presiding bishop | Episcopal Church

Church positions: The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in June 2006. She serves as chief pastor and primate to the Episcopal Church’s 2.4 million members in 16 countries and 110 dioceses. She joins with other principal bishops of the 38 member provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion, seeking to make common cause for global good and reconciliation. She was elected bishop in 2000 of the Diocese of Nevada, where she was a priest, university lecturer and hospice chaplain. She was ordained in 1994 and ordained to the episcopate Feb. 24, 2001.

Career, education: Bishop Jefferts Schori was an oceanographer. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford University and a master’s and doctorate in oceanography from Oregon State University. She earned a master of divinity degree from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and several honorary doctoral degrees. She remains an active, instrument-rated pilot.

Author: Her new book is “Heartbeat of God” and subtitled “Wing and a Prayer.”

Advocate: She has been a strong supporter of Episcopal Church’s mission priorities, including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, domestic poverty, climate change and care for the earth, as well as the ongoing need to apply the gospel to the contemporary world.

Family: She and her husband, Richard Miles Schori, a retired mathematician, were married in 1979. They have one daughter, who is a captain and pilot in the U.S. Air Force.