Gayle Harris

Gayle Elizabeth Harris (born February 12, 1951)[1] was ordained as Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 2003, succeeding Barbara Harris.

This was the first time in the Episcopal Church in the United States that a woman was succeeded as bishop by another woman.

Harris was born in 1951. She was ordained as a deacon in February 1981 and as a priest in June 1982.[2]

In 2018, Harris claimed that she personally saw Israeli security personnel arrest a 3-year-old on the Temple Mount for bouncing a ball that fell among worshipers at the Western Wall, and also saw Israeli soldiers respond to a comment by a 15-year-old boy by shooting him 10 times in the back.[3] Harris was accused by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and other Jewish organizations of fabricating "defamatory and incendiary" stories of "Israeli heartlessness and criminality" in support of an Episcopal Church General Convention resolution condemning Israel. The Simon Wiesenthal Center claimed that her "anti-Israel rhetoric borders on a 'blood libel'"[4][5] Several weeks later, Harris apologized, stating that "I now acknowledge that I reported stories which I had heard and unintentionally framed them as though I had personally witnessed the alleged events." She added, "I did not take the opportunity to verify these stories. ... I was ill-advised to repeat the stories without verification, and I apologize for doing so."[6][3]

See also

References
  1. Episcopal Clerical Directory 2013 (2013). New York: Church Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-0-89869-888-6, p. 405.
  2. Louie Crew. "Rt. Rev. Gayle Elizabeth Harris. Bishop Suffragan Elect of Massachusetts". Unofficial Anglican Pages of Louie Crew. Archived from the original on August 12, 2010.
  3. "Episcopal bishop apologizes after sharing false stories about Israeli atrocities". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  4. "Simon Wiesenthal Center protests Episcopal Church bishop's anti-Israel stance". Times of Israel. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  5. "Jewish groups slam episcopal church for "Blood Libel"". Cleveland Jewish News. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  6. Harris, Gayle (17 August 2018). "Statement from Bishop Gayle E. Harris". Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
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