The Rt. Rev. Robert L. DeWitt, former Bishop of Pennsylvania and Editor of The Witness, Dies at Age 87

By Meg Cave

Click here to read the homily delivered by Bishop Barbara Harris at the memorial service for Bishop Bob DeWitt

Photo by Edward Muse

The Rt. Rev. Robert Lionne DeWitt, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, 1964-1974, died November 21 in Saratoga Springs, New York.

At age 48, DeWitt was the youngest bishop the Diocese of Pennsylvania ever elected. A quiet and low-key New Englander, he surprised many with his relentless battle for women's rights, racial equality and anti-Vietnam War stance. At Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia in 1974, he was one of several bishops who first ordained 11 women as priests.

As Andrew Wallace wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine: [DeWitt] delighted in getting the church, himself and his pastors involved . . . .[He] endorsed the activities of those acting out of conscience rather than rules; he believed that ministering to the poor, the oppressed, the young and black is more important than trying to preserve the comfort of those already in the pews."

After the women were ordained, the Episcopal Church grappled with whether the ordinations were valid, finally deciding they were "valid but irregular" at the church's 1976 national convention.

At the 1999 celebration commemorating the event, DeWitt said: "It is ironic that what happened 25 years ago here at the Advocate was for a time seen more as an issue of three misbehaving bishops than as a breakthrough created by 11 pioneering women. Make no mistake, the event was a creative action of, by and for women. The bishops were only accessories."

When he assumed office as bishop, race riots were erupting in Chester, Pennsylvania. He supported the efforts of racial justice there, even taking a midnight ride to Harrisburg to ask the governor to intervene. A year later, he became a significant force in supporting those attempting to break the will of Girard College's founder, a document that excluded blacks from attending the school. He also encouraged the Rev. Paul Washington, rector of the mostly black, inner-city Church of the Advocate, to become involved in racial justice issues.

When the Black Economic Development Conference (BEDC) presented its Black Manifesto in 1969, demanding $500 million in reparations from churches throughout the country for black economic development, DeWitt urged parishes and clergy "to engage in a creative dialogue" with BEDC leaders. As a result, the diocese's 1969 annual convention created a Task Force for Reconciliation, and its 1970 special convention approved creating a Restitution Fund and a diocesan-wide education program. By 1976, the diocese had given $525,865 in black community development grants and educational grants to 400 black students.

Opposed to the Vietnam War, DeWitt brought onto his staff as urban missioner, the Rev. David Gracie, who was known to counsel young men about the draft and the option of draft resistance. According to Richard Schneider of the Diocese of Pennsylvania's History Committee, conservatives argued that churches "should preach the gospel and leave politics to the politicians," and disaffected Episcopalians formed such groups as the Voice of the Catacombs and the Episcopal Renaissance.

Looking for ways to bring the church and society closer together, DeWitt resigned as bishop in 1974 to become editor of The Witness magazine and president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company. He retired from those positions in 1981 and moved to Isle au Haut, Maine, an island in the outermost reaches of Penobscot Bay. He then wrote EbbTide about dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's condition and Turning Pages, a series of short essays, songs and poems.

He was awarded honorary degrees from Episcopal Divinity School, Haverford College, LaSalle University, Lincoln University, Philadelphia Divinity School, Temple University and Virginia Theological Seminary, He was awarded the Peace Award from the SANE organization in 1974 and the City of Philadelphia Human Rights award in 1973.

He was bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Michigan and rector and curate of churches in Michigan prior to coming to Pennsylvania.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, of 65 years and their five children -- Rebecca, Laurence, Kathrina, John and Robert -- as well as 14 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Bishop Robert L. DeWitt Memorial Scholarship Fund at The Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Meg Cave is the director of communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Remembering Bob DeWitt

A homily preached by the Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris at the Philadelphia Cathedral on November 29, 2003

A few months from now, during the annual assembly of the Episcopal Urban Caucus in Baltimore, we will add the name of Robert Lionne DeWitt to our roster of saints. The Episcopal Urban Caucus, for those of you who may not know, has been described as "what's left of the left" in the church. The saints of the Urban Caucus are persons to whom God has opened the gates of larger life and who, on this earthly pilgrimage, lived out their commitment to the gospel mandate for peace with justice.

Our brother Bob, indeed lived his commitment intensely, passionately, with dignity and with integrity. He leaves to us and for us a sterling example of one who embraced these twin causes of peace and justice, holding them at the center of his life and ministry.

And as we reflect on Bob's life and ministry -- some of it lived on the very edge of ecclesiastical danger -- we may be tempted to question why this beloved husband, father, brother, pastor, prophet and friend could not have continued his sojourn with us in good health while others, less worthy by our measurement, are permitted to do so. I am not sure there is a satisfactory answer to such a question, nor perhaps does there need to be.

There should be an even deeper question on our hearts this morning and that is: What is the source of our inner-strength in times like these? What enables and empowers us to make sense of our own lives and to make the rest of our lives worth living?

For me, at least, a part of t he answer comes from the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to John. Jesus says to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die."

This brief exchange between Jesus and Martha of Bethany catches the attention, captures the imagination and calls forth in us a sense of hope. And, indeed, as Christians, we are prisoners of hope. But we are more than prisoners of hope. We are an Easter people. We are Easter people in a Good Friday world.

The world is full of the misery and pain of Good Friday. We have only to open our daily newspapers or turn on the television to our nightly news for fresh reminders of the violence, cruelty, want and need that permeate our world. We have only to examine or reflect on our own lives, our own trials and tribulations, our own cares and woes. We have only to consider how we relate to each other. But as Easter people we are supposed to be different.

There are some distinctive characteristics about Easter people that keep us in close touch with this Jesus who says to a grieving Martha: "I am the resurrection and  the life."  Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Easter people are believers. We believe not only in the possible, we believe in the impossible. We believe that the lame were made to walk, the dumb made to speak, lepers were cleansed and the blind received their sight. If we can believe that Jesus, who died, rose again from the dead and ascended to be with God his father, than we can, in peace, give over Bob -- husband, father, brother, pastor, prophet and friend -- to a loving God who has prepared for us a better home than this Good Friday world. For did he not say -- "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so would I have told you I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also."

And we can believe also that with the helpful presence of God's Holy Spirit we are strengthened and sustained on our pilgrimage through this vain world that is no friend to grace. Further, we can believe that we can fashion new lives committed to love, to peace, to justice and to liberation for all of God's people.

Easter people hang in until the end. Like the women who stood by the cross, they live by the worlds of that old spiritual: "I will go, I shall go to see what the end will be." For as Easter people we have, indeed, come this far by faith and we trust our God for the next step of the journey.

Easter people share. We share sorrow as well as joy; good times and bad; mountain top highs and wilderness woes. For to share only life's bright side is to deny the reality of the human condition. To share only the lovely is to leave ourselves unprepared for our own Good Fridays or unable to support others in theirs -- especially those commended to us by Jesus, the least, the lost and the left out.

Easter people not only bear the sign of the cross on their brow. Their lives, like Bob's, bear marks of the Gospel and the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, the apostle Paul tells us, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control -- all of which were manifested in this slight of stature, wiry, feisty guy whose life we celebrate today and who always admonished: "Keep your courage."

What is the source of our inner-strength? What enables and empowers us? Frederick Douglass, in his famous oration on change, concluded that speech by saying: "You don't get everything that you pay for in this life, but you pay for everything you get." And while no one will dispute the basic truth of that statement, one thing we do not pay for is GRACE.

That amazing grace that enabled Job through all his travail and woe to proclaim: "I know that my redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God and my eyes shall behold and not another."  That amazing grace which raised a song in the heart of Mary when told she would bear the Son of God. "My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior . . . "

The prophet Jeremiah raised the question -- "Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there?" And it was grace that enabled my slave forebears to respond, though chained and shackled: "There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole . . . ."

Grace moved John Newton, one time captain of a slave ship, to weary of trafficking in human flesh. After much effort he became a priest of the church and gave us, along with many others, that hymn to which we so often have turned for comfort: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound . . ."

It was grace that supported Bob though many dangers, toils and snares. It is grace that will see you Kathy, Becky, John, Rob, Larry, your mother Bobbie and all this family and host of friends through grief and loss. And it is that same grace -- God's amazing grace -- that will continue to strengthen and sustain us as Easter people in this Good Friday world.

 

The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris is retired bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts and an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Washington. The former executive director of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company (publisher of The Witness magazine), she currently serves on the organization's board of directors.