Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris has the distinct honor of being the first woman ordained a bishop in the United States Episcopal Church.
When she assumed this position in 1989, she broke a 2,000 year-old tradition stretching back to the time of Christ. She was the first woman to be made a bishop by any of the three major branches of Christianity – Anglican, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Prior to joining the church, she was a civil rights activist, public relations specialist, top executive with the Sun Oil Company, executive director of an Episcopal Publishing Company, lay minister, priest, and writer.
Bishop Harris was born in Philadelphia, PA., in 1930. Although she would not be ordained as a priest until almost forty years later, she felt called to a life of service to Christ at a young age. As a civil rights activist, she joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his Selma march in 1965. As a priest, she served urban parishes in Philadelphia during the 1980s.
Her election as bishop in Massachusetts in 1989 sent shock waves trough the Anglican Church. Her election caused the church to rethink expectations for what a bishop might be, as she was neither white nor male. Bishop Harris said at the time of her election, “The temptation we all face is to play it safe; don’t take risks; don’t make waves. If Jesus had played it safe, we would not be safe. I would not be standing here today, clothed in crochet and chimere and wearing a pectoral cross.”
In the thirteen years following her consecration as bishop, many came to see her as one of the most important spiritual leaders of the latter half of the twentieth century, acting as a force of change for women, people of color, and the poor in the world. She was widely admired for her courage, wit, intelligence, and forthright prophetic voice.
The Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts located in Greenfield, New Hampshire was named in her honor. A task force was convened in 1997 to explore the potential of the center and their recommendation to proceed with the development of the center was approved by the diocesan council in 1998. From 1999 to 2002, the development of the 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 took place in order to finance the construction and to fund a scholarship endowment and an operating endowment. The center welcomed its first summer campers in July 2003.
On Sunday, February 3, 2013, the late Rev. Canon Saundra Richardson (one of our supply priests) encouraged and invited the congregation of All Saints, Detroit to sign an anniversary card for Bishop Barbara Harris. It was in honor of the 24th anniversary of the consecration of her becoming the Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts, and the first female Bishop in the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Harris passed away on March 13, 2020.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Harris_(bishop); Archives of the Episcopal Church