The Rev. Rebecca McClain, an expert in teaching religion to children, has been named Canon Missioner and interim pastor at St. Mark's Cathedral and will take up her new duties on Nov. 1.

The city's Episcopal cathedral has been rocked by firings and resignations over the last two years. Two women priests, and a program administrator, were axed -- supposedly for budget reasons - just before Easter in 2007.

The Very Rev. Robert Taylor resigned as dean, with a severance package of more than $300,000, just before Easter of this year. The resignation came as a retired bishop, consulting for the cathedral, delivered a report critical of Taylor's ministry and recommended that he take a leave of absence.

Taylor went out with a fiery Palm Sunday sermon criticizing the Episcopal Church for not yet welcoming gays and lesbians to a full role in church life and ministry.

McClain is currently executive director of the Godly Play Foundation, which teaches young children the art of using religious language to develop an awareness of God's presence in their lives.

McClain is also a former dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix.

The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, the Episcopal Bishop of Olympia, has dealt with the turmoil at St. Mark's since assuming his office in September of 2007. He negotiated terms of Taylor's departure and guided the cathedral through its Holy Week and Easter observances. Rickel then named a respected retired priest formerly on St. Mark's staff, the Rev. Ralph Carskadden, as priest-in-charge.

"Rebecca comes with a deep well of experience and wisdom which I feel is perfect for the next phase in the life of St. Mark's," Rickel wrote in a letter to cathedral parishoners. "I feel very excited to welcome Rebecca as a fellow traveler on that path with us."

McClain will guide the cathedral through what is diplomatically called a period of "discernment" in which wounds are healed and the congregation proceeds to call its new dean.

The cathedral has long been a liberal religious bastion. Its clergy campaigned for civil rights and open housing in the 1960's. Its then-dean, the Very Rev. Cabell Tennis, made headlines with a passionate Christmas Eve sermon in 1972 denouncing President Nixon for ordering the bombing of Hanoi.

A former anti-apartheid student leader in South Africa, Taylor was one of the most prominent gays in the Episcopal Church.

The city's largest peace marches, preceding both Gulf Wars, have wound between St. Mark's Cathedral and the Catholic St. James Cathedral.