A woman of the cloth
trailblazing bishop leads episcopal church
BY TARYN PLUMB REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Monday, August 6, 2007

From a young age, she felt the call. She remembers the peaceful moments she spent with God in the willow tree in her family's yard; praying quietly on her walks to school; holding services for a congregation of stuffed animals.And at age 10, she turned to her mother at church, pointed to the priest and said "I want to do that."

"Someone, somewhere along the way, said to me: "Jesus is your best friend," said Connecticut Episcopal Bishop Suffragan Laura Ahrens. "It made perfect sense to me. Jesus has always been a part of my life."That lifelong devotion to ministry and stewardship led Ahrens to her current role as bishop — which has put her in the spotlight, because she is the first female Episcopal bishop in Connecticut.

Still, she doesn't think of herself as a pioneer.The female bishops and priests who came before — specifically Barbara Harris, the first female bishop in the Episcopal church, and Katharine Jefferts Schori, the current presiding bishop of the church — were the real trailblazers, she said.the rest