St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Election of a Suffragan BishopThe Rev. Canon Susan Goff was elected as Bishop Suffragan on fourth ballot during the electing council on Saturday, April 21. Read about the election here.
 Clergy and lay delegates from each of the churches of the Diocese of Virginia will meet at St. George's, Fredericksburg, on Saturday, April 21, to elect a suffragan bishop. The nominees are:
The Rev. Randy Alexander
Rector of Christ Church, Pelham
Diocese of New York
Canon to the Ordinary
Diocese of Virginia
The Very Rev. David May
Rector of Grace Church, Kilmarnock
Diocese of Virginia
The Very Rev. Dr. Hilary Smith
Rector of St. Paul's on-the-Hill, Winchester
Diocese of Virginia
The Very Rev. Shirley Smith Graham
Rector of St. Martin's, Williamsburg
Diocese of Southern Virginia
The Rev. Canon Sue Sommer
Subdean and Canon Pastor of Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral
Diocese of West Missouri
Biographical information on the nominees is available in the current issue of the Virginia Episcopalian, and on the diocesan Web site.
Delegates from St. Stephen's
Clergy and lay delegates from St. Stephen's who will vote in the election are:
The Rev. Matthew Johnson
The Rev. Bill Sachs
Robert Allen
Tony Anthony
Mary Anne Burke
Mark Burnett
Richard Clary
Carol Dickinson
Cotes Pinckney
Meg Tucker
St. Stephen's staff member Sarah Bartenstein will serve as the Chief Judge for the election.
Following the election, the General Convention (which meets in Indianapolis in July) must give its consent; pending that consent, the bishop-elect will be consecrated on July 28 at St. Paul's, Richmond. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop, will be present.
A suffragan bishop is one elected to assist the diocesan (head) bishop. Delegates, both clergy and lay people, from each parish in the diocese cast ballots to elect the bishop, who typically is a priest, but could also already be a bishop elsewhere.
(An assistant bishop, on the other hand, is an already-consecrated bishop appointed by the diocesan bishop, usually for a specific period of time. Virginia has had three assistant bishops: Bishop Robert Atkinson, former Bishop of West Virginia; Bishop Frank Gray, former Bishop of Northern Indiana; and our current assistant bishop, Bishop Edwin Gulick, a Virginia native who had been Bishop of Kentucky.)
When there is an election, the results will be posted on the diocesan Web site, on this page, and on St. Stephen's Facebook page. Results will also be tweeted by the Secretary of the Diocese (SecDioVA), and by Sarah Bartenstein (StStephensRVA).
More information about the process of electing our new suffragan bishop is available on the diocesan Web site. |
|
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Powered by E-zekiel