people
Q Explain more about the process that led to your tenure as Bishop of Nevada.
A I was a priest serving in the diocese of Oregon. I had a sabbatical, and I was interviewing congregations that were engaged in the particular way of being church called “total ministry,” and I visited St. Paul’s in Sparks. When I left, the priest there said to me, “What you’ve done here is a lot like what a bishop does. Can I put your name into the search process?” I laughed. I thought it was totally absurd. I left and drove the rest of the way across Nevada in a snowstorm and through Wyoming
challenge is] the diversity in the state, given its exceedingly urbanized south and another large urban center around Reno—but the rest of the state is pretty empty. There are many small communities, and there are Episcopal Churches in many of them that have been there since they were boomtowns. The Episcopal Church is often the only mainline representative still there, and we took that really seriously.
Q
What are your main responsibilities in your current
role as Presiding Bishop?
and Colorado, and the idea didn’t let go of me. When I
A My responsibilities are to all 110 dioceses of the
finally got home, I said, “This doesn’t make any sense,
Episcopal Church—nearly 100 of them in the United
but yes, you can put my name in.”
States. Then, in places like Taiwan, Micronesia, Honduras, Ecuador, Venezuela, Columbia, Haiti, Dominican
Q
What are the Bishop of Nevada’s main
responsibilities?
A
The Bishop of Nevada is responsible for the
[state’s] 37 congregations of the Episcopal Church, seeing that effective and appropriate ministry is going
Republic, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and a group of churches in Europe. I’m the chief pastor, and I hope to visit each diocese of the church by the time my term has ended after nine years.
challenging people to pay attention to the needs of their
Q How did you become a pilot? A I come from a family of pilots. My father and grand-
neighbors, locally and farther away. The Bishop also has
father were both pilots, and so was my mother. My
a responsibility to the larger church to participate in its
father’s still an active pilot. It was something I grew up
government.
with, and I got my license when I was in college. But I
on in all communities, starting new congregations, and
didn’t use it until I came to Nevada and quickly learned
Q A
You lived in Las Vegas during your five-year term? Yes, my main residence was in Las Vegas because
the main office for the diocese is [there], but there’s also a satellite office in Reno. The diocese of Nevada also
that flying an airplane would be a great asset in getting around because [the state’s] so big.
Q How did your experience as an oceanographer
includes one congregation in Bullhead City, Arizona.
shape you?
Q What do you like most about Las Vegas and Reno? A I like the whole state. The people are wonderful, the
tions about what I’m going to find; also a willingness to
scenery is spectacular, there are lots of challenges, and
A [I learned] to not come into a situation with assumpmake a hypothesis and test it and to change my mind if I find reason to.
people in Nevada—in my experience—engage those challenges in really creative ways. I fell in love with the desert.
Q A
What challenges do you speak of? All the way from the rate of population growth in
Las Vegas to the challenges of keeping a tiny congregation going in the most rural parts of Nevada. [Another
Nevada Online For more of the interview with Katharine Jefferts Schori, including her experience flying over Nevada, visit nevadamagazine.com.
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