Long Island bishop-elect reflects on faith journey as he prepares to become first Episcopal bishop of Arab descent

[Episcopal News Service] When the Rev. Adam James Shoemaker is ordained and consecrated the ninth bishop of Long Island next month, he will become the first Episcopal bishop of Arab and North African descent in The Episcopal Church’s 237-year history.

Shoemaker believes he’s an “imperfect vessel” for this distinction, but his life experiences as an Egyptian American have shaped his faith journey to focus on racial reconciliation and embrace diversity in The Episcopal Church.

“I think my story has humanized so many of the differences that can sometimes divide – sometimes in tragic ways – and given me a heart for all that diversity,” Shoemaker told Episcopal News Service. “It’s been a lifelong journey for me to come fully into my sense of self. It’s been a journey of prayer and introspection.”

Embracing diversity is what attracted Shoemaker to the Garden City, New York-based Diocese of Long Island, which serves more than 120 congregations across Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. It’s today recognized as one of the most culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse regions in The Episcopal Church. It’s also the home diocese of Shoemaker, who was raised in Huntington.

Shoemaker was notably elected bishop in April, which is National Arab American Heritage Month.

Shoemaker’s mother, Jamie Stanforth, was an Egyptologist of Jewish descent. She met Shoemaker’s father, Hamada Haggagi, when they were in their early 20s in the mid-1970s at Cairo International Airport in Egypt. They married in Luxor and lived with Haggagi’s Muslim family in Egypt until Stanforth became pregnant with Shoemaker. They moved to Manhattan, New York City, Stanforth’s hometown, where Shoemaker was born as Adam James Haggagi.

That decision, Shoemaker believes, was the “turning point” in his life.

“Had I been born in Cairo and not New York City, I think it is highly likely I would have been raised in Egypt and not in the United States. I would have been raised a Muslim and not a Christian. Since God planted in my heart the instinct to pursue a religious vocation, no matter the context I grew up in, I’ve often wondered if I would perhaps be a Muslim imam today.”

After his parents divorced shortly before his first birthday, Shoemaker lived with his mother and grandparents on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He was baptized Episcopalian at the Church of the Holy Apostles near General Theological Seminary. Hamada Haggagi had returned to Egypt, where he remarried twice and had six more children.

A few years later, shortly before Shoemaker started kindergarten, Jamie Stanforth married Thomas Shoemaker, and they moved to Long Island. His last name was then legally changed to Shoemaker.

As a light-skinned Egyptian American, Shoemaker faced internalized racism, but he didn’t really realize it until after 9/11.

“I remember seeing Arab people, Muslim people having to travel around New York City with little American flags on their person so as not to be attacked by anybody who was looking for revenge against terrorists. I remember the vandalism of mosques and the so-called War on Terror,” Shoemaker, 47, said. “Growing up, many people would look at my Semitic features and would just assume I was Jewish. Because I didn’t look stereotypically Arab to many Americans, I was shielded from any anger and desire for retribution that came out of 9/11.”

These observations and thinking about his family in Egypt, who have different shades of brown skin, led to several years of reflection and prayer before he graduated from General Theological Seminary. He then pursued opportunities to build ecumenical and interfaith relationships, which led him to serve congregations in North Carolina and Massachusetts.

As a member of the church’s Young Adult Service Corps, he also served as a missionary at Igreja de Cristo Rei (Christ the King Anglican Church) at the Cidade de Deus (“City of God”) favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Favelas, which are low-income, densely populated urban settlements in Brazil, are home to large Afro-Brazilian populations.

“I became very aware, from my own personal story, of the way in which prejudice exists around skin tones and how it can diminish everybody and impact communities,” Shoemaker said. “It’s been a lifelong journey of prayer and introspection for me to come more fully into my sense of self.”

Having that awareness helped lead Shoemaker to serve as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, one of three historically Black Episcopal churches in Charleston, Diocese of South Carolina. While at St. Stephen’s, he worked closely with the rectors of Charleston’s other historically Black Episcopal churches and South Carolina Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley to form the Three Churches United. The coalition hosts and participates in events and initiatives as part of the diocese’s commitment to racial justice and reconciliation work.

As bishop of the Diocese of Long Island, Shoemaker plans to continue racial reconciliation work and embrace diversity. He will be ordained and consecrated on Sept. 19 at the Tilles Center in Greenvale, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano, who has been bishop of the Diocese of Long Island since 2009.

Since March, Shoemaker has been regularly meeting with other Episcopal leaders of Southwest Asian and North African, or SWANA, descent and the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, missioner for The Episcopal Church’s Asiamerica Ministries. They aim to strengthen the church’s support for SWANA Episcopalians, including those of Arab descent.

“I hope that my personal story, my family history, might have something constructive to offer the church and the wider world at this moment in time,” said Shoemaker, who started his bishop-elect duties last month.

Even though Shoemaker didn’t grow up Muslim like his six half-siblings, his father never treated him any differently from them. He frequently expressed to his neighbor, a Coptic Orthodox priest, how proud he was of his American son’s accomplishments. Shoemaker, accompanied by one of his sisters, worshiped at that priest’s church last year during Holy Week.

“It was very meaningful to me, looking at the Coptic icons depicting biblical stories that are common to both Christians and Muslims, to see the many ways that God’s transcendent love binds the whole human family together across lines of differences,” Shoemaker said.

Over the years, Shoemaker has maintained a close relationship with his half-siblings and other Egyptian relatives, who all live in Cairo. Language is no barrier because, even though Shoemaker never learned Arabic, all his half-siblings speak English. He’s visited them several times in Egypt and always looks forward to returning.

“My family never stops yearning for my homecoming. Every time I visit them in Egypt, they make me feel right at home,” he said.

When Shoemaker told his family that he had been elected a bishop, which is significant in The Episcopal Church, they didn’t seem to think it was a “big deal.”

“As my youngest brother Hamza put it, ‘That’s great, but when are you coming to Egypt next?” he said. “To my family in Egypt, I’m their brother, and their love for me is the same, bishop or not.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.