Bishop Barbie, Women’s Retreat

Last weekend, I joined over fifty women from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church at the peaceful St. Francis Retreat near the City of San Juan Bautista in California. We laughed, prayed, learned about each other and ourselves, played games, drank wine, danced, and went on long walks around the beautiful grounds and on the portable labyrinth on the floor of the chapel.

Leslie Butlar and the Rev. Maryellen Garnier worked with a team to create this event, the first women’s retreat for our parish in about five years. We were honored to spend part of an afternoon with our own Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves in open conversation. Maryellen presented Bishop Mary with a token of our regard, the first Bishop Barbie doll. Maryellen had the doll’s custom robes created because of a story she had heard. Recently, a little girl who was much taken with Bishop Mary, asked her why there was no Bishop Barbie. Well, now there is one.