Honoring Verna Dozier

By Jane Holmes Dixon

Dr. Verna J. Dozier changed my life. That is the reality of our relationship. I knew when I met her on a Friday afternoon in early May of 1973 that I had met a woman like no other person I had ever encountered. She had a dignity, a brilliance, and a compassion that was most remarkable. She was, and is, sui generis .

We became friends. At one of the first lunches we shared, I asked her how an African-American woman could befriend a white woman who was raised and participated in the racist society of Mississippi. In her direct Verna way, she told me that she had tried bitterness, but found it did not work. It made her miserable.

Verna has that incredible ability to take every other human being seriously, no matter who she or he might be or what she or he believed. That, among so much of what she taught me, may be the most critical and valuable lesson of all for I came to understand that taking another seriously is the beginning of doing justice. After a conference we both attended, she pointed out that the most interesting and important statement that made during the entire conference was: say more about that. “Do not make assumptions about what another is saying. Encourage him or her to explain and take the time to be certain you truly heard.”

[I]n the summer of 1976, I was wildly hoping that our eldest child, our son David who was 13, would become a priest. . . I said this to Verna and she quickly replied: “If you want to be a priest, be one, but leave that boy alone!” That boy, now 41, adores Verna, and I was shocked into considering what seemed impossible.

She was, in fact, the one who first mentioned ordination to me. At the time, in the summer of 1976, I was wildly hoping that our eldest child, our son David who was 13, would become a priest. He had loved being an acolyte, was enrolled in an Episcopal school and I thought was an excellent prospect for the priesthood. I said this to Verna and she quickly replied: “If you want to be a priest, be one, but leave that boy alone!” That boy, now 41, adores Verna, and I was shocked into considering what seemed impossible.

Verna J. Dozier became my mentor as well as cherished friend. She loved me enough to tell me the truth; a gift I consider priceless.

An early manifestation of this enormous gift came as I received the results of my marks on the General Ordination Exams. The readers found me deficient in Ethics and Moral Theology. I contended that they disapproved of my position on the acceptance of gay and lesbian folk in one of the questions I had written, not my scholarship.

I was all set to challenge the diocesan standing committee, which is the group that had to rule on my proficiency. Verna talked me through this decision. She pointed out that storming the standing committee might impede my ordination, and if I really wanted to be an advocate for my lesbian/gay sisters and brothers, I needed to proceed through the ordination process. Ten years later, when Ronald Haines, then-Episcopal Bishop of Washington (DC), approved Elizabeth Carl for ordination to the priesthood, there was considerable backlash. I was then president of the diocesan standing committee and in a position to make the case in support of Ms. Carl to my colleagues and to the Presiding Bishop. I was honored to be one of the bishop's chaplains at her priesting.

Verna taught me how to make decisions.

“How do you, Verna, know what God is calling you to do?”

“My dear Jane, I never know with certainty what God is saying to me, for to believe that one can fully know the mind of God, is to be idolatrous: to put one's self in an equal position with God is to commit idolatry. Life is ambiguous and every decision has both cost and promise. You weigh the cost and the promise and if the cost outweighs the promise, them you do not take the action and if the promise outweighs the cost then you act.”

“But”, said I, “what if after all that you make the wrong decision?”

“Then you ask God's forgiveness. You do believe in grace and forgiveness, don't you?”

I have used many a legal pad in counting the cost and promise, and have learned that God does indeed forgive.

When one becomes a bishop he or she is urged to choose a mentor bishop. I thought about that long and hard and decided that my mentor was sufficient to the task. No one knew the church better, no one knew me as well, no one loved the Lord more, and no one believed that her worth was the result of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as did Verna. She kept me on the way, she called me when she thought I was being arrogant and distant and she affirmed my dignity and worth as a child of God. I miss her terribly.

Verna is now quite fragile, bed ridden and almost too weak to speak. Yet she continues to mentor. At first – when her health declined and her ability to read, to study and teach her beloved Bible, to preach and to be her active and profound self – she became very angry with God for not letting her die. Yet being Verna, she came to realize once again that bitterness and anger only made her miserable. She remains true to what she has proclaimed for so long to so many: Jesus never called the disciples to worship Him, but to follow Him. And she does.

Thanks be to God for the witness and ministry of Verna J. Dozier. She made the words of the prophet Micah come alive for me: Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. And my life changed.

The Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon was elected bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Washington in 1990, only the second woman in the Episcopal Church to serve in the episcopacy. She has provided leadership in countless areas of ministry for spiritual formation, justice & peace, and mission, including as president of the board of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company ( The Witness ). Jane may be reached by email at jhdwash@aol.com .