11/21/2025
With the passing of Bishop Chet Talton, we lost a giant of love, justice and compassion -- and heaven gained another saint in light.
There will -- in the days and weeks to come -- be many tributes to the work and witness of this truly extraordinary servant leader, pastor, prophetic voice and courageous proclaimer of the Gospel. The Diocese of Los Angeles has issued the first of those with a comprehensive record of his life and ministry.
This morning I’m remembering the first time I met +Chet … at one of the ubiquitous “meet and greets” that are part of our electing-a-bishop process ritual. It was also the first time I participated in a diocesan election process – and as a thirty-something lay delegate from St. Paul’s, Ventura we had schlepped to a neighboring parish for a regional gathering. What I remember most about the evening was that when I had the chance to speak with +Chet during the gathering time, I had his full and complete attention. He was not looking beyond me to the more important people in the room -- but was fully present in every word of the brief exchange we were having.
That initial experience was emblematic of every exchange I would have with him throughout what became decades of ministry we shared here in the Diocese of Los Angeles and in the wider church. And there are so many memories.
His consecration at Lake Avenue Church here in Pasadena for one. +Barbara Harris was the preacher and when she told +Chet to stand at the end of the sermon to give her “charge” to him watching his over-six-footness rising up to stand before her powerful but diminutive presence was an iconic moment. And as we stood in line to receive communion from the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion at the consecration of the first EDLA bishop of African descent I felt like we were totally touching a piece of the history of this church. Because we were.
Today we are church full of those who have never known a church that didn’t have women bishops; never known a diocese without bishops of color; never known a parish that didn’t have gay clergy or bless same-sex unions. It’s not the church I grew up in – it’s better.
And part of the reason it is better is because of +Chet Talton. He loved the Episcopal Church too much to let it settle for being what it was; continually calling it to be the best it could be. And that commitment touched so many parts of our wider work and witness – from racial reconciliation, full inclusion for God’s LGBTQ beloved, raising up the ministry of the diaconate, and standing firm during the Anglican Inclusion Wars. Fiercely loyal, he was a gifted mediator and bridge builder and a living example of the vocation of engagement across difference.
On a personal note, when my ordination process hit the skids in 1997 with a Standing Committee which pulled permission for my ordination to the priesthood when I came out and gave me “the gift of an extended transitional diaconate,” +Chet was one of my most stalwart champions. Along with +Fred Borsch of blessed memory, he met me where I was, let me vent, grieve and lash out and pastored me back to stay the course. He called me to – as he put it – “trust the Holy Spirit to sort this mess out.”
She did. And almost thirty years later, I still have the Bible he had already inscribed for the ordination which didn’t happen at which he was scheduled to preside: a Bible he made sure I got after I was ordained a year later and which sits on my desk as a reminder that God can indeed make a way where there seems to be no way.
Since April is a long-time member at All Saints, in retirement we saw +Chet in the pews at All Saints on many occasions and considered him part of our extended parish family. Knowing that his health was frail, news that he was failing came on November 20 – and as our prayers were ascending for him and for his gathered family, they were merged with the other prayers on that day which is also the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
And I thought how fitting it was that those prayers were – as we say – rising like incense together, given his powerful and pastoral support for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments. For +Chet was one of the leaders we could always count on in the House of Bishops.
One example was General Convention 2012 – when after ordaining transgender leader Carolyn Woodall to the diaconate in the Diocese of San Joaquin, he spoke from the floor in support of amending the canons to add gender identity or expression to the non-discrimination canons.
Bishop Chet Talton of San Joaquin, who ordained Woodall to the vocational diaconate a few months ago, addressed the house during deliberations. The ordination, he said, “was wonderfully received. Carolyn entered the ordination process and proceeded through that process without any regard really for her gender, but because she obviously possessed the qualities that lent themselves to the ministry of the diaconate to which she was ordained,” he said. “There are many such people in our church.” Talton said. “Their presence and access to the ordination process ought to be affirmed.” [2012 ENS Report]
In the days and weeks ahead there will be opportunities to gather to celebrate Chet’s life -- to give thanks for his work and witness; to grieve together the loss of our brother, bishop, colleague and friend and to share stories, hugs and tears.
But in this moment, there is just grief and gratitude in the prayers of thanksgiving for his life. For the example of the faithful courage with which he navigated the challenges of his journey in this realm. And for comfort for April, for Kathy, Linda, Fred and Ben and the rest of his family in their loss.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
An may his memory be for both a blessing and an inspiration.
He loved the Episcopal Church too much to let it settle for being what it was; continually calling it to be the best it could be.
