He has donned a purple cassock and joined Palestinian sympathizers protesting in front of the Israeli consulate. Gay but celibate, he has immersed himself in East African cultures to better understand the antigay sentiment. Lately, he has asked his congregants — and other faith leaders — to help eradicate gun violence.
Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, who announced his retirement last week, leaves a singular legacy as he prepares to depart Boston’s religious scene. A soft-spoken monk who leads one of the largest Episcopal dioceses in the country, the prayerful bishop has been extraordinarily vocal — and sometimes controversial — in the public square.
Comments
Good riddance!
You stand alone.
Bishop Tom has been a steady hand through challenging times in our church. His visionary leadership will leave a legacy that will strengthen the Episcopal Church.
His predecessor was a terrible man, a sexual predator and a hypocrite of the worst sort. I didn't think much of Bishop Shaw either, especially after his publicity stunt picketing the Israeli Consulate in 2001. The next one will undobtedly be worse. Our pastor told me he decided fifteen years ago that he really didn't want to be a bishop, and maybe he didn't, but it wasn't ever going to happen anyway. He's too white, too male and too straight to pass the selection critiera that the Sandalistas up at the Diocese will use. I don't know where they keep finding these black women to appoint suffragan bishops, I've been an Episcopalian since we got married in 1981 and my wife won the coin toss, and the only black women who were Episcopalian that I ever met were suffragan bishops.