The man who was given the name Leading Eagle by the Episcopal Indian Churches of the South Dakota Diocese, where he served as Bishop; who presided over the National Council of Churches and represented the Episcopal Church at the World Council of Churches; who headed the St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire; who is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Harvard Business School Board for Social Enterprise; who is a Colonel in the U.S. Army reserves; and who has now retired to Orcas Island and part-time ministry of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, never received a clarion call to be a minister, never experienced a crystal clear moment of vocation.
Bishop Craig Anderson - Margie Doyle photo
Instead, Bishop Craig Anderson started life as a beach kid in Southern California. Though always a good student and athlete, he describes himself as “a very active teenager. We did our fair share of things.” When his father felt that he was spending too much time at the beach, Craig Anderson went away to school, majoring in English and philosophy.
After graduation, he was drafted and served in the Army, where, after Officers Candidate School, he was an infantry officer on active duty. While in the Army, a friend invited him to come along to church services, where he met an “impressive Episcopal chaplain who opened my mind to the big questions.”
After his military duty, Bishop Anderson considered law school, but instead went to work in marketing for Proctor & Gamble.
Marriage to Lizabeth Johnston of Colorado brought him under the influence of the Episcopal minister who married them. “It wasn’t a voice from Heaven. God speaks to us through other persons, and this priest was one of those persons. I try to listen to people I really respect.”
From Colorado, Bishop Anderson attended the school of theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1975 and went on to receive an MA and PhD in Theology from Vanderbilt University. He then taught for eight years at Sewanee, and also ministered to a parish church in Alto, Tenn.
In the early 80s he was compelled to leave academia and serve in a pastoral ministry and he became the Bishop of the South Dakota diocese, where he served for 10 years. “It was the most profound religious experience, not only in my ministry, but in my life,” Anderson says.
When he first saw the prairie, he thought “God walks here.”
His belief that “God’s presence is experienced in the presence of others,” culminated in his ministry in South Dakota. “Once you see through the poverty, despair, and alcoholism, you see the beauty of the people. They see their identity in terms of community. We are fixated on the individual, but we need to reconsider.”
His Lakota teachers were Father Noah Broken Leg and Sister Zona Fills-the-Pipe. Bishop Anderson felt the Lakota had something to teach other cultures. “We need to learn a sense of land and ethic. We need to learn a sense of community. We need to learn about how religion is not a part of life but all of life.”
Bishop Anderson credits the Lakota people with the virtues of perseverance, courage, generosity, and wisdom.
He is proud of his work to mediate the return of the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation who do not believe in selling land, but who ask for respect for it. He initiated a Year of Reconciliation that grew into a decade, and was awarded both the Governor’s Award for Reconciliation and the Sacred Hoop Peace Medal by the Great Sioux Nation in recognition of his work combating racism. He says of the experience, “It was all about education, getting people together and talking to each other and disabusing people of romantic and sentimental ideas about Indian spirituality.
“The Indian people don’t need to be saved. If you want to learn from them, that’s fine,” Anderson said.
He left reluctantly after 10 years to head the General Theological Seminary, the nation’s oldest and largest Episcopal seminary, in New York City. His work in ecumenism and human rights has been honored with many awards.
Since his retirement in 2005, the Andersons have been looking for the perfect place to “alight”, as Anderson puts it. A visit to Orcas Island last year convinced Lizabeth that she’d found the perfect place, and after a trip to Orcas last winter, Bishop Anderson concurred. “The physical beauty and the attitude – we’re Westerners and it feels comfortable here,” he says. They bought a home on Buck Mountain, and Bishop Anderson was invited to be part-time minister at Emmanuel Episcopal.
He says that every morning is like a show, and he and his wife toast the day every evening as they watch the sunset. “These islands are spectacular,” he says.
While he welcomes his new ministry, there are challenges for his time. “I’m in retirement and I’m trying to figure out what that means,” Anderson says. Indeed, for he is under contract to write a book, and his family has always been socially and physically active (especially tennis, skiing, sailing, and golf), and committed to serving the community where they live.
Anderson has been active in theater ministry, playing parts in “Annie” and the rock opera “Tommy” – the only adult in the cast.
Lizabeth Anderson has been involved in Habitat for Humanity, and affordable housing and a living wage are issues she and Bishop Anderson have long held an interest in.
Bishop Anderson also has a family farm in Minnesota, which he manages. He stresses that he is not personally involved in farming, but manages the farm with a focus on conservation and sustainability.
He is co-writing a book on science and religion with a biomedical ethicist, and in the past has contributed articles on the subject in scientific journals.
Bishop Anderson has praise for Emmanuel Episcopal’s congregation. “They’ve taken up a lot of the ministry and done a very good job.
My role is as a teacher and a priest to provide spiritual leadership. Bishops should be good teachers and I love to teach.
“I’m here because I love ministry – I can’t image being part of the community and not trying to help. It will be fun to discover different venues for being part of the community.”
By Margie Doyle – The Islands’ Sounder – Wednesday, September 5, 2007