Convention makes Thurgood Marshall, Pauli Murray, Florence Li Tim-Oi permanent saints of the church

By Mary Frances Schjonberg
Posted Jul 13, 2018

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] Three 20th-century figures are now a permanent part of the Episcopal Church’s calendar of saints.

Thurgood Marshall on May 17, Pauli Murray on July 1 and Florence Li Tim-Oi on Jan. 24 “are already very widely commemorated within the Episcopal Church,” the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music told the 79th General Convention in proposing the three’s permanence.

Marshall, the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court, lived in New York while serving as an attorney for the NAACP, and joined the historically black St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem in 1938.

Murray was an early civil rights activist, fiery feminist and the first African-American woman ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church.

Li was the first woman ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion when then-Hong Kong Bishop Ronald Hall, made her a priest on Jan. 25, 1944, in Macao. Her ordination caused much controversy after the end of World War II, and she decided not to continue exercising her priesthood until it was acknowledged by the wider Anglican Communion.

Both houses of the convention agreed July 13 to bypass (via Resolution A066) the normal expectation that people would not be added to the church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts calendar until at least two generations have passed.

(“Lesser Feasts and Fasts” is a collection of proper collects, lessons and psalms for the Eucharist on each of the weekdays of Lent, weekdays of Easter season and each of the lesser feasts of the church year. It is used in addition to the major feasts and saints included in the Book of Common Prayer.)

All three people have been on the calendar of saints since the 2009 General Convention added them on a trial basis. Normally they would have been permanently added at a future convention, but none of the calendars on which they were listed passed convention in 2012 or 2015.

Resolution A066 was crafted in light of the trajectory of movement on Resolution A065 to authorize a news version of “Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018” for trial use over the next three years. The action ensures that Marshall, Murray and Tim-Oi remain on the church’s calendar regardless of what the next meeting of convention in 2021 decides about the 2018 edition of “Lesser Feasts and Fasts.”

– The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is the Episcopal News Service’s senior editor and reporter.


Tags


Comments (12)

  1. The Rev. Fred Fenton says:

    Before the ordination of women in the Episcopal Church, George Regas invited Tim-Oi to All Saints, Pasadena, so we could meet the first woman priest ordained in the Anglican Communion. I was there with my family as she came down the aisle in the opening procession. We were singing “The Church’s One Foundation.” The words “she is his new creation” brought tears
    to my eyes. It was an unforgettable moment.

  2. PJ Cabbiness says:

    Are Che and Fidel next? Of all the possible choices, these are mediocre at best, in my opinion.

    1. PJ Cabbiness says:

      One of my favorite hymns. Can sing it from memory. We sang it quite a bit at the Episcopal school that I went to a very long time ago. Thank you.

    2. Debra Aring says:

      Who would you have substituted, PJ?

      1. Robbie Johnson says:

        Now that the ultra Liberals along with the LGBTQ control the church, I suggest the following additions: Ho Chi Min, V. Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Malcolm X, H Rapp Brown, and Angela Davis.

        1. Robbie Johnson says:

          I think H Rapp Brown and Angela Davis are still living. Not eligible at this time. Oh by the way they can add Mao Zedong to the list. He died in 1976.

  3. Jane Underwood says:

    PJ- I was not aware that Che and Fidel were members of the Episcopal Church.Having been a high school history teacher for32years,I do know Thurgood Marshall was one of the greatest members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

    1. PJ Cabbiness says:

      My comment was facetious and was intended to make light of the poor quality of the candidates selected. Additionally, although an effective advocate and a highly popular jurist, Justice Marshall is not universally recognized by all as a great Justice. His weakness in constitutional matters has been widely discussed and commented on for decades.

      1. Matt Ouellette says:

        I don’t see how the first female priest in the Anglican Communion and a civil rights activist in the Episcopal Church were poor candidates.

      2. Robin Bugbee says:

        Mr. Cabbiness:
        Your humor escapes me. I can think of few others sho deserve this honor more than either Pauli Murray or Justice Marshall. I can only guess your ignorance of either is the justification for your disrespect. Please do some research. I suspect it will encourage you to change your mind.

  4. Carl C. Chan says:

    In the body of this article, Florence Li Tim-Oi is referred to as Tim-Oi, while the other two are referred to as Marshall and Murray. This is grammatically wrong, as her surname/family name. Tim-Oi is her Chinese given name (Cantonese pronunciation). In Chinese usage, the family name precedes the given name. In Hong Kong usage, the English given name is appended at the front of the Chinese name, resulting in the family name ending up in the middle of the full name. Thus, the article should properly referred to Marshall, Murray, and Li (or alternately Thurgood, Pauli, and Florence, or Thurgood, Pauli, and Tim-Oi).

    1. lwilson says:

      Noted. And corrected. Thank you.

Comments are closed.