Religion: Life Begins at 70

When a man retires, he usually retires. Not so Bishop John Chamberlain Ward of Erie, Pa. Last week, retiring because of age (he is 70 and the Episcopal Church’s Bishops can doff their “magpies,”* draw their pensions at 68), Dr. Ward volunteered for a year’s missionary service. No other retiring Episcopal Bishop has ever done such a thing. Dr. Ward’s mission: St. Peter’s Church, Seward, Alaska.

*Episcopalian vernacular for a bishop’s black chimere and white rochet.