Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: D.C. gets 1st female Episcopal bishop Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD D.C. gets 1st female Episcopal bishop \BY Larry Witham \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES The Right Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon became Washington's first female Episcopal bishop last night as women's ordination rolls across the Anglican Communion like a thunderstorm, dampening Anglican-Catholic ties and raining on traditionalists. Bishop Dixon was consecrated as suffragan, or assistant, bishop in a Washington Cathedral ceremony that included laying on of hands by Episcopal bishops. She is the third woman to reach the Anglican episcopacy, following in the steps of Bishops Barbara Harris of Massachusetts and Penelope Jamieson of New Zealand. "I am a symbol of the inclusiveness of God," Bishop Dixon said during a morning press conference. "That's what I hope, with Bishops Jamieson and Harris, to hold up for all to see." Overseas, meanwhile, faced with the Church of England's historic vote to ordain women last week, the retired bishop of London, the Right Rev. Graham Leonard, yesterday called for a breakaway church that would uphold the male priesthood. "We can only hope and pray that the Vatican and the hierarchy here in England will give sympathetic consideration to any possibility of a way forward," he wrote in the Catholic Herald. Since the vote, up to 1,000 Church of England priests and one bishop have said they may resign. Meanwhile, 1,400 women ordained as deacons wait for full ordination to the priesthood. Bishop Dixon's consecration comes also as the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted not to adopt a pastoral letter taking an unequivocal stand against women's ordination, which Bishop Dixon called a "good sign." Just as that debate made some Catholics "overjoyed" and others "deeply troubled," she said, her role may do the same in Episcopal Church. "I will live as a symbol of hope," said Bishop Dixon, 54, mother of three children and wife of lawyer David Dixon. After the Church of England's narrow vote to ordain women, the Vatican said it posed a "grave obstacle" to mending relations torn apart in the 16th century. "The Anglican Church was always a bridge between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism," said Jim Solheim, spokesman for the U.S. Episcopal Church. "Now the bridge is burning." During the consecration ceremony yesterday, two church members responded when Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning asked if anyone has "any reason why we should not proceed." They objected to the ordaining of women and to Bishop Dixon's position that she would ordain a qualified homosexual to the priesthood, which an Episcopal Church resolution opposes. Bishop Browning said the process of selection showed sufficient support for Bishop Dixon's consecration. He asked the congregation, "Is it your will that we ordain Jane a bishop?" "That is our will," the congregation resounded. When he declared her in the episcopacy, the 2,000 people attending stood in extended applause. Since Bishop Harris was elected in 1988, American traditionalists have organized a parallel church, now called the Episcopal Synod of America. Like the autonomous body suggested by Bishop Leonard in England, it too is looking for a "mother church" to connect with now that the Church of England has adopted women's ordination. Of the 70-million-member Anglican Communion's 30 provinces, 16 have either ordained women or voted to begin the process. The province of Australia votes tomorrow whether to give blanket approval for women's ordination, and Japan, Wales and Scotland are considering it. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM