Thanks to Lee for pointing out this post at Get Religion on the rector of All Saints Beverly Hills. The Time article he refers to isn't available online to nonsubscribers, but here are the interesting bits:
In the 1970s, the Rev. Anderson, already established as a civil-rights activist, took naturally to the fight for female priesthood in Episcopalianism. "A few of us moved things along," she says. "It wasn't unlike the struggle for gays and lesbians today." But with that goal achieved (and her ordination shortly thereafter), her energies turned toward the church's charismatic renewal movement, which valued theological conservatism and belief in the gifts of the Holy Spirit alongside social activism. The trend attracted relatively little Episcopal attention in the U.S. at the time but exerted a greater fascination on the denomination's Anglican mother church. Anderson was one of just six Americans invited to the 1991 enthronement of George Carey, the evangelically minded former Archbishop of Canterbury...In the past 15 years, Anderson has validated the decision, showing a CEO's gift for efficient delegation and institutional vision: Sunday attendance at All Saints has nearly doubled, to 3,000, and she hopes to open a second campus in three years. Although she insists that "my male associates are better at nurturing than I am," she still manages to communicate her enthusiastic devotion to a congregation of Hollywood Christians whose average age -- 34 -- is 24 years younger than her own. Under her, say congregants, the church has become more spiritual -- and more diverse and liberal on issues such as gay holy unions.
When I lived on the westside, I spent a few Sundays at ASBH, and heard Carol preach. She is gifted, and it is a fine community. The politics of the two All Saints (Pas and Beverly Hills) are nearly identical; our parishes are the two largest in the diocese -- and yet we've been led by very different rectors with slightly different visions of what it means to be an Anglican. Then again, Pasadena and Beverly Hills are two cities with very different histories!
Posted by: Hugo on November 19, 2004 11:38 AM