Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
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The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in June 2006. She serves as Chief Pastor and Primate to the Episcopal Church’s members in 16 countries and 110 dioceses. She joins with other principal bishops of the 38 member Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion, seeking to make common cause for global good and reconciliation.

Over the course of her nine-year term, Bishop Jefferts Schori is responsible for initiating and developing policy for the Episcopal Church and speaks on behalf of this Church regarding the policies, strategies, and programs authorized by General Convention. She has been vocal about the Episcopal Church’s mission priorities, including the United Nation Millennium Development Goals, issues of domestic poverty, climate change, and care for the earth, as well as the ongoing need to contextualize the gospel. The Presiding Bishop is charged to speak God’s word to the Church and to the world.

Bishop Jefferts Schori’s career as an oceanographer preceded her studies for the priesthood, to which she was ordained in 1994. She holds a B.S. degree in biology from Stanford University, an M.S. and Ph.D. in oceanography from Oregon State University, a M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and several honorary doctoral degrees.

She remains an active, instrument-rated pilot -– a skill she applied when traveling between the congregations of the Diocese of Nevada, where she was elected bishop in 2000 and ordained to the episcopate February 24, 2001. At the time of her election as bishop of Nevada, she was a priest, university lecturer, and hospice chaplain in Oregon.

Blog Entries by Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

The Rebuilding Continues: Marking Two Years Since the Haiti Earthquake (PHOTOS)

40 Comments | Posted January 11, 2012 | 21:22:24 (EST)

The people of Haiti have suffered enormously in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2010. At the same time, their creativity, faith, hope and joy continue to lead them into a more gracious future. Yet, we are all diminished by the reality of the situation in Haiti. Reconstruction has been...

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An Opportunity For Reflection

Posted September 7, 2011 | 17:04:23 (EST)

As we mark the 10th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, The Episcopal Church continues to work for healing and reconciliation.

Americans experienced the first large non-domestic terrorist attack on our own soil that day, a reality that is far too much a present and...

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Easter 2011 Message From the Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop

Posted April 23, 2011 | 17:55:32 (EST)

The Resurrection must be understood in significantly different images and metaphors in the southern hemisphere, when Easter always arrives in the transition from summer to winter. Even as a hard, hard winter lingers on in northern climes, with unaccustomed April snow in many places, we yearn for the new life...

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Statement In Response to the Murder of Ugandan Gay Rights Activist David Kato

Posted January 28, 2011 | 13:43:37 (EST)

The Presiding Bishop presently is in Dublin, Ireland, attending the meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori issued this statement in response to the slaying of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato:

At this morning's Eucharist at the Primates Meeting, I offered prayers...

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Dear President Obama, Please Do Not Veto the UN Resolution on Israeli Settlements

Posted January 20, 2011 | 21:43:47 (EST)

In a Jan. 16 letter to President Barack Obama, the Episcopal Church addresses a United Nations resolution concerning Middle East peace. As presiding Bishop of the church, I write, "It is imperative that the United States take bold and decisive action to reinvigorate the stalled peace process" in the Middle...

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A Christmas Message

Posted December 23, 2010 | 23:08:05 (EST)

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." -- Isaiah 9:2

That's how the first lesson of Christmas Eve opens. It's familiar and comforting, as the familiar words go on to say that light has shined on those who live in deep darkness, that...

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A Lesson from the Gulf Oil Spill: We Are All Connected

Posted May 26, 2010 | 20:03:00 (EST)

The original peoples of the North American continent understand that we are all connected, and that harm to one part of the sacred circle of life harms the whole. Scientists, both the ecological and physical sorts, know the same reality, expressed in different terms. The Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and...

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