The Most Reverend Frank Tracy Griswold III, In Memoriam
The Most Reverend Frank Tracy Griswold III, 25th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church (1998-2006), died on Sunday, March 5, at his home in Philadelphia. Upon Bishop Griswold’s retirement as Presiding Bishop, Dean James Kowalski invited him him to become the Cathedral’s Canon for International and Interfaith Ministry. Dean Kowalski, in issuing the invitation, highlighted “Bishop Griswold’s work to bring people of all faiths together for reconciliation and justice without participating in divisiveness.” Bishop Griswold held the position until his death.
Among Bishop Griswold’s most important contributions, not to interfaith but to interdenominational unity, was his work as Co-Chair of the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). Under his leadership, ARCIC issued the “The Gift of Authority,” a study of how authority is exercised in the Churches of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. Writing from Westminster Abbey, Bishop Griswold said, “It is my hope and earnest prayer that as ‘The Gift of Authority’ is explored and carefully reflected upon at all levels of ecclesial life we find ourselves, as Anglicans and Roman Catholics, drawn into deeper and fuller communion in the one Christ and be enabled to display the healing and reconciling power of the Gospel for the sake of our broken and unreconciled world.” The presence of Chemin Neuf religious — Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Protestant — on the Cathedral Close, an integral part of our life and work, is a flowering of Bishop Griswold’s hope. The Community at the Crossing, which will bring young people from every Christian denomination to live in community for a year beginning in September, will see his hope blossom even more.
It was during Bishop Griswold’s tenure as Presiding Bishop that tensions over a number of issues, especially human sexuality, began tearing visibly at the fabric of The Episcopal Church. Bishop Griswold’s theological erudition, deep spirituality, and pastoral wisdom provided Episcopalians with a calm center as the Church found itself in increasing turmoil. It was he who ordained the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson to the episcopate, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion. It made Bishop Griswold a lightning rod for anti-gay sentiment in the Communion, a burden he carried with grace. He was confident that The Episcopal Church was responding faithfully to the call of God.
On a personal note, Bishop Griswold was my spiritual director for many years, a gift for which I am humbled and deeply grateful. He was a great man.
May he share ever deeper in the life of the Risen and Glorified Christ, whom he loved and for whom he lived.
Your brother,
(The Very Reverend) Patrick Malloy, PhD
Dean