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Episcopal Diocese of Washington
News - Article
Walkabout Week
During a whirlwind week, which Washington Episcopal Clergy Association president the Rev. Paula Green described as “our form of speed dating,” the five nominees for ninth Bishop of Washington formally introduced themselves, fielded questions and got to know the diocese one of them will lead a little better.
The out-of-town nominees arrived on May 22, and all (including the local candidate) were accommodated at the Savoy Suites near Washington National Cathedral – though a packed schedule ensured they spent very little time there.
They were transported by mini-bus to locations around the diocese, where they toured, dined, met with key groups of people, answered a series of set questions prepared by the Transition Committee and were peppered with many more by members of the diocese. They also met individually with Bishop John Bryson Chane.
On Monday, the nominees toured the Bishop John T. Walker School, lunched with the Afro/Anglican clergy at Atonement, D.C., dined with the diocese’s Standing Committee and took part in a walkabout at St. Mary’s, Foggy Bottom, where they were asked to share their thoughts about and experiences with Latino ministries; how they would involve young people in the life of the church; their feelings about the diocese’s international partnerships and diversity in the diocese; and the vocational deaconate. They also answered a pre-set question on how they would address congregational development.
On Tuesday they took part in a walkabout at St. Alban’s, D.C., hosted by the Washington Episcopal Clergy Association, had lunch with the Cathedral Foundation and Heads of Schools, were interviewed at Church House and dined at Lia’s Restaurant in Bethesda before heading to a walkabout at Washington Episcopal School.
Wednesday the group headed for Collington Episcopal Life Care Community, where they lunched with the president of the Standing Committee and consultant Ron Clingenpeel and took part in a walkabout geared to the diocese’s seniors. They dined at St. John’s, Olney and spent the evening conducting a bilingual walkabout (English and Spanish) at Ascension, Gaithersburg.
Thursday they travelled to the diocese’s Region 6, lunching at Trinity, St. Mary’s, dining at Café Des Artistes and conducting their final walkabout at Christ Church, Chaptico. The week ended back in D.C. with a Eucharist for the candidates and their spouses in the Church House chapel.
The candidates shared personal and professional stories from their various ministries and family experiences. On some issues they were of one voice, on others subtly different.
Below are some of the questions asked and the candidates’ responses from the Washington Episcopal Clergy Association walkabout at St. Alban’s and the walkabout at Collington Episcopal Life Care Community:
Questions from the WECA walkabout:
- How would you balance the internal and external roles of the job?
- How would you work with clergy and laity to create a vision?
- What should we know about you that we haven’t been smart enough to ask?
- How would you minister to immigrant communities?
- How would you deal with challenges facing the diocese?
- Will you officiate at gay and lesbian weddings and will you continue to bless same sex relationships?
- Share an example of your management style.
- You all said you’d rely on listening. What have you heard so far in walkabouts?
Questions from the Collington walkabout:
- The Diocese of Washington is very diverse. As our bishop, how will you minister to this diversity with its gifts and its challenges?
- How do you handle Anglican dissent (electing gay bishop)?
- What is your tolerance for opposing points of view?
- As bishop how would you keep yourself informed?
- How would you handle the diocese’s financial problems?
- What do you see as strengths/challenges of the senior community?
From the Washington Episcopal Clergy Walkabout at St. Alban’s, D.C.:
Set question: How would you balance the internal and external roles of the job?
Abrams described his priority as the “people, parishes and clergy of the diocese.” He said it was “very important to be intentional about communication and having time with staff members and clergy.”
If elected, he said he would establish a Bishop’s Lunch, a weekly meal with two clergy from each of the diocese’s six regions and a regular warden’s dinner “because without the lay leadership, the diocese will flounder.’
Harmon said his “first priority is to be a pastor to God’s people. Don’t get too busy doing church work that you forget to do God’s work. I believe that whenever we’re doing God’s work, church work gets done.”
He said he hoped to “shore up the home base,” pointing out that if congregations are strong, “that bishop speaks not only with their own voice, but with a cadre of people who support that effort.”
Gould said: “The presumption in your question is that the Bishop of Washington must balance both roles. Perhaps because I was formed as a teenager in the Diocese of Washington, this has been the core of my life, to live between the pastoral and prophetic.”
It’s not a question of will you do this, she said, but how: “And that is summed up in relationships.” She described these as being her relationship with God and with the people, parishes and institutions of the diocese.
Budde said: “Leadership is defined in large measure by being able to hold multiple priorities in your head at the same time.” But, she added, there are some basic qualities one must learn in order to be an effective leader. “You need to learn to prioritize, think on your feet, build teams around you, and pray without ceasing,” she said, adding: “My public voice depends on the strength of my congregation.”
Candler said he would “give priority to the internal matters. I’ve loved my people and that’s how I’ve been able to be an advocate. … I don’t have an external voice unless I have a strong, beloved community. I don’t do it by myself.”
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Set question: How would you work with clergy and laity to create a vision?
Gould said: “A vision needs to be two things. It needs to be grounded in the people and in God’s mission.” She described a listening process based on “one to one conversations to listen to the dreams, the visions, the hopes of one other person” that would start in the regions and culminate with a “diocesan day of visioning and imagining” that would be “articulated and brought back to our daily life and work.”
Budde said: “I’d spend time with you. A lot of time with you. To the point of being annoying!” She noted there is “no shortage of vision or visionaries in the Diocese of Washington,” and said that the ratio is usually 1 percent vision and 99 percent alignment. “You don’t need a lot of vision, you need enough just to get you going.”
Harmon said: “In every place I’ve served, I begin with a listening process. I ask two questions: What are your aspirations and what have been your challenges? A leader can benefit from the combined wisdom of a community.”
Candler said: “What I would do is listen. I learned how to listen from my father and I learned how to talk from my mother. I want to listen to what is happening in this diocese. It’s not always done in formal, organized sessions. I would like to listen at the usual gathering places of the diocese.”
Abrams said: “When I think of vision the image I have is of the movie Animal House. John Belushi, with a sword in his hand, says ‘Charge!’ and there’s nobody behind him.”
He stressed the importance of listening “so that the vision doesn’t become one person’s vision,” adding that “what helps vision take roots in the lives of the community is knowing the people that vision takes root with.”
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Open questions:
What should we know about you that we haven’t been smart enough to ask?
Budde said she was raised by a single mother and inherited her work ethic. “There were things in my childhood that were not ideal,” she said, explaining that this has given her a keen interest in and compassion for those on the margins of society.
Candler said: “I would ask, what are the relationships that sustain you?” going on to describe his relationship with his wife of 31 years, his two children, his parents and his colleague groups. “We share our lives together,” he said. “We challenge each other and we sustain each other.”
Harmon said he enjoys working with his hands. “I learned that from my parents. Making cabinets, laying floors. I love that because at the end of the day I can see what I’ve done.” Also, he said, “I gave up being a professional soccer player to do this ministry. I really enjoy people. I like to laugh and my wife keeps me laughing all the time and I enjoy being with my family.”
Abrams said he has “a very long fuse. I’m a very patient person. Patience comes from raising children. Raising children indeed teaches you patience.” He said he was happy “as long as my children want to come home and visit me and as long as I want to go home and visit my parents.”
Gould said: “It’s critically important to know how the leader of our diocese takes care of him or herself.” Prayer is central to her life; she is well connected with clergy and colleagues and with family and friends. Pointing out that her parents were married at St. Alban’s, she said: “This is coming home for me, and to have a community of people who have known me forever – it’s good.”
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How would you minister to immigrant communities?
Candler said: “The biggest challenge for me would be learning Spanish. I admit that would be one of my weaknesses. But I like languages, I feel that would be fun.” He described Latino worship as “a spirited form of worship that the entire diocese needs to know more about.”
Harmon said: “While I am an American, I’m also an immigrant. I understand how these communities survive and how they thrive and what are their struggles.” If elected, he would “listen, and pay attention to their ability to be self-determined rather than imposing a view on them.”
Abrams said he was deeply involved with the immigrant community in Wilmington, N.C., where the second largest worshipping community is made up of Spanish-speaking immigrants.
“We’ve been working very diligently, trying to educate and raise funds and listen to the needs,” he said. “The immigrant ministries we’re facing as a nation are much greater than one specific group. There are refugees everywhere that want to come here; we need to be able to help.”
Gould described Lynn, Mass., as a port of first entry, and noted that her congregation is half Anglo and half immigrant.“My hope in coming here is to strengthen and build bridges among the congregations so we don’t create isolated pockets for the immigrants,” she said.
Budde described her work with border congregations in New Mexico and with those seeking sanctuary and passageway to Canada.
She speaks Spanish, did her Virginia Theological Seminary fieldwork at Mission San Juan in this diocese and spent a year in Honduras, working at a home for abandoned boys.
“It’s deep in me – I love these ministries,” she said, noting that “there’s not one of these ministries, there are many coming here from different groups.”
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How would you deal with challenges facing the diocese?
Candler said: “The bishop has to understand a Gospel that is about both death and resurrection.” In some cases, “It may not be the parish that’s resurrected, but it will be the people of God.”
Budde said that in her view, the church needs to re-engage its context and understand that context well. “Part of the challenge for Episcopalians is that who we are and what the world needs has to have a conversation,” she said. “My bias is working with the congregations we have and the seeds of possibility there.” She noted she has done extensive study on congregations that are growing “and listened to what the leaders told me.”
Harmon said he had “walked into a congregation that had lost about 200 or 300 people to a conflict,” explaining that he has been able to successfully restore his congregation. “Pay attention to the context of ministry,” he said. “The church has got to be a present force.”
Abrams quoted the prayer book on “things that have been cast down being raised up. Things that are old being made new.”
“We just have to take time to stop and listen and engage with each other,” he said, noting that there are many areas that need to be addressed: changing demographics, clergy, funding. “We need to be purposeful in creating new models that will meet our needs.”
Gould said that “in the Diocese of Massachusetts I’ve had the opportunity to be involved with congregational growth and development. We’re told again and again in scripture that God is doing a new thing”
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Will you officiate at gay and lesbian weddings and will you continue to bless same sex relationships?
Candler: “Yes”
Gould: “I have done so, and will do so if it were legal.”
Budde: “Absolutely. With great joy.”
Abrams: “I am for the full inclusion of gays and lesbians and will bless all covenanted relationships where this is legal.”
Harmon: “Where this is legal I will support and participate.”
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Share an example of your management style:
Candler said: “I have a great staff and I need a great staff. I like smart people around me who can do a great job.”
He offered his handling of the “constrained stewardship” of recent years as an example: “I did not wait until the last minute to make adjustments,” he said, explaining that the stewardship department was essentially deputized to go out and do the work. As a result: “Our budget has been calm and stable. We have refused to pass on to our parishioners the same strain they are having in their daily lives.”
Abrams said he engages with staff on a daily basis. “What’s important for me is to be intentional about checking in and seeing how they are. That kind of collegial relationship which is trusting is paramount in my work style.” He said he makes time for “intentional conversations not just with the staff but with the vestry, the wardens, the congregation as a whole.”
Harmon said it was important to “supervise people, delegate well,” but also to check to see the task has been performed. “I allow my staff to say no to me,” he said. “I build a team.”
Gould said in her current position she is “privileged to have a paid staff team that reflects the diversity of our community. This is the way we do the work of the city.’
Her parish recently hosted the diocesan convention, she said, and afterwards she had people saying to her: your parish’s hospitality is a model. “It’s about doing it together, as a team.”
Budde described how the leadership and ministries at her parish were changing in the area of justice and peace and how the vestry took it on as a “real discerning task” and came back with a proposal to create a part-time staff position to do outreach. Though there was initial opposition from some parties, she said, consensus was gained through a series of meetings. She wrote a job description, the parish set aside money, and we “now have $30,000 and a stack of resumes.”
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You all said you’d rely on listening. What have you heard so far in walkabouts?
Abrams said he had heard “the depths of people’s isolation and the feeling of not being connected. People do feel alone.” He said this sense of a lack of connectedness was not limited to the outlying areas, and that he felt “tension within the diocese among certain dynamics.”
Gould said: “What I’ve heard and seen is the passion you all have for the work of the church in this place. You guys are overflowing with passion, because this matters .. you want to know how to do this ministry better.”
“Clergy need to be more nurtured; sure that can be done intentionally,” she added. “But what has overwhelmed you is that you love this diocese and that you want it to be the place everyone is talking about.”
Candler said: “It has been gratifying to see so many people coming. There have been strange questions, clumsy questions, crazy questions,” but the people around those questioners have been quite accepting, he noted. “The diocese seems to have an identity that knows, accepts and sometimes even enjoys the extremes.”
Budde said she had noticed that people had a sense of humor. “I was praying the same thing – I hoped you would have a sense of humor and you do.” She also said she had heard people saying, “Don’t forget the public role; don’t forget the international ministry,” and that she was grateful to those who had raised that area of ministry as a balance.
Harmon said he had heard “a deep sense of discernment on your part. My listening to you has allowed me to understand that you, too, are paying attention to God’s discerning. You take this seriously. You have a willingness to be open to what God is saying to you.”
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From the walkabout at Collington Episcopal Life Care Community:
Set question: EDOW is very diverse. As our bishop, how will you minister to this diversity with its gifts and its challenges?
Harmon said: “Diversity should be more than tolerance. I think it’s important to communicate well with all the constituents in the diocese. I think you cannot over-communicate. It’s important that all areas of the diocese feel that they’re being reached.”
If elected, Harmon said he would ensure that those who make leadership decisions represent a wide scope of people in the diocese.
“Diversity isn’t tolerance. ‘Come visit’ is quite different than ‘Come stay with me,’” he said. “We’re not visiting with each other. We’ve come to live with each other, therefore we must embrace our differences and our similarities.”
Budde said: “I learned one of my most important lessons about differences when I gave birth to my second child. He was utterly unique, yet he looked like a carbon copy of his brother.
“There is no replacement for relationship – deep relationship; coming to know each person for the wonder that is there. I’ve learned that if you can hang in with each other through the tension then you can come out together on the other side.”
She said she would honor diversity through “teams of leaders we raise up here” stressing the importance of ensuring that “everyone’s been listened to and heard.”
Gould spoke of the apostle Paul’s image of the body of Christ.
“Even when those parts are giving us trouble, we still need them,” she said. “We as the body of Christ depend on all parts, all members, being healthy and being fully integrated into that body.”
“Why do I feel called? It’s precisely because of the diversity of this diocese.”
Abrams said he grew up in a multicultural congregation in New York, and came to Virginia Theological Seminary seeking another diverse experience. He chose to conduct his field work at St. George’s, D.C., where “I was the only white person in the community. One of the things that attracts me to the diocese is its diversity,” he said. “This is truly the tapestry of God’s creation. But diversity can be a dangerous thing if it is not nurtured and given the opportunity to grow.”
Isolation can lead to stereotypes, he said, and “ if we do that, diversity is destructive. In Christ we have much more in common… diversity is indeed one of God’s great gifts, but a gift we have to nurture and be purposeful about.”
Candler said he does not like “diversity for its own sake,” noting that he finds “Celebrate Diversity” bumper stickers somewhat irritating.
He grew up in a small church in Georgia, where there was only one church: “No options.”
“That rural church taught me a lot about seeing Jesus in the faces of diverse people. The more I look for Jesus in the faces of people different from me, the more I learn about Jesus. … I want to be in communities where people love and respect each other and see Jesus in each other.”
He quoted Mother Theresa: “Go home and smile at the people you live with.”
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Open questions:
How do you handle Anglican dissent (electing gay bishop)?
Candler said: “That’s an important question because it captures the contradiction in the Episcopal Church today.” While he is on record as being in support of gays and lesbians and the church’s elected bishops, he said, he also supports the Episcopal Church’s continuing presence in the Anglican Communion worldwide, noting that these two things are not mutually exclusive.
“That may be the gift of the Diocese of Washington around the world,” he said, likening it to his 31-year marriage: “Some days we’re in ‘impaired communion,’ but we’re still married.”
Gould praised Bishop Gene Robinson, who she said she has known personally for many years: “I’m proud of the way Massachusetts voted.”
“That said,” she added, in her diverse congregation, “we have to deal each day with our diverse theological perspectives, our diverse backgrounds. We have diversity of cultural values in the Anglican Communion, but share a common commitment to God’s mission.”
Harmon said: “I believe no one’s gift to the church should be denied because of sexual orientation. I also believe that those who disagree can be in communion with us.”
Abrams said: “I would not be standing here today without the mentoring and love and support of all types of clergy in the church. Our commonality in Christ is much different than any of the values we have.”
He said he had served as a deputy at the 2003 General Convention, and knew it would not sit well with some members of his congregation so he conducted listening sessions upon his return.
“We may have differences with our brothers and sisters in other parts of the Anglican Communion but if there is an earthquake somewhere in the Anglican Communion, we will be there, because what brings us together is much stronger than what brings us apart.”
Budde said that “the American church was asked by the Anglican Communion to explain ourselves: how did we come to this insight? … The document produced is one of the most exquisite descriptions of how we, as a church, gathered together to welcome, celebrate and raise up gays and lesbians in our midst.”
“We are much bigger and more to each other than that issue,” she said. “But this is part of our story now. It’s who we are and it’s by virtue of that our gift to the rest of the community.”
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What is your tolerance for opposing points of view?
Harmon described meeting with a group of clergy from other denominations to discuss “what it is we’re called to do” regarding the high rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Washington, D.C. Though many conservative pastors did not condone homosexuality, he said, they came together to help, because “love is thicker than blood. Love is also thicker than a blood-borne disease – HIV/AIDS.”
“I think we can have civil conversations if we’re willing to listen to the concerns of other people,” he said, “placing a higher value on the idea of respecting the dignity of every person than respecting our own views.”
Candler said: “The question is about speaking up in a vortex of conflicted voices. The tongue is like the rudder of a ship. Out of the mouth come blessing and curse. Words are powerful. They produce that visceral and emotional reaction.” He said he would strive to “model good behavior” and “would speak of issues with a tongue of civility that had some grace to it.”
Abrams said: “Sometimes I think we’ve lost the pure manners our parents taught us that we are to display with each other. …
“Many of our presidents have had violent disagreements with each other and yet they treated each other with respect,” he said, noting that Abraham Lincoln appointed his rival in the 1860 election and “archenemy, William Seward” to his cabinet.
“Display pure manners. I believe that’s what Christ calls us to do.”
Gould said that “when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot, it was clear we have a climate in which words alienate,” adding that the church is called on to be a “moral voice in discourse.”
“In Washington our government seems to have lost that sensibility that we share far more than divides us.”
Budde said that fostering civil public discourse is “one of the reasons I am so intent on helping the Episcopal Church to grow. … We are too quiet in the public arena right now and I think that’s because there aren’t enough of us. My approach would be to do everything on the ground to get us stronger than we are now, so we can help set the tone again, and not be driven by media and money and divisiveness, but to be the best we can be together.”
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As bishop how would you be a scholar/keep yourself informed?
Gould said: “I think it is a responsibility of bishops to be preachers and teachers; to read a broad range of history and theology. Particularly as we read outside our field we become better leaders.”
Harmon said: “I think the bishop is called to unique scholarship. The bishop is called to be a preacher, teacher and be a prophetic voice for the church. Need wisdom in order to execute that smartness.”
Budde said: “The Diocese of Washington has the reputation for having some of the smartest clergy and some of the smartest and well educated lay in the country. Where do you find time to do this? The great thing about ordained ministry is you have to say something from the pulpit. …We have to pray and study and come to our own conclusions. We have to spend some time. I thank God every day that I preach almost every Sunday because it has instilled that discipline in me.”
Abrams said: “For me, it’s very important to spend time reflecting theologically on things that matter the most.” He described a well-attended lecture series his parish established that addresses a wide range of topics. “Scholarship has to be personal, but it also has to be communal.”
Candler said: “I like to think I’m pretty good at [scholarship],” noting that he graduated with honors from Yale. He urged people to “go beyond previous divides. Because in the region beyond lies the mystery of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
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How would you handle the diocese’s financial problems?
Budde said: “What I know is that across the country Episcopal churches are really struggling. … and people are inspired mostly to give to their congregations. If the diocese can be present and supportive of its congregations, in time, this giving will come back to the diocese as well.”
Abrams said: “People give to their greatest relationship. There are people who have more who could do more than what they’re doing, and there are people who can’t give much at all. We need to have important conversations about stewardship, and talk honestly and openly about stewardship.”
Gould said: “We give to what touches and transforms our lives. As we become more connected to our communities, I think our giving will grow.” She said there are church and secular grants “we might access” and told the crowd of seniors: “I hope every one of you has remembered your parish, the diocese and the Episcopal Church in your will.”
Harmon said: “We give to enterprises that will enable us to become better people. … Everyone has something to give: I think it is important to ask people to contribute to that enterprise. Everybody wants to be asked.”
Candler said: “Be leaders of transformative communities of faith. I want creative leaders in the parishes. I also like talking about the tithe – 10 percent of your income. Make sure you’re giving some increasing percentage of what God’s given you.”
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What do you see as strengths/challenges of the senior community?
Abrams said: “On a daily basis I’m dealing with parishioners who have to parent their parents.” It is “important to bridge those gaps between young and old.” In his parish, he said, a group of older adults pray for teens and vice versa.
Budde said: “Living well in your eldership is one of the greatest gifts you give the world. Help others live through days they don’t know they’re going to make it through. But you know they’re going to make it through, because you made it through.”
Harmon said he has sought out an elderly person in every parish he has served and asked them to be a church mother: “I benefit from their wisdom; they care for me,” he said. “The church can’t be the church if there aren’t elderly people in it.’
Candler said the cathedral where he serves started a home for low-income elderly. “That’s a witness to the church in the community.” The cathedral also hired a canon for elder care several years ago. “For us the elderly of the community of faith represents a gift to the whole body of Christ.”
Gould noted that there has been a huge rise in the ranks of the elderly. Systems are stressed; elder abuse is an increasing problem. “These are ministries as a church we have to engage.”
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RELATED LINKS
Video of May 24 Walkabout Session at Washington Episcopal School