Centrist Is Elected Head of Episcopal Church

The Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold III, the Harvard and Oxford university-educated Episcopal bishop of Chicago known for his ecumenical activism, was elected Monday as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Griswold was named leader of the 2.4-million member church in the United States in a close race with another bishop backed by conservatives.

The 59-year-old bishop quickly sought to position himself as a consensus builder in a church strained in recent years by controversies over sexuality and the embezzlement of $2.2 million by its former national treasurer.

Griswold said he intends to listen to the disparate voices in the church and work to get them to listen to one another.

Serving in such a culturally diverse diocese as Chicago, he said, is good preparation for leading a national church that has been polarized.

“I’ve been stretched open to the diversity of our diocesan community, which is reflected throughout our church,” Griswold said. “I think that I am the richer for it and I am the deeper for it.”

Those who have long known Griswold call him a deeply spiritual man who periodically goes on retreats and speaks with ease about Anglican mysticism.

“His life is literally centered in his prayer life. It’s one of the things he takes most seriously,” said James Rosenthal, a former member of Griswold’s staff and now spokesman for Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey.

Los Angeles Bishop Frederick H. Borsch called Griswold “a deeply, deeply spiritual and prayerful and worshipful person.”

Borsch and others described Griswold as a centrist leader. He succeeds outgoing Presiding Bishop Edmund L. Browning, a liberal leader whose term expires at the end of the year.

Griswold will be consecrated as presiding bishop and primate at ancient ceremonies Jan. 10 at Washington National Cathedral. His term will last nine years.

His election in Philadelphia by bishops meeting at the church’s general convention followed a strong showing for the conservative delegates’ first choice, the Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson Jr. of the diocese of Southern Ohio. But by the third and final vote Monday, Griswold polled 110 votes to Thompson’s 96, with 107 needed for victory.

The vote took place behind the closed doors of historic Christ Church, the mother church of the denomination and a showcase of American history and Georgian architecture, where George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross once worshiped. The other candidates were Bishops Robert D. Rowley Jr. of Pennsylvania; Richard L. Shimpfky of Monterey, Calif.; and Don A. Wilberly of Lexington, Ky.

After the final vote, Thompson said all five candidates for presiding bishop grasped one another’s hands inside the church with its dramatic windows and soaring red brick steeple.

“It was a great moment,” Thompson said. “I’ll give him all the help that I can give him.”

But the Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker of Fort Worth--one of four bishops in the church who has refused to ordain women--said Griswold’s term as presiding bishop would be “more of the same” liberal drift.

The new American Anglican Council, which represents conservative voices in the church, said it welcomed Griswold’s election and promised to work with him.

“We have been too often embarrassed by the radical view of our leadership. And our faithful commitments to ethical teaching have been dismissed as fearful and even hateful,” said Diane Knippers, a member of the council’s board. “We pledge to encourage and assist Bishop Griswold in the much-needed efforts to restore godly civility and common decency to the Episcopal Church.”

Before the election, some bishops and others made it clear they would be looking for a bishop who would occupy center ground in a church that has been polarized over issues of whether to bless same-sex unions and whether to crack down on a handful of bishops who have refused to ordain women.

“We’re tired of the two ends of the spectrum dominating the spectrum, and we would like to see the center. We can’t ignore the two ends, but we would like not to be dominated by that,” said Bishop Charles F. Duvall of the diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.

The Rev. Barnum McCarty of Florida added: “There’s a kind of weariness. We need to get on. You almost feel like the dogs nipping at our heals all the time.”

Griswold said Monday that under his leadership the church will continue to discuss the blessing of same-sex unions but did not indicate a position on the issue.

The bishop is known for working not only within the church but with other denominations to heal rifts.

A member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States, Griswold has met privately with Pope John Paul II on many occasions, Rosenthal said.

In some of his first remarks Monday, Griswold quoted retired Roman Catholic Archbishop Helder Camara of Brazil:

“The bishop belongs to all,” he told the delegates. “Let no one be scandalized if I frequent those who are considered unworthy or sinful. Who is not a sinner? Let no one be alarmed if I am seen with compromised and dangerous people on the left or the right. Let no one bind me to a group. My door, my heart, must be open to everyone, absolutely everyone.”

Griswold is married and has two grown daughters. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Harvard University in 1959, a bachelor’s and master’s in theology from Oxford University in 1962 and 1966, respectively. He also studied at the church’s General Theological Seminary in New York.

He was elected bishop co-adjutor of Chicago in October 1984, and took office as the bishop three years later.