The Investiture of the Most Reverend Frank T Griswold
as Twenty-Fifth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

I hope many of you have read the article: Experiencing Catholicity in the 27 September 97 issue of America magazine.
If you have not, I'd strongly urge you to find a copy and read it. In the article, Bishop Griswold tells of meeting Reverend Father Damasus Winzen OSB who was then Prior of Mount Saviour Monastery.  Bishop Griswold has been a frequent retreatant at Mount Saviour since 1965.  In view of our long relationship, I was invited to his Investiture on Saturday, 10 January 98, and the dinner the previous evening.

Together with Reverend Han van den Blink, an Episcopal priest, member of the faculty of Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester NY and Mary Skinner, Chaplain at Corning Community College, I drove to Potomac Maryland and we stayed overnight at the home of Dr and Mrs. James Sitzman and their four children -Maria, Tess, Anna and John and
their new Labrador puppy.

Supper on Friday was for 80 guests and very well carried out. There were no speeches, just brief heart-felt remarks by Bishop Griswold and the retiring Bishop,
Edmond L. Browning.  I had the good fortune to sit between Mrs. Talton, wife of the
Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles and Sister Rosemary Duncan of the Cenacle Community of Chicago.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful and the beauty and the light were undimmed throughout the Investiture celebration.  Some 3,800 invited guests filled the National Cathedral in our nation's Capitol.  There is no specific Prayer Book Liturgy for the Investiture of a Presiding Bishop.  If the 36 page service book we received could be a model for future celebrations, you
wouldn't want to miss them!

As impressive as the giving and receiving of symbols of ministry were that he received from members of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian traditions, three simple deeds gave me a certain joy and confident hope that Bishop Griswold's tenure would be a beneficial one.
First of all, the program stated THE HOLY EUCHARIST in large bold letters and under that in much smaller print 'and the Investiture of Frank Tracy Griswold etc.'.  In other words the main event was the Holy Eucharist and only in that context was the Investiture important.
Secondly, Frank gave a very moving homily.  As the Lord is reported to have said to his namesake, Francis of Assisi: "Francisco, rebuild my Church" so Francisco
Griswold would accept this in conjunction with the entire Episcopal communion.  Finally, immediately after the homily came the renewal of Baptismal promises, which is where we all begin and where we are one in Christ and the Spirit.

He has a most difficult task.  That he sees it flowing from Baptism and in the context of the self-offering of Christ in the Eucharist makes it neither impossible nor hopeless.  Our prayers and support will accompany him, his wife Phoebe and the Episcopal community in the years
to come.

Ecumenical Institute of Spirituality:
In the middle of the month we were ready to receive a group of scholars who began to meet at the time of Vatican II.  Fr. Damasus Winzen, our founder, was an active member until his death.  A snow storm on the east coast forced them to cancel at the last minute.  Fr. Basil Pennington, ocso,  who was not notified about the cancellation came and gave us some instructions on Centering Prayer.  His many books on the topic made him well-known.
 

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