First Ordained Female U.S. Episcopal Bishop To Deliver Special Message at Houston Church Sunday

June 12, 2012 - PRLog -- Retired Bishop Barbara C. Harris, who holds the distinction of being the first ordained female bishop of the U. S. Episcopal Church, will deliver a special message to the congregation of St. James Episcopal Church, at 10 a.m. on Sunday, June 17.

When she assumed this position in 1989, she broke a 2,000-year-old tradition stretching back to the time of Jesus Christ. Prior to joining the church in this capacity, she was a civil rights activist, public relations specialist, top executive with the Sun Oil Company, executive director of an Episcopal Publishing Company, lay minister, priest, and writer.

In the thirteen years following her consecration as bishop, she has become one of the most important spiritual leaders of the latter half of the twentieth century, acting as a force of change for women, people of color, and the poor in the world. She is widely admired for her courage, wit, intelligence, and forthright prophetic voice.

Following her retirement from the Diocese of Massachusetts in 2002, Harris accepted a call to serve as assisting bishop in the Diocese of Washington, D.C, beginning in the summer of 2003. She now resides back in Massachusetts, where she remains an active critic of the status quo who constantly strives to break new ground.

St. James Episcopal Church is located at 3129 Southmore Blvd.  http://www.stjameshouston.org