Bishop toasted and roasted at Convention gala
Check out the "Roasting Our Bishop" photo gallery.
Following the business of the 87th Diocesan Convention, on
the evening of October 16 clergy, delegates, and Upper South
Carolinians from throughout the diocese—more than 650
people—came together at Greenville’s Carolina First Center for a
celebratory dinner and episcopal roast honoring the Rt. Rev.
Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., who will retire on December 31.
Special guest—and Bishop Henderson’s first surprise of the
evening—was Presiding Bishop the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts
Schori, who blessed the banquet and later took a turn at the
podium to talk about the retiring bishop. The roasters were
many, including longtime friends of the bishop longtime
colleague Archdeacon Byrd, and they came bearing gifts ranging
from scrapbooks and t-shirts to a one-of-a-kind zucchetto and
purple high-top sneakers. Emcee and head jokester for the
evening was the Rev. Michael Flanagan, rector of Holy Cross,
Simpsonville.
The last presentations of the evening were of gifts to Bishop
Henderson from the people of the diocese—first among them (of
course), a rod and reel. Diocesan Executive Council president
Robert Clawson then presented three monetary gifts, one a
contribution in Bishop Henderson’s honor to the Bishop’s Legacy
Fund, established to ensure the future of the diocesan Healthy
Church Initiative; another for distribution among the Millennium
Development Goal–related ministries in the diocese; and the
third for some retirement fun for the bishop himself. And
finally, on behalf of the diocese, the Rt. Rev. Charles Duvall,
retired bishop of Central Gulf Coast who has assisted Bishop
Henderson in Upper South Carolina, presented an icon entitled
“Jesus calling the disciples” and written especially for the
bishop by Church of the Advent parishioner Sue Zoole.
A final gift—this one to the people of the diocese, presented by
Transition Committee co-chairs Susie White and Alan Treeter—was
a portrait of Bishop Henderson that will hang alongside the
portraits of his predecessors in Diocesan House.
See photos
of the roasters, special guests, and gifts, and more.