- Nedi Rivera
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The Right Reverend Bavi Edna Rivera Bishop Diocese of Olympia Province Episcopal Church in the United States Diocese Seattle, Washington Enthroned 2004 Reign ended Incumbent Orders Ordination June 1974 Consecration January 22, 2005 Personal details Born March 24, 1946
Visalia, CaliforniaSpouse Rev. Robert (Bob) Moore Alma mater Wheaton College
Church Divinity School of the PacificRight Reverend Bavi Edna Rivera a.k.a. "Nedi" (born March 24,1946), is a suffragan bishop and Episcopal priest She is the first Hispanic woman bishop and the 12th woman bishop in the Episcopal Church. Her father, Bishop Victor Manuel Rivera, was a prominent opponent of the ordination of women.[1]
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Early years
Rivera is one of three daughters born to a Puerto Rican father, the late Rt. Rev. Victor Manuel Rivera, third Bishop (1968 to 1988) of San Joaquin, California and to an Anglo mother the late Barbara Ross Lamb.[2] Rivera grew up in Visalia, California and went to an Episcopal convent boarding school in Tucson, Arizona. A nun at the convent advised her to attend Wheaton College, believing that Rivera would like it there. At Wheaton she majored in Physics and also took calculus. In 1968, she earned a BA in physics and married six weeks after her graduation. Instead of perusing a career in physics, she dedicated herself to her two daughters and two sons and volunteer work that included convening a youth group for church in her home and bookkeeping.[3]
Ordination
Rivera's father was the Rt. Rev. Victor Manuel Rivera, the third Bishop of San Joaquin, California.[2] In 1972, she learned at a meeting, that the church was planning on ordaining women as priests someday. Being raised within the religious beliefs of the Episcopal Church, served as an influential factor when she decided that she wanted to become a priest. However, one of the obstacles that she would have to face was convincing her very own father who opposed women being ordained priests.[3] Rivera attended the seminary and was ordained a church deacon on June 1975. In 1976, she earned her Master of Divinity degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in Berkeley, California and on June of that same year, she was ordained to the priesthood, her father, however did not attend her ordination as a priest. Rivera served at various churches in the dioceses of California and El Camino Real.[3]
First Hispanic female Bishop
From 1994-2004, she served as rector of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Rivera, who earned a D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, was elected bishop suffragan in 2004 and assigned to serve in the Diocese of Olympia. It is a custom of the church that when a new bishop is ordinated, the other bishops gather around the new bishop and each of them lays a hand on his/her head while saying a prayer. At the end of the prayer, the bishops move their hands away from the new bishop head. Her father, who had a change of heart, was among the bishops present and proudly patted her with affection rather than liturgy.[3] Rivera, thus became the first Hispanic woman bishop and the 12th woman bishop in the Episcopal Church. She had to work hard to become conversant in Spanish (English was spoken at home) and now celebrates and preaches in Spanish.[2]
At the Diocese of Olympia, which is located in Seattle, Washington, she oversaw particular ministries, including evangelism, faith formation and ethnic ministries. As a member of the diocesan's "We Will Stand With You team," she provides the leadership and support for ongoing fund-raising to rebuild St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and School in New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She helped to start an initiative to get the diocese to buy 30,000 malaria nets to be distributed in African countries.[3]
Assignments
Rivera, who since June 29, 1968 had been married to the Rev. Robert (Bob) Moore, was consecrated on January 22, 2005. She was elected by unanimous vote during a special convention to "Provisional Bishop" by the Diocese of Eastern Oregon, to serve through Spring 2012. Rivera continued to serve as suffragan bishop in the Seattle-based Diocese of Olympia while working one-third of her time in Eastern Oregon, for which the diocese will reimburse the diocese in Seattle.[4] Rivera serves on the College for Bishops Advisory Committee and Curriculum Board, Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop, and on the House of Bishops’ Planning Committee on the national church level.[3]
See also
- List of Famous Puerto Ricans
References
Categories:- 1946 births
- Living people
- People from Visalia, California
- Puerto Rican Protestants
- Puerto Rican Episcopalians
- Puerto Rican religious leaders
- American Episcopal priests
- Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
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