Katharine Jefferts Schori (born March 26, 1954) is the former Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States.

She served as assistant rector to William R. McCarthy at the Church of the Good Samaritan, in Corvallis, Oregon, where she had special responsibility for pastoring the Hispanic community as a fluent Spanish communicator, and was in charge of adult education programs.

In 2003, Jefferts Schori voted to consent to the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered man,[5] to which some conservative Episcopalians objected.

[1] As not all churches in the Anglican Communion uphold the ordination of women, the election of a woman as primate also proved controversial in some other provinces.

She expressed her hope to lead the church in the reign of God, rooted in imagery from Isaiah and including such United Nations Millennium Development Goals as eradicating poverty and hunger: "The poor are fed, the Good News is preached, those who are ostracized and in prison are set free, the blind receive sight."

[citation needed] In 2007, her church's blessing of same-sex marriage led 7 Anglican archbishops to refuse communion with her during a meeting in Tanzania.

[12] After her opening address to the 2009 General Convention, some within the church questioned her remarks regarding salvation, prompting a clarifying statement from her in the following week.

[13][14] In 2013, Jefferts Schori's sermon in Curaçao about Paul driving out a demon from a slave girl (Acts 16:16–34), drew criticism from conservative Christian websites for her interpretation.