PHOEBE W. GRISWOLDPhoebe W. Griswold has led a life devoted to being an active lay member of the Episcopal Church. She has been participant and catalyst in many different projects at the parish, diocesan, national and international level. Her convictions touch upon many issues; from the education and nurturing of children to the significance of women's spirituality, from the importance of the arts in life and faith to the problems of global peace, hunger, development and relief. She is concerned with these arenas as they relate to grass roots and hands on service as well as systemic change.
Mrs. Griswold is a trustee of the Jerusalem 2000 Executive Board established by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the chairperson of the ECUSA Jerusalem 2000 campaign. This appeal seeks to support schools, hospitals and churches in the Diocese of Jerusalem. The Episcopal Church has raised over $1 million.
She is a founding member of the Episcopal Church and Visual Arts (ECVA). Its mission is to encourage the visual arts in the life of the Church. This organization in its first year (2001) created a web site to present the work of Episcopal artists http://www.ecva.org. ECVA continues to develop registries of artists and churches as it grows and matures and builds a network of people around the country.
She has presented at several retreats and workshops, including a workshop for the Spouses' Program at the 1998 Lambeth conference of Bishops. The Lambeth Conference is a meeting of all the bishops of the Anglican Communion held once every ten years. Mrs. Griswold presented a paper and led a discussion entitled: "Living the theology of a bishop's spouse: Experience, Experiment and Adventure."
In December 1998, she traveled to Honduras and Nicaragua with representatives of the Episcopal Church to observe and aide in the efforts of the Episcopal Relief and Development (ER-D) to alleviate the suffering imposed by Hurricane Mitch. This trip lead to the establishment of a new community, Faith, Hope and Joy, comprised of 200 homes, a school, clinic and church near San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She returned twice to Honduras in 2000 with groups of bishops' spouses to work on the site.
While living in Chicago Mrs. Griswold was the Area Director for Heifer Project International (HPI) for seven years. Her work at HPI brought together two of her major concerns: hunger and the environment. The organization's most notable accomplishment during her tenure was the successful development and implementation of HPI's first urban projects. These included aquaculture (fish), vermiculture (worms) and animal agriculture (goats, draft animals) projects in Robert Taylor Homes and Cabrini-Green -- two of the most impoverished communities in the United States at the time the project was implemented. In honor of her service, she was one of three recipients of HPI's first Presidential Award in October 1998.
In 1993, sixty-five children under the age of fifteen were murdered in greater Chicago. Mrs. Griswold helped to generate a response to this crisis, which resulted in the Children's Cross project. The cross and display, which was built by the children of St. James Cathedral on the Diocesan Church Center plaza, one block off the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue, has attracted local, national and international interest and response.
Committed to ecumenical relations, she co-chaired the Marian Dialogue with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago during the Marian year, 1988. The program consisted of a series of events throughout the liturgical year, which combined the two denominations' traditions of Mary and shared these in a common experience through liturgy, drama and prayer.
Recognizing a growing need for women to gather together for creative worship and study, Mrs. Griswold played an important role in creating Wakening Women in the Diocese of Chicago. A key emphasis in Wakening Women is the use of liturgies and studies created by women for women. Begun in 1990, Wakening Women continues to this day.
Prior to living in Chicago, Mrs. Griswold lived in Pennsylvania where she served as the founding director of the Diocese of Pennsylvania's Christian Education Resource Center. She was an active worker in her parish soup kitchen. While living in Yardley, Pennsylvania she was involved in the restoration and preservation of an original mill-pond in town. This effort included researching the history and the limnology of the pond to establish its historical and ecological importance. The city of Yardley was able to put it on the Highways of History, and the pond is now considered a community asset.
During her time in Pennsylvania, she met and married Frank T. Griswold, who is now the XXV Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. They have two grown daughters.
Presentations and Workshops:"Charisms: Enlivening the ECW." Presentation to Episcopal Church Women. General Convention 2000 and diocesan ECWs 2000, 2001
"Let Us Walk with Mary." Sponsored by Veriditas, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. Chartres Cathedral, France. 1999, 2000, 2001
"Living the theology of a bishop's spouse: Experience, experiment, and adventure." Clergy Spouse retreat. Diocese of Ohio. Spring 1999.
"Mobilizing volunteers." Consortium of Endowed Parishes. February 1999.
"Sharing our Faiths." Heifer Project International Conference on world hunger. October 1998.
Led numerous clergy spouses, clergy couples, and bishops' couples workshops for the Society of St. John the Evangelist. Cambridge, Mass. 1989-1993.
Award:
WLIW 21 New York Public Television Humanitarian of the Year Award. For her work with Episcopal Relief and Development, Jerusalem 2000 and Heifer Project International. 2002
Heifer Project International President's Award. For her visionary work and leadership with HPI. 1998.
Education:
BA, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Spiritual Director, certified at the Institute of Spiritual Companionship in Chicago, Illinois.
Published Book:
Paths of love and faithfulness: Reflections on Lambeth and the Anglican Communion. Forward Movement Publications, 1999. A compilation of ECUSA bishops' spouses experiences at the Anglican Communion's Lambeth Conference.
Published Articles:
Episcopal Life. Regular contributor.
"Reflection: The Labyrinth of Chartres." Anglican Theological Review. Winter 2001.
"Mary as companion to an Anglican." Anglican World. December 2000.
"Living the Theology of a bishop's spouse: Experience, experiment, and adventure." Anglican Theological Review, Winter 1999.
"Being Ready" (also called, "Mary Wasn't Ready"). Anglican World. This article has been used by many clergy spouses and clergy spouse groups for reflection on their roles as clergy spouse. December 1998.
"Holding the Child." Journal of Women's Ministry, Vol. 11 #1, Winter 1995.