Since apostolic times, Christians have gathered to prayerfully discern who will lead us in following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Sometimes those people would gather in the town square for a public meeting. At other times members of the clergy, or an emperor or king would appoint bishops.
Since 1789 the Episcopal Church in the United States has democratically elected bishops to shepherd our people. Both lay people and clergy share in this prayerful discernment. In this Diocese of El Camino Real, we have exercised this process three times since 1980.
At the January 2006 Diocesan Convention, the Standing Committee formed two groups to oversee this process: one to aid the transition, and the other to discern eligible nominees for our people to consider for election. Each of the many meetings of the Search and Transition committees begin and end with prayer. We are also supported by all of the prayers of our thousands of parishioners in our diocese which is situated on the central coast of California.
The Search Committee has completed its task and has given the names of nominees for Bishop of El Camino Real to the Standing Committee. On June 16th of this year, our Episcopal laity and clergy will gather at York School in Monterey to elect our third bishop. Following receipt of consents of the election by a majority of Standing Committees of the dioceses in the Episcopal Church and a majority of bishops with jurisdiction, the whole diocese will gather for the ordination of the new Bishop of El Camino Real on November 10th, 2007 at St. Andrew's Church, Saratoga, CA.
One caveat: This list of names is not necessarily complete, since there is a petition process that allows other names to be submitted from members of our local churches. This process is open April 2 - April 12. (See information at www.edecr.org/bishopsearch/f/BPSearch-PetitionProcess.pdf). At the close of the Petition Process, any people moving into this process will be announced and their information posted. At that time, all Nominees' and Petitioned Nominees' answers to questions and profile information will be posted.
The following four names have been prayerfully considered by our Bishop Search Committee, and their names are now made public for the first time.
Slate Nominees
The Rev. Paige Blair, Rector, St. George's, York Harbor, ME
The Ven. Mary Gray-Reeves, Archdeacon for Deployment, Diocese of Southeast Florida
The Rev. Gale Davis Morris, D.Min., Rector, Church of the Good Shepherd,
Acton, MA
The Rev. John Palarine, Rector, Our Savior Church, Jacksonville, FL
Petition Nominee
The Rev. David Breuer, Rector, St. Luke's, Los Gatos, CA
Biographical information and ministry profiles are now posted for each nominee. Announcement of these nominees also will be found in the upcoming “Along the King's Highway”.
The Nominees and Petition Nominees will be introduced to the people of the Diocese of El Camino Real on a Presentation Tour, scheduled to take place during the week of June 4th. Details will be posted on the Bishop Search website and distributed to each congregation. The Nominees and Petition Nominees will be expected to follow guidelines established by the Standing Committee of the Diocese of El Camino Real. The guidelines can be reviewed here.
Web page last updated:
19 May, 2007
to download PDF info)
