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Reverend Marc Andrus Returns to Episcopal as the Theologian in Residence
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n late January, The Right Reverend Marc Handley Andrus, former EHS chaplain and current Bishop of California, returned to campus as the 2011-12 Theologian in Residence. Since July 22, 2006, Andrus has served as the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Prior to his election as Bishop of California, Andrus served as Bishop Suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. Andrus was born on Oct. 20, 1956, in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He received his bachelors of science in plant science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1979, and a master’s in social sciences from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1982. After receiving his master’s, Andrus went to work as a regional planner for the AccomackNorthampton Planning District Commission on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. In 1987, Andrus was awarded a master’s of divinity degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va. After being ordained deacon on June 20, 1987, he became senior associate at Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pa. While at Church of the Redeemer, Andrus was ordained priest on April 25, 1988. From 1990-97, he was Episcopal’s chaplain, but left to serve as the rector of Emmanuel Church in Middleburg, Va. He remained rector of Emmanuel until his consecration as Bishop Suffragan for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama on Feb. 7, 2002. The bishop is married to Sheila Andrus, Ph.D, former director of the Sparkman Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Public Health. They have two daughters, Chloe and Pilar ’00. During his visit to Episcopal, Andrus spoke in chapel, met with the Vestry, attended seated meals, met with old friends, and visited classes, including Perry Epes’ English 4 AP class. Two nights before Epes’ class, during Vespers, Andrus discussed the theme of “Beauty and the Beast.” At the end, he asked the
community, “Why in the story pattern of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ also seen in the myth of Cupid and Psyche, does the divine presence in the forest of the unconscious, the kindly one, so often appear to us as a Beast?” Epes’ AP students had just finished term papers on “Hamlet,” and were asked to reflect on how the myth might relate to what they had been studying in their English class. “Bishop Andrus is a brilliant preacher, but even more, he is a beautiful listener,” said Epes. “After participating with the class during 10 minutes of reflective writing, he did not so much lead as join in with the lively discussion.” During the class period, students readily saw numerous connections between “Hamlet” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Johnny Bond ’12 observed
that both the play and the fairy tale are “about fear of the unknown or judging someone without learning about who they really are.” Austin deButts ’12 described Ophelia as “a Belle who can’t see the kindness beneath Hamlet’s show of coarse masculinity” and noted that Hamlet compares his adulterous mother to “a beast that wants discourse of reason and transfers much of his disgust at his mother to all women, including Ophelia.” “In his chapel talk on Monday night, Andrus forecasted that our revelations in the forest may have to come from our struggles with loss, or they may come from a flooding in of love,” said Epes. “In English 4 AP, we had our struggle with our term papers, and then our class with Bishop Marc was like a flooding in. As Hamlet said, ‘The readiness is all… let be.’” n
EHS The Magazine of Episcopal High School
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