Deputy Diary: Presiding Bishop Nominees

Andrea McKellar:
This afternoon the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops met together to hear from the four Presiding Bishop nominees,


The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal

The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry

The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas

The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith

 

Bishop Q&A categories

It was part video production, part vision statement, and part Jeopardy.  The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop invited people from all over the church to submit questions in May.  As they received questions, they noticed several themes emerging and grouped the questions into eight categories.  Once we saw the colorful backdrop, all the jokes started on Twitter that it was PB Jeopardy, Bingo, or other assorted board games.

 

The bishops then each grabbed colored pieces of paper out of a fish bowl to find out what question they would answer. While lengthy, this turned out to be an interesting way to hear from the candidates on a wide range of issues instead of canned speeches. I was especially excited that a question I had submitted was asked of Bishop Breidenthal. "If elected Presiding Bishop, how will you support reorganizing dioceses and ensure that the "big tent" of The Episcopal Church continues to have room for differing viewpoints?" I will admit that I was so excited that they asked my question that I did not hear all of the answer. What I did hear though I liked...that we are part of a category of small & poor dioceses, reorganized diocese have something to teach all of us about how to walk through pain and come out the other side, and relationships between poor and rich dioceses can create bridges.

Here we are hard at work during the Orientation

 

Over all the consensus was that The Episcopal Church is in good hands because any of the four candidates would make a terrific Presiding Bishop, although most of us are rooting for Bishop Curry.  The House of Bishops will elect the next PB on Saturday so check back for exciting news then.

 

All in all, it was a great first full (14 hours) day and I am off to bed. I look forward to the days to come and am encouraged by the work we are doing. We would love to hear questions from South Carolina if you are curious about what goes on here. Feel free to leave comments below and follow us on Twitter, and Facebook!