Interview, Fireside Chat
The Most Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
- The outlook anticipates faith journeys evolving as either clear and obvious or clear, subtle, and nuanced, with ongoing realization of previously unnoticed aspects as individuals age.
- The speaker predicts their path was shaped by the post-WWII and post-Korean War "booming" era, noting a significant cultural shift from the near-universal Christianity of past eastern North Carolina to the current reality.
- Expectations include the grandmother's lesson that education is emancipation seeping into children before full integration, alongside a father's expectation for children to fulfill their duties without requiring them to follow his specific career path.
- The speaker forecasts a career trajectory where a vocational calling as an ordained minister became a live possibility by their junior year of college, leading to an election as Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina in mid-February 2000, breaking racial barriers in the American South.
- Plans include the evolution of crisis control and food bank initiatives from religious efforts into infrastructure safety nets, alongside a strategic expectation that racial education leadership would eventually transition to other bishops during a 15-year tenure.
- The outlook predicts that the 2003 election of Bishop Gene Robinson would cause turmoil, creating a risk involving the intersection of sex and race that could lead to pain and financial consequences, though eventually resulting in restored support due to a desire for love.
- Projections indicate the 2013 emergence of the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, utilizing a moral formula of the Golden Rule in legislative advocacy, while the wider Anglican Communion faces deep tensions regarding human sexuality.
- The speaker anticipates being elected presiding bishop of the church causing internal strife, necessitating a severe meeting of church heads convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury to address the crisis.
- Predictions state that the decision reached at the Anglican meeting will have consequences for the American Episcopal Church's representation and ecumenical dialogue, with the speaker already knowing the vote outcome beforehand.
- Plans involve the speaker accepting an invitation to deliver an address at a royal wedding on May 19, following the selection of the Song of Solomon as a text to discuss the greatness and power of love.