the reality is more ripple effect than tidal wave as women are still only gradually making their way into the episcopacy; communionwide, the church is still counting its firsts.
Roughly half of the Anglican Communion’s 38 member churches, or provinces, allow women to be ordained bishops. Sarah Macneal was elected the first female diocesan bishop in Australia last November, and Ellinah Wamukoya of Swaziland, consecrated in November 2012, is Africa’s first.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/02/21/25-years-after-consecration-of-bishop-barbara-c-harris/