The Diocese of El Camino Real seeks as its third bishop, someone who will show us the wonders and excitement of becoming more fully Jesus’ disciples and who will walk the difficult road with us as a servant among the servants of God, bringing us closer to God’s Kingdom.
We are a community of rich diversity undergoing rapid change. We have worked hard during our interim period to increase communication, to restore trust and openness and to find clarity within competing visions for our diocese. While certainty of destination remains elusive, we are secure in our dedication to building community, discipleship and personal transformation of all of our members.
The process leading to the selection of our third bishop began in mid-2004 with enhanced diocesan communications, focus on financial controls, attention to important staffing issues, study by lay and clergy, and the understanding that our process could not be rushed. We have moved slowly and deliberately through our interim time in order to build a solid foundation for future ministry. In this time we have met in a variety of venues and undertaken in-depth projects to determine who we are as a diocese and to discern where we believe God is calling us to go in the future. Our work continues in a spirit of candor and trust even as we accept differences which exist in our community.
We seek a bishop who will be one among us and not one above us. Our search will lead us to discern the one with a servant-spirit rather than a princely-spirit who will be rooted in faith and faithful in prayer. We seek a bishop who will rejoice in our strengths and resources and face our challenges with equanimity and enthusiasm. Our instructions from the Standing Committee require that all nominees meet the constitutional and canonical requirements set forth by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America:
1. Individuals must be at least 30 years of age. The compulsory retirement age for bishops is 72.
2. Suffragan bishops are eligible nominees; those currently serving as bishop or bishop coadjutor of a diocese must have served in that diocese for at least five years to be eligible.
The Charge includes the direction to be mindful of General Convention Resolution B033.
Although Title III Canon 4 specifies that no one shall be denied access to the selection process for ordination, the Church holds to a tradition of sequential order, i.e., ordination to the diaconate, ordination to the priesthood, and then ordination as a bishop. Resolutions to modify this tradition have been unsuccessful at several meetings of the General Convention. As "direct ordination" is not an option, the Search Committee is charged to accept applications only from priests and bishops.
Our 2006 Convention meeting on 21 October considered significant resolutions addressing our organizational structure, our funding of diocesan activities and our funding of the asking by the National Church. These resolutions and other materials about our Convention are at the following web address: www.edecr.org/DC2006B.htm and we encourage interested individuals to read this material carefully. A summary of the convention results can be found here.
We invite the submission of the names of potential nominees or an indication of personal interest to the Search Committee on or before 17 November 2006. The Nomination Form (info below) of our Profile should be used and forwarded to the Search Committee by mail to:
Bishop Search Committee
c/o Joanna R. Shreve
26750 Almaden Ct.
Los Altos, CA 94022
It may be sent electronically to: bishopsearch@edecr.org
We anticipate that the slate of nominees will be introduced to an Electing Convention in June 2007.
Nomination Forms (submit online or fill out offline and return via email)
