Barbara Clementine Harris
Encyclopedia
Barbara Clementine Harris (born 12 June 1930 in Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania
) was the first woman ordained a bishop
in the Anglican Communion
.
(Class of 1948). There, she excelled in music and wrote a weekly column for the Philadelphia version of the Pittsburgh Courier called "High School Notes by Bobbi". After graduation, Harris attended the Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism in Philadelphia where she earned a Certificate in 1950.
Harris later attended Villanova University
, the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield, England
, and also graduated from the Pennsylvania Foundation for Pastoral Counseling.
Prior to her ordination to the priest
hood, Harris served as head of public relations for the Sun Oil Company
.
Harris has long been active in civil rights
issues, participating in freedom rides and marches in the 1960s, including the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
, led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
. Harris spent summer vacations registering black voters in Greensville, Mississippi. She dismissed the risks she took, saying only, "Everyone was in danger."
Throughout her various careers, she has been noted for her liberal
views and her outspokenness. As early as 1989 she was reported as lambasting the Episcopal church for racism and sexism, and arguing for gay rights.
on the north side of Philadelphia, the Rev. Paul Washington
, became convinced of Harris's serious interest in seeking holy orders, and recommended her to Bishop Lyman C. Ogilby of Pennsylvania. Ogilby ordained her as a deacon
in 1979 and a priest in 1980. She served as an acolyte
in the service in which the first eleven women were ordained
priests in the Episcopal Church on 29 July 1974. She was the priest-in-charge of St. Augustine of Hippo Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania
from 1980–1984, served as chaplain to the Philadelphia County prisons, and also as counsel to industrial corporations for public policy issues and social concerns. She was named executive director of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company in 1984, and publisher of The Witness magazine. In 1988 she served as interim rector of the Church of the Advocate.
on February 11, 1989. As the first woman bishop and an African-American, she received death threats and obscene messages. Though urged to wear a bullet-proof vest to her ordination, she refused. A contingent of the Boston police were assigned to her consecration. Her comment was merely, "I don't take this in a personal way."
Speaking of her work as bishop, Harris said, "I certainly don't want to be one of the boys. I want to offer my peculiar gifts as a black woman...a sensitivity and an awareness that comes out of more than a passing acquaintance with oppression. "
Harris retired from this position in Boston in 2003. She was succeeded as bishop suffragan by another African American
woman, Gayle Elizabeth Harris
.
Harris served as Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington
, DC
until 2007. and as president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company, publishers of The Witness magazine.
In 2010, Harris suffered a stroke in her home in Massachusetts. She appears to have made a full recovery and preached at an ecumenical worship service in the historic Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on Sunday, September 5, 2010. Her sermon was entitled, "It Isn't Easy Being Green."
, located in Greenfield, New Hampshire
. The Camp & Conference Center is named in honor of Barbara C. Harris, the much beloved suffragan bishop of Massachusetts who was consecrated in 1989 and retired in 2003. A Camp & Conference task force was convened in 1997 to explore the potential of this vision, and their recommendation to proceed with the development of the Camp & Conference Center was approved by the Diocesan Council in 1998. From 1999 to 2002, the development of the Camp & Conference Center was under the direction of diocesan staff. In addition, over 200 lay and clergy volunteers lent their time, energy, and expertise to the project, working in a variety of roles. An extensive fund raising campaign also took place in order to finance the construction and to fund a scholarship endowment and an operating endowment. The Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center welcomed its first summer campers in July 2003.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
) was the first woman ordained a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
.
Education
Harris attended the Philadelphia High School for GirlsPhiladelphia High School for Girls
The Philadelphia High School for Girls, also known as Girls' High, is a public university-preparatory magnet high school for girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. As its name suggests, the school's enrollment is all female....
(Class of 1948). There, she excelled in music and wrote a weekly column for the Philadelphia version of the Pittsburgh Courier called "High School Notes by Bobbi". After graduation, Harris attended the Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism in Philadelphia where she earned a Certificate in 1950.
Harris later attended Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
, the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and also graduated from the Pennsylvania Foundation for Pastoral Counseling.
Prior to her ordination to the priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
hood, Harris served as head of public relations for the Sun Oil Company
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
.
Harris has long been active in civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
issues, participating in freedom rides and marches in the 1960s, including the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League...
, led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
. Harris spent summer vacations registering black voters in Greensville, Mississippi. She dismissed the risks she took, saying only, "Everyone was in danger."
Throughout her various careers, she has been noted for her liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
views and her outspokenness. As early as 1989 she was reported as lambasting the Episcopal church for racism and sexism, and arguing for gay rights.
Ordination
Her rector at the Church of the AdvocateChurch of the Advocate
The George W. South Memorial Church of the Advocate, also known as the George W. South Memorial Protestant Episcopal Church, is a historic church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
on the north side of Philadelphia, the Rev. Paul Washington
Paul Washington
Paul Washington was an Episcopal priest and community activist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Washington was born in Charleston, South Carolina, USA on May 26, 1921. He attended the Avery Institute and subsequently Lincoln University. Washington graduated from the Philadelphia Divinity School of...
, became convinced of Harris's serious interest in seeking holy orders, and recommended her to Bishop Lyman C. Ogilby of Pennsylvania. Ogilby ordained her as a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
in 1979 and a priest in 1980. She served as an acolyte
Acolyte
In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone who performs ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In other Christian Churches, the term is more specifically used for one who wishes to attain clergyhood.-Etymology:...
in the service in which the first eleven women were ordained
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
priests in the Episcopal Church on 29 July 1974. She was the priest-in-charge of St. Augustine of Hippo Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. The population was 34,324 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
from 1980–1984, served as chaplain to the Philadelphia County prisons, and also as counsel to industrial corporations for public policy issues and social concerns. She was named executive director of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company in 1984, and publisher of The Witness magazine. In 1988 she served as interim rector of the Church of the Advocate.
Election as bishop
Harris was ordained Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of MassachusettsEpiscopal Diocese of Massachusetts
Episcopal Diocese of MassachusettsThe Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts is one of the nine original dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America....
on February 11, 1989. As the first woman bishop and an African-American, she received death threats and obscene messages. Though urged to wear a bullet-proof vest to her ordination, she refused. A contingent of the Boston police were assigned to her consecration. Her comment was merely, "I don't take this in a personal way."
Speaking of her work as bishop, Harris said, "I certainly don't want to be one of the boys. I want to offer my peculiar gifts as a black woman...a sensitivity and an awareness that comes out of more than a passing acquaintance with oppression. "
Harris retired from this position in Boston in 2003. She was succeeded as bishop suffragan by another African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
woman, Gayle Elizabeth Harris
Gayle Elizabeth Harris
Gayle Elizabeth Harris was ordained as Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 2003, succeeding Barbara Harris.This is the first time in the Episcopal Church in the United States that a woman bishop has been succeeded by another woman bishop.-External links:* from Louie Crew...
.
Harris served as Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington
Episcopal Diocese of Washington
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is the ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Episcopal Bishop of Washington in the United States. The territory comprises the District of Columbia and the Maryland counties of Charles, St. Mary's, Prince George's and Montgomery...
, DC
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
until 2007. and as president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company, publishers of The Witness magazine.
In 2010, Harris suffered a stroke in her home in Massachusetts. She appears to have made a full recovery and preached at an ecumenical worship service in the historic Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on Sunday, September 5, 2010. Her sermon was entitled, "It Isn't Easy Being Green."
External links
- Barbara Harris' oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
Barbara C. Harris Camp & Convention Center
The Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of MassachusettsEpiscopal Diocese of Massachusetts
Episcopal Diocese of MassachusettsThe Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts is one of the nine original dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America....
, located in Greenfield, New Hampshire
Greenfield, New Hampshire
Greenfield is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,749 at the 2010 census. Greenfield is home to the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, to Greenfield State Park, and to part of the Wapack Trail.- History :...
. The Camp & Conference Center is named in honor of Barbara C. Harris, the much beloved suffragan bishop of Massachusetts who was consecrated in 1989 and retired in 2003. A Camp & Conference task force was convened in 1997 to explore the potential of this vision, and their recommendation to proceed with the development of the Camp & Conference Center was approved by the Diocesan Council in 1998. From 1999 to 2002, the development of the Camp & Conference Center was under the direction of diocesan staff. In addition, over 200 lay and clergy volunteers lent their time, energy, and expertise to the project, working in a variety of roles. An extensive fund raising campaign also took place in order to finance the construction and to fund a scholarship endowment and an operating endowment. The Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center welcomed its first summer campers in July 2003.