Preparing for the wilderness
Church leader warns seminarians of challenges, reminds them of the Holy Spirit

By Eileen E. Flynn

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 copyright Austin American-Statesman

Drawing on the Old Testament story of the Israelites wandering in the desert after fleeing Egypt, the Most Rev. Frank Griswold warned Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest graduates of the spiritual wilderness they are about to enter.

"Be ready for surprise," he said. "Be ready to be disconcerted; be ready to be turned around and aimed in the opposite direction; be ready to be thwarted at every turn; be ready to be unsettled by the goings-on in the church."

Griswold, the primate and chief pastor of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church, told 26 seminarians receiving degrees Tuesday at St. Matthew's Church in Northwest Austin that he knew those challenges well.

The past year, in particular, has put the church under a harsh glare as leaders hotly debated the ordination of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire. Griswold supported the vote at last summer's national convention to ordain the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, who lives with his male partner.

The decision prompted threats of schism both in the worldwide communion and in the American church, with clergy and lay people accusing bishops of abandoning biblical passages that condemn homosexuality.

Though he didn't allude specifically to the current problems in the church, Griswold assured graduates that the Holy Spirit will be working in them at the most difficult times.

"I hope, when you have these experiences, which you surely will, you might remember these words from your presiding bishop, who is no stranger to what he is saying," Griswold said.

The threat of a formal fracture still lingers as the global church awaits the conclusions of a commission that is looking at the divisions in the Anglican Communion.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Griswold said he's hopeful that the church will maintain wholeness and noted that Irish Archbishop Robin Eames, who is heading the commission, has shown wisdom in handling delicate issues before.

In 1988, Eames led a commission that explored the issue of women's ordination, which some in the Anglican Communion opposed.

Griswold, who was elected to a nine-year term in 1997, has earned praise for his own efforts to encourage dialogue between opposing groups in the church. On Tuesday, the seminary awarded him an honorary doctorate for his work toward reconciliation.

As he presented the degree, the Very Rev. Titus Presler, seminary dean and president, thanked Griswold for leading the church "through our turbulent time with care, respect and love for all those within the body of Christ."

After the commencement, Griswold said the best chance for building unity in the church lies in the "diverse center," people who "may have different opinions yet can claim a common heritage, can claim a common sense of mission."

He is less concerned with absolutism. Like the ancient Israelites, Griswold said, "the church always is living in the wilderness between a former certitude and a new reality that has yet to emerge."

Also honored Tuesday with honorary doctor of humane letters degrees were the Very Rev. Durstan R. McDonald, dean emeritus of the seminary, and Lucy Nazro, longtime head of St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Malcolm Cooper, an Austin investment manager who recently retired from the seminary's board of trustees, received the 2004 Trustees' Award.

The Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, which operates on the same campus, also conferred degrees on eight students at the ceremony.