Trinity Professor Joins Rio Grande Slate
Posted on: March 22, 2010
by The Living Church
The Rev. Dr. Leander Harding of Trinity School for Ministry has joined the slate of nominees to become the ninth bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Harding is Trinity’s dean of church relations and seminary advancement and associate professor of pastoral theology.
The diocese, which encompasses New Mexico and the southwestern corner of Texas, announced Harding’s nomination by petition on March 20. The electing convention will convene April 24.
The diocese has also released question-and-answer essays by all six nominees. The essays reveal how the nominees envision helping the diocese heal after what the diocesan profile [PDF] describes as an extended period of turmoil in leadership.
“The argument could be made that the last ‘normal’ episcopacy in the Diocese of the Rio Grande was that of Bishop [C. James Kinsolving III], which ended in 1972,” the profile said after describing the tenures of Bishops Richard M. Trelease (1972–87), M. Terence Kelshaw (1989–2005) and Jeffrey Steenson (2005–07).
The profile said some in the diocese were wounded by Bishop Kelshaw’s leaving the Episcopal Church, after his retirement, for affiliation with the Anglican Church of Uganda and by Bishop Steenson’s leaving to become a Roman Catholic priest.
Each of the six nominees wrote of the Rio Grande’s need for a renewed sense of its identity.
“The bishop has to help humanize the divisive debates, create an envelope in which people can safely address differences with each other without the risk of winning or losing, and rebuild trust, mutual respect,” wrote the Rev. Ellis Tucker Bowerfind, rector, St. Luke’s, Alexandria, Va.
The bishop also should “offer an exciting opportunity to explore the natural beauty of the diocese, meeting the faithful clergy and people in their congregations, learn about and support their many important local ministries, and restore some creative peace to a diocese that has been troubled by ideological debates,” he wrote.
Harding described a challenge of staying on the side of Jesus rather than the side of battling factions within the diocese.
“It will be a challenge to stay in touch with those who disagree with me without appearing to have joined their side in the dispute and it will be difficult to stay in touch with those who agree with me without appearing to have joined their side,” he wrote. “I call this the challenge of staying on the side of Jesus despite the temptation to enlist in someone else’s cause. The tune will be as important as the words and getting the tune right is very difficult.”
Some nominees addressed the diocese’s future by discussing their past experiences.
The Rev. James R. Harlan, rector, Church of the Ascension, Denver, Colo., described coming to love the three primary forms of piety within Anglicanism.
“From the [Anglo-Catholic] parish of my childhood with its rich worship and reverent mystery to the evangelical/charismatic parishes of my adolescence where the spirit flowed freely and the Bible was taught, to the large, socially active cathedral with its very broad membership, I fell in love with all that the Episcopal Church is,” he wrote. “I came to value different streams of our tradition, not because someone told me to, but because in all those places, God’s love reached out to me and to so many other people.”
The Rev. Jedediah D. Holdorph II, rector, St. Mark’s, Medford, Ore., drew on St. Paul’s image of the Church as the body of Christ.
“I understand that difficult issues remain, but I believe the greatest challenge before us now is to move beyond debating contentious issues and learn to live together in the midst of our different opinions,” he wrote. “If one takes St. Paul’s image of the Church as the Body of Christ seriously — and I do — then we cannot afford to cut anyone off; we know we are more complete when we are together.”
The Rev. John S. Nieman, rector, Holy Trinity, Clemson, S.C., stressed reconciliation.
“Reconciliation as I understand it is not uniformity in all things, but the recognition that we need each other in our differences, and that what binds us together is the one, Triune God and the apostolic mission we have been given,” he wrote. “What excites me most is the opportunity to lead and be a part of the good work God has begun in you. I can envision with great joy looking back with you ten years from now and seeing the road we have walked together through God’s grace toward ‘restoring all people to unity with God and one another in Christ.’ I also see this as an opportunity to incarnate the gift of reconciliation for the larger Church.”
The Rev. Dr. Michael Louis Vono, rector, St. Paul’s Within the Walls, Rome, Italy, discussed one congregation’s disputes on whether it should keep a simple cross above the altar, which a previous rector had used to replace a Celtic cross.
“I proposed placing three different crosses over the Altar; a Christ the King cross, symbolic of an Anglo-Catholic spirituality, the original Celtic cross, symbolic of broad Anglican spirituality, and the simple wooden cross, symbolic of Evangelical spirituality,” Vono wrote. “Each cross spiritually represented a particular understanding of mission as well as ministry. Each remained over the altar two months. Throughout those six months we held evening discussion forums which enabled us to address issues such as the Church’s identity, history in the community, and mission priorities. … Today the Celtic cross is in place as well as an effective broad Anglican mission.”
Douglas LeBlanc
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