"She and her church in full view of the world have defied this trend and engendered hope for many of us Christians who abhor this sort of male exclusivism," Hough continued.

Hough said "since misogyny is almost always accompanied by homophobia, it is hardly surprising that she has been the object of virulent attacks for her openness to gay ordination from some of her fellow bishops and clergy in the Anglican Communion."

"What is so wondrous for me to see is her refusal to engage in white hot polemics in response to this ecclesiastical skullduggery," he added.

Mrs. Schori did not respond to Hough's blast against bishops who oppose women's ordination and did not take the bait over Global South opposition to sodomy, asking her audience instead to "dream along with God" and to consider "how theological thinking is going to help to shape the rest of your life."

Studiously avoiding any mention of the Great Commission, Mrs. Schori told the incoming class that "the task of theological education really is to help us learn to do theology -- to relate our own stories, and the stories of those around us, to the great stories of our faith, so that we may be able to give an account of the faith that is within us." Theological education can bless us with the ability to see the need and hurt and injustice of the world, the ways in which God's dream is not yet being realized."

In her address, Mrs. Schori urged Union students to use their seminary community as a laboratory for confronting injustice and oppression. Such communities can "dream big dreams, to equip its members to see the interwoven tentacles of evil in this world, the injustices wrought by global economies and state-sanctioned violence."

The passion of those who learn, study and teach is "driven by a taste of God's overwhelming yearning for a healed world" and that passion is a blessing, she said.

"It can also be a crippling wound if we miss the homeless person on the bench outside, or the hungry child of a fellow student, or the faculty member who is overwhelmed by the demands of the academic career ladder," Mrs. Schori continued.

Noting that the word "blessing" derives from the word meaning blood and injury, she said, "All of the members of this institution -- students, faculty, and administration -- will at some time feel that [they] are being treated unjustly."

"May God continue to bless you with the ability to know what injustice feels like," Mrs. Schori said. "Being bloodied, even figuratively, can be a gift that elicits passion."

"The vision of Isaiah 61:1-9, of a restored world, this dream of God, is what drives me," she said.

Mrs. Schori made no mention of the hemorrhaging of the Episcopal Church, where more than 700-800 orthodox Episcopalians are leaving The Episcopal Church each week, or that after next week's meeting in New Orleans, TEC's House of Bishops may well find themselves facing an uncertain future in the Anglican Communion.

END