On Feb. 27, while in town for Bishop Harris’s anniversary celebration, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited and celebrated the Eucharist at the Epiphany School in Dorchester. The closing hymn, “I Like Papayas,” got everyone moving, including the PB.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori met with students from Esperanza Academy in Lawrence just before the anniversary program began. She was delighted when they told her they liked math, and they asked her about her unusual vocational journey from oceanographer to bishop.
The Rev. Margaret Rose, director of the Episcopal Church’s Mission Leadership Center, spoke during the Feb. 28 morning program of a struggle that continues: “The fearlessness of Barbara’s voice is echoed in the words and works of women and men around the communion, but most particularly in those women who refuse to have their voices silenced even in places where it might be.”
The Hon. Byron Rushing said of the legacy of Harris’s consecration: “Today we celebrate that we have been changed, that although we are not what God and we want us to be, thank God we are not what we used to be.”
The Rev. Liz Steinhauser of St. Stephen’s Church in Boston spoke of Harris as an incarnational inspiration: “Thank you, for taking the risks you have throughout your life, to be Christ’s body here on earth and to have moved through the world with such courage and kindness.”
Circle of friends: Bishop Barbara C. Harris, Bishop Gayle E. Harris and the Rev. Canon Edward W. Rodman reminisced about friendship and laughter that carried them through early days following Barbara Harris’s historic election and consecration.
The Cathedral Gospel Choir of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, helped lead the celebratory liturgy.
DSC003
The procession forms at the start of the Eucharist celebrating Harris’s anniversary.
The Rev. Stephanie Spellers and the Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones in the procession.
The Very Rev. John P. Streit Jr. and the Rev. Canon Steven C. Bonsey in the procession.
Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, the second woman to join the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops, joined brother and sister bishops in the celebration.
Bishop Gayle E. Harris and Bishop Bud Cederholm, bishops suffragan of Massachusetts, in the procession.
St. Paul’s AME Choir from Cambridge, which participated in Bishop Harris’s consecration service 20 years ago, returned to help celebrate.
The congregation celebrates with singing.
The congregation celebrates with singing.
The congregation celebrates with singing.
Dyanna Caribe of St. Stephen’s Church in Boston was the lector.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached the sermon: “We have seen doors unlocked, and hills climbed and the blind healed. But there are still plenty of locks and blindness and rocky roads.”
Bishop Harris enjoyed the performance of the Gospel Choir of St. Cyprian’s Church in Roxbury so much that she came down and joined them in singing “We Worship You.”
There was dancing in the aisles during the exchange of peace.
In Harris’s honor, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE presented a check to the B-SAFE summer youth program at St. Stephen’s Church in Boston. Weekend contributions to B-SAFE totaled $23,000.
The altar party recessed to the Cathedral Gospel Choir’s rendition of “We’re on Our Way.”
Among the bishops participating in the celebration: (Front row from left) Carol Gallagher (assisting, North Dakota), Geralyn Wolf (Rhode Island), Gayle E. Harris (Massachusetts), Barbara C. Harris, M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE (Massachusetts), Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bud Cederholm (Massachusetts), Gordon Scruton (Western Massachusetts) and Laura Ahrens (Connecticut), (back from left) Stephen Lane (Maine), Andrew Smith (Connecticut), Thomas Ely (Vermont), James Curry (Connecticut) and Arthur Walmsley (retired, Connecticut).
