The Rev. Christopher Ashmore has pored through reams of material and watched hours of DVDs on the 14 nominees for the office of bishop for the Springfield Episcopal Diocese. And he has his own personal thoughts about his top four candidates.
Asked how he expects Saturday’s nominating synod to play out, Ashmore, rector of Trinity Church in Jacksonville and secretary of the standing committee, which has ecclesiastical authority in the diocese in the absence of a bishop, was at a loss for words.
“I’m not really sure (of the outcome),” admitted Ashmore. “And that’s the end product of a lot of thought.
“It could come out any number of ways. I’m completely mystified.”
If all goes as expected, clergy and lay delegates from around the diocese, comprised of 60 counties and about 5,000 communicants, will pare down the number of nominees for bishop to four candidates. The Electing Synod will choose a bishop from among the four next month.
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The past few years, the Springfield diocese has been a battleground over theological differences within the Episcopal Church. In 2006, Bishop Peter Beckwith, whose Feb. 1 retirement shocked many, requested oversight from the Anglican community, a volley at Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, with whom Beckwith had tangled.
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“The fear is that everyone will go in different directions (dividing up the votes),” said the Rev. John Bettman, vicar of St. Paul’s Church in Carlinville. “That would be awkward, but I’ve seen that before.”
Said Chuck Evans, a lay delegate from St. George’s Church in Belleville: “I’m cautiously hopeful that the process will be executed the way it should be, that there won’t be parliamentary manipulations.
“We may have a long day ahead of us. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it remains peaceful and civil in the process."
‘Ourselves to blame’
“We’ve been greatly fractured, and we have ourselves to blame,” conceded Ashmore. “We’ve lost the grace and dignity of who we are — brothers and sisters in Christ.”
The prayer at the head of my sidebar on the right is for the election of a bishop but, with only a few words edited, is suitable for the nomination process for a bishop.
Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall nominate candidates for bishop for the Diocese of Springfield that they may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip them for their ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
I see that one of the candidates, Canon E. Mark Stevenson, is from your diocese.
ReplyDeleteYes, Lapin.
ReplyDeleteSigh. Speaking as someone who could be affected by this, I second Grandmere Mimi. Please pray.
ReplyDeleteAlabama is now entering the search process. Bishop Parsley will be retiring in 2011. We are still in the listening phase, but actual nominations will be upon us before we know it. I will be praying for Springfield and I hope everyone will be praying for us and our Diocese. So much hangs in the balance.
ReplyDeletewv: paximmil - peace a thousand fold?
BooCat, whenever the search officially begins, remind me to put the Diocese of Alabama in the prayer on my sidebar. I'm not sure if it would be seemly to do so before the bishop retires. In the meantime, I can pray.
ReplyDeleteANYONE - Any. One. - is better than the incumbent.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, you're probably right.
ReplyDeletePrayers ascending!
ReplyDeleteChecking the candidates, there's a decided "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" element to this. Curious that two of the candidates - Leander S Harding, a dean at Trinity School, & Robert S Munday, Dean & President, Nashotah House - are both canonically resident in the diocese of South Carolina. This usual?
ReplyDeleteFull list of candidates here.
This usual?
ReplyDeleteLapin, I don't know. It seems odd, since neither institution is in SC.
Birds of a feather, Mimi. Avoids being subject to an unsympathetic bishop. Lawrence is the about the last reliable boll-weevil secessionist bishop left in TEC.
ReplyDelete