Gifts For Bishop-Elect Duckworth Update (August 1)
August 1, 2022

The Gifts Committee of the Diocesan Transition process announces the solicitation of funds to help purchase the vestments and other Episcopal symbols for the new bishop.

Canon Shannon Duckworth will need vestments and other signs and symbols of the Office of Bishop to which she has been elected.  The Gifts Committee is currently seeking donors to help share the costs of these items.

Copes, miters (those pointy bishop’s hats), cassock, rochet & chimere (the choir vestments for the bishop), an Episcopal ring, pectoral cross (a sign of the office), crozier (the bishop’s “crook” or staff), and other assorted vestments and symbols are all needed. In addition, there are practical items that help the Bishop-elect fulfill her duties.  Since these items are specific to the office of bishop, (at least most are), we are gathering funds to help defray, or cover entirely, the costs.

We have had some commitments so far, and certain groups are being solicited directly.  The deacons of the diocese will present the white linen miter; the priests are being asked to fund the pectoral cross; the ECW and Diocesan Altar Guild are giving the consecration miter. Canon Duckworth’s family is presenting her with the official ring, and her husband Jimmy is making her crozier.  In addition, we have had requests from some parishes to fund specific items, or to add funds to the general gifts ledger.

The Committee now turns to others in the Diocese asking for your help and support. If you, as an individual, would like to contribute to the fund, you are invited to do so.  No gift is too small or too large.  We are truly grateful for any gift we receive towards this ministry.  If your congregation or ministry group would like to make a gift (through the vestry or a general appeal) you are encouraged to do so.  We are truly grateful for these contributions.

Although some of the gifts have been fully funded, not all are.  Please know that everything we receive will go to these gifts.  At the ordination of Canon Duckworth, certain of these gifts will be bestowed upon her at the vesting portion of the liturgy. 

If donations are being made to the general fund, please send those to:

The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana
Bishop’s Gifts                  
1623 Seventh Street
New Orleans, LA 70115

If donations are for a specific item, or information is requested about the unfunded items, please contact the Rev. Canon Ronald Clingenpeel,  rhclingenpeel@yahoo.com  or 314-249-5908, for a list of gifts.  Those gifts will still be paid to the Diocese at the address above.

You belong. You are children of God. No exceptions.

Bishop Duckworth’s sermon called us to remember the UpStairs Lounge fire in the French Quarter, a violent act of deadly arson that killed 32 gay men in nineteen minutes. In the aftermath, no church in the city would bury the dead. The exception was St. George’s Episcopal Church. Its rector, the Rev. Bill Richardson, did what he knew Jesus called him to do — he buried those men. He did so not without cost: he faced active condemnation from the larger community, but also from within his own congregation and from within our own diocese.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of two pivotal resolutions from the 1976 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Resolution 1976-A069 and Resolution 1976-A071 declared that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church,” and that LGBTQ+ persons “are entitled to equal protection of the laws with all other citizens.” While we can celebrate many clear advancements for the full inclusion of our LGBTQ+ community in church and community life, the work is ongoing.

It has not always been a straight path. The church is human, and humans stumble. But consider how far we have traveled: from a church being rebuked for praying over the dead, to bishops wearing rainbow stoles given as gifts by LGBTQ+ Episcopalians at ordination. From closed communion tables to fully open sacramental life. From whispered exclusion to the joyful, public, Spirit-filled worship we offer tonight.

In our own Diocese of Louisiana, the transformation has been remarkable. Inclusive Louisiana, our network of LGBTQ+ Episcopalians and their allies, has been a light in this region for years — marching in Pride parades, offering pastoral care, and equipping congregations to proclaim God’s all-inclusive love. And here at St. Anna’s, you have led the way: becoming the first congregation in this diocese to celebrate same-sex marriage.

Bishop Duckworth’s conclusion made plain that actively creating a joyfully inclusive church is what we are called to do:

Not someday. Not when things are more comfortable. Not when the political climate improves. Today. The work of liberation is always a present-tense call.”

To speak that truth in this moment is not a partisan act. It is an act of Christian faithfulness. It is what prophets do. It is what the Church, at its best, has always done — even when it cost us something.

We serve a God who said: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” That includes everyone. Everyone is a child of God.

The Rt. Rev. Shannon Rogers Duckworth

Bishop Duckworth offered the Prayer for Travelers from the Book of Common Prayer for Deacon Luigi, who is relocating to Chicago. His contributions to Inclusive Louisiana, St. Anna’s, the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and the broader community have been immeasurable. We are grateful for all he has given us, and we trust that though he leaves us physically, what he has created here will continue to grow.

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