The Advocate May-June 2006
Toward Columbus: Consent sought to election of six bishops
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Posted: Jun 11, 2006, 15:03

[ENS] Six dioceses will ask the 75th General Convention, meeting June 13-21 in Columbus, Ohio, for consent to the election of new bishops.

A diocese must solicit consent to the ordination of its bishop-elect from the wider church and that consent is obtained in one of two ways.

Either a majority of all diocesan bishops and standing committees agrees and the consecration is ordered by the Presiding Bishop’s Office, or, if the election takes place less than three months before the start of a General Convention, approval must come during convention.

In the latter procedure, the question initially comes before the House of Deputies. If deputies vote to approve the election, it moves to the House of Bishops, where only diocesan bishops -- those with jurisdiction -- are allowed to vote. Diocesan bishops can submit an absentee ballot if they do not attend General Convention.

If either house fails to approve a diocese’s choice for bishop, the Presiding Bishop must declare the election null and void and another election must be held.

This year, six dioceses — Albany, West Texas, Texas, California, Northern California and Eastern Michigan — held successful elections inside the three-month window.

The six bishops-elect are:

Diocese of Albany: The Very Rev. Canon William H. Love, 48, the rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Lake Luzerne, New York, was elected on the fourth ballot on March 25. Love will eventually succeed Bishop Daniel Herzog.

Diocese of West Texas: The Rev. David Mitchell Reed, 49, rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Harlingen, Texas, was elected as suffragan bishop on March 25. Reed was elected on the third ballot. He will work with Bishop Gary Lillibridge, 49, who was consecrated as the ninth bishop of West Texas on February 23.

Diocese of Texas: The Venerable Dena Harrison, 59, archdeacon and canon for ministry in the diocese, was elected as suffragan bishop on the third ballot April 29. As the 13th woman elected as a bishop of the Episcopal Church, she will serve with diocesan Bishop Don A. Wimberly, Bishop Suffragan Rayford B. High Jr. and Assistant Bishop John C. Buchanan.

Diocese of California: The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Alabama, was elected May 6 to be the eighth bishop of the Diocese of California. Andrus, 49, was elected on the third ballot to replace the Rt. Rev. William Swing, who will retire this year.

Diocese of Northern California: The Rev. Canon Barry Beisner, canon to the ordinary in the diocese, was elected May 6 as bishop coadjutor of his diocese. Beisner, 54, who was chosen on the fourth ballot, will succeed Bishop Jerry Lamb, who called in late 2004 for a coadjutor to succeed him when he retires January 1, 2007.

Diocese of Eastern Michigan: The Rev. Steven Todd Ousley, missioner for congregational development and clergy deployment for the diocese, was elected as its bishop coadjutor May 6. Ousley, 44, was elected on the fifth ballot. He will succeed the Rt. Rev. Edwin M. Leidel Jr., the first bishop of the diocese, who retires at the end of this year.

The Diocese of Tennessee had also expected to present a bishop coadjutor-elect to convention. But after 36 ballots spanning three Saturdays (March 18, March 25 and May 6), no candidate received the necessary two thirds majority in the lay and clergy order on the same ballot. The election convention was adjourned and the diocese will likely start the search process over again. Bishop Bertram Herlong had intended to retire at the end of this year.

Each of the six bishops-elect will have a hearing before the 23-member Legislative Committee on the Consecration of Bishops, which will offer a recommendation on each consent request it forwards to the House of Deputies.