perspectives
Former Faculty Profile: The Right Reverend Geralyn Wolf
A Bishop’s Life
By Sandra Pilla The spiritual journey under taken by The Right Reverend Geralyn Wolf ffac is certainly one for the history books. She was only the second woman in the history of the United States Episcopal Church to be ordained a diocesan bishop. Before that, she was the first female dean of an Episcopal cathedral. Before that, she was the vicar of a mission in Philadelphia. Before that, she was a physical education teacher, and coach of hockey, basketball, tennis, and lacrosse in the 1970s at George School. Having competed in tennis at the national level, and played on the U.S. Field Hockey team, Geralyn was the perfect assistant for George School’s legendary teacher and coach Anne LeDuc. Geralyn credits George School’s Quaker style of worship for leaving an indelible mark on her own evolving spirituality. “I still have vivid memories of some of those who rose to speak, at meeting for worship,” she says. “The gift of feeling comfortable with silence continues to be formative in my spiritual experience. Alternatively, the power of the Spirit to disrupt that silence has been equally life-giving, setting me on pathways that I would not otherwise have taken.” The bishop’s path to Christianity and subsequent service in the Episcopal Church began
during her time at George School, when she was baptized at St. Andrew’s Church in Yardley. But, she says, the journey really started when she was just five years old, “when I stood outside a Catholic church and had an experience of Jesus’ embracing and enveloping presence.” Geralyn embraced her spiritual mission in 1977, when she was ordained to the Episcopal diaconate, and entered the priesthood in 1978—a time when women priests were still new and controversial. She later served as the vicar of an inner-city mission in Philadelphia for six years, then was named Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville, Kentucky, where she remained for nine years. She was consecrated into her history-making role as Rhode Island’s twelfth Episcopal bishop in 1996, serving as a leader of some sixty parishes and missions. The bishop, who recently turned sixty-five and celebrated five years of marriage to Rhode Island businessman Tom Bair, is preparing to retire later this year. She will be remembered for more than her history-making gender role or her global service missions. One of her most eminent missions took place right under the noses of her own congregation, in Providence, Rhode Island, when Wolf infiltrated the streets of Rhode Island’s capital in 2003 to experience first-hand the plight of the poor. She lived as a homeless person for one month, calling herself “Aly Wolf ” and disguising her appearance as she frequented soup kitchens and churches where her own priests and congregants served and worshiped. Her resulting book, Down and Out in Providence: Memoir of a Homeless Bishop, was published in 2005. As the bishop’s official religious service starts to wind down and church budgets everywhere continue to tighten, she predicts a renaissance of the faith. “I like to think that we are ‘reorganizing’ our expectations and discovering a faithful remnant from which a new church will emerge,” Geralyn says.
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