A Chicago priest has become the first black woman to be elected as a
diocesan bishop in the US-based Episcopal Church (TEC).
Bishops Barbara
Harris and Gayle Harris were the first black women to serve as suffragan
bishops within TEC; but after Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows receives the
necessary consents from the wider church, she will become the first
black woman diocesan bishop when she is consecrated in April.
Baskerville-Burrows was elected bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis
on the second ballot in a five-candidate election. She received 67
clergy votes and 82 lay votes. The election came at the end of a
two-year discernment process to find a successor to Bishop Catherine
Waynick, who will retire in Spring 2017.
“In 19 years of ordained ministry, and especially in the past five
helping to oversee and restructure the Diocese of Chicago, I’ve
supported communities of transformation, communicated a vision of hope
and gathered and networked God’s people across distance and difference,”
Bishop-elect Baskerville-Burrows said. “I believe these experiences
have prepared me to lead and serve in the particular place that is the
diocese of Indianapolis.”
She said that “the Episcopal Church is where I found my relationship
with Jesus some 30 years ago. It teaches me that the world is filled
with incredible beauty and unspeakable pain and that God is deeply in
the midst of it all loving us fiercely.
“So each day, nourished by the sacraments and stories of our faith,
the beauty of our liturgical tradition, the wide embrace of this
Christian community, I learn over and over again how to live without
fear.”
In her current role, Baskerville-Burrows serves as director of
networking for the diocese of Chicago. Her diocesan bishop, Jeff Lee,
welcomed the election, saying: “Among the vows that bishops take when we
are ordained to that office, we promise to encourage and support all
baptised people in their gifts and ministries, to nourish them from the
riches of God’s grace, to show compassion to the poor and strangers, and
defend those who have no helper.
“I can hardly think of anyone whose gifts are more suited to this
ministry, and I rejoice with the people of Indianapolis and the entire
church at her election.”
Bishop-elect Baskerville-Burrows’ consecration has been scheduled for
11 am EDT (3 pm GMT) on 29 April at Butler University’s Clowes Hall in
Indiana.