Q & A with Episcopal Bishop Jefferts-Schori

Katharine Jefferts Schori visits central PA this week.
By MELISSA NANN BURKE
Daily Record/Sunday News
09/08/2009

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, will visit the 24-county Diocese of Central Pennsylvania from Friday through Sunday.

She spoke by phone Sunday about her upcoming visit and the larger church.

Q: What are you hoping to see and learn while you're touring the diocese?

A: Part of my role is to visit each of the 110 dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and when I come I hope to see something of the mission and ministry in the local diocese, ways in which I can connect with the church locally and connect the church locally with the broader church.

Q: In the diocese, membership has dropped by more than 14 percent since 1997 to about 15,000. What can be done to stanch these losses?

A: It's important to understand the reasons for reduction in membership. Sometimes, it's simply demographic. Communities shrink for economic reasons, and I understand that is the case in particularly the northern part of the diocese.

Other responses certainly include solid faith formation for young people, so that children growing up understand their role in the church and they're welcomed as full members of the church from the very beginning.

Part of the role of the church also is to reach out to others in the community who do not have a faith tradition or an active Christian membership to spread the gospel there. the rest