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A few years ago, when Carol Anderson, rector of the wealthy and prestigious All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, Calif., needed to fill an associate pastor opening, she chose a woman. It is telling that the move shocked some of the denomination's feminists, who do not count her in their number. This in turn shocks Anderson, who replies, "I'm not an antifeminist. But I'm not in the movement for the sake of the movement. I just move on, not from a position of getting ahead as a woman but getting ahead because I'm on a mission of Jesus."
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.
And it was her evangelical piety, in addition to her administrative talents, that won her one of Episcopalianism's prizes. In 1988, although the church as a whole was about to elect its first female bishop, Anderson was a dark-horse candidate for pastor of All Saints, which was more conservative back then. Yet as her intelligence and zeal became apparent, a search-committee member recalls, "hearts were changed," and Anderson was chosen unanimously over 10 other candidates.
In the past 15 years, Anderson has validated the decision, showing a CEO's gifts 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.
Doctrinaire critics might not admit it, but Anderson's example lends credence to her contention that in Episcopalianism, at least, some battles are already won. "A woman who really has a passion about doing ministry and doesn't have an ax to grind," she says, "can get a decent job."
SUSAN ANDREWS Build a Strong Resume
Asked a few weeks ago about her professional future, the Rev. Susan Andrews reminded an interviewer that she was committed to another year as pastor of Bradley Hills Presbyterian, a lively 700-member congregation in Bethesda, Md. But she admitted that "if a call comes forth in the next year or two that seems to build on the gifts and skills and experiences I've had, I will respond to it."