PB Schori: Hobart Lecture

Tend to flock, Presiding Bishop states in Hobart lecture
"Bless the ideas that get floated in your congregation," she says
By Neva Rae Fox
September 30, 2008

[Episcopal News Service] Weaving themes of shepherding, tending to flocks and the critical nature of the ecosystem, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori addressed the importance of pastoral responsibility at the September 30 Hobart lecture.

"Pastors have a responsibility to challenge the spiritually unhealthy," she told the 150 clergy assembled in New York City for the lecture.

Sponsored by the Diocese of New York, the Hobart lecture, named for the third bishop of New York, John Henry Hobart, is an annual address that acknowledges and encourages pastoral ministry.

Jefferts Schori connected the needs of the flock to the tender ecological balance of the earth. "When communities (or flocks) begin to dig… they discover the connections between food and justice, environment and poverty, corn and starvation in sub-Saharan Africa. And another pastoral ministry ensues -- learning how to do political work, which is an essential part of building the Reign of God." the rest

Full text of the Hobart Lecture is here.