アメリカのキリスト教主要宗派の一つ、米国聖公会（US Episcopal Church、信者数230万人）は、総裁主教としてキャサリン・ジェファーツショーリ主教（Katharine Jefferts Schori 、52歳）を選出した。
英国国教会（Anglican Church）を母体とするアングリカン・コミュニオンにとって、初の女性首席主教の誕生である。
A Statement from the American Anglican Council on the Election of the Episcopal Church’s 26th Presiding Bishop [American Anglican Council]
The House of Deputies has confirmed the election of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. We feel sorrow for her, as she inherits the tragedy of a fractured church that has lost its sense of mission and lost touch with its grassroots. She must also deal with the failed episcopacy of Frank Griswold, a legacy that will be difficult to overcome. We will pray earnestly for Presiding Bishop-elect Jefferts Schori as she prepares to take this new position.
米聖公会に初の女性トップ 保守派反発 [Yahoo! ニュース／共同通信]
聖公会では女性の主教が各国に存在するが、女性が組織のトップとして選ばれたのは、同紙によると７７００万人の信者を擁する世界の聖公会組織の中でも初めて。
ロイター通信によると、ジェファーツショーリ主教は同聖公会保守派から経験不足として批判が出ているほか、組織の分裂を警告する声が英国国教会から上がるなど、論議が高まっている。
[米国聖公会（The Episcopal Church）ウェブサイト]
BBCのプロフィールによると、キャサリン・ジェファーツショーリ主教は、ローマン・カトリックの家庭で育てられたそうだ。そしてスタンフォード大学で生物学を学び、海洋学の学位を取得、全米海洋漁業サービス（National Marine Fisheries Service）に勤める。聖職者となるのは、その後、1994年になってからだ。
彼女は結婚して二人の娘がいる。スペイン語を流暢に話し、ヒスパニック系の支持を集めている。
She is also a liberal, having voted three years ago for the ordination of gay US bishop Gene Robinson, a move that sparked fury in some other Anglican denominations, particularly in Africa.
As Church leader, one of her challenges will be to try to heal such divisions.
ジェファーツショーリ主教はリベラル派である。三年前、ゲイであることをオープンにしているニューハンプシャー州のジーン・ロビンソン主教（bishop Gene Robinson）叙任を支持した。
Female chief makes Church history [BBC NEWS]
Gay row
It is the second contentious issue for the convention.
A separate row has been raging over gay bishops, nearly three years after the Americans sparked fury from African Churches and other traditionalists by ordaining the first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
The convention in Ohio is under pressure to "repent" of its decision to ordain him, to ban future openly gay bishops and to end the blessing of same-sex unions in church services.
A compromise is being considered to offer repentance only for the effect on the wider Church.
As well as facing possible opposition to her election, Bishop Jefferts Schori faces challenges within the Church too.
Membership has been shrinking for years, and a quarter of the remaining 2.3m parishioners are 65 or older.
Some conservative sections of the Church are also threatening to break away.
同性愛は「罪悪」（sinful）ではない。同性愛者は、同性同士で愛しあう人間として神が創造したものだ。ジェファーツショーリ主教はそのように断言した。
US Church defiant on gay bishops [BBC NEWS]
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori made clear on Monday that she believes homosexuality is not a sin.
Episcopal Church leader: Homosexuality not sinful [Pink News]
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, 52, elected this week as the head of the 2.3 million member church, told reporters that she felt homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same sex.
The Bishop of Nevada told CNN, “I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us.
"Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender."
She defended her view claiming the Bible’s passages relating to homosexuality are written in a different historical context, "The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today.
"The Bible tells us about how to treat other human beings, and that's certainly the great message of Jesus, to include the unincluded."
また、ジーン・ロビンソン主教と言えば、最近、CNNのラリー・キング・ライブに出演して、同性愛と教会（信仰）について議論を交わし、話題を呼んだ。
CNN LARRY KING LIVE Gays in the Church? [CNN]
Because the Episcopal Church is an amazing institution, because it so much wants to be a vehicle for God's love in the world. We've struggled with lots of issues before and we have come to know of God's expansive love. We've changed our minds about people of color and women and their places in the church. And we are now in a family struggle to express God's love for all of God's children, include God's gay and lesbian children.
ゲイの著名なコラムニストで、カトリック教徒である──そうだったのか！──アンドリュー・サリヴァン氏（Andrew Sullivan）とのやり取りも興味深い。
