Episcopal Press and News
CONNECTICUT: Two nominees added to suffragan slate
Episcopal News Service. February 23, 2007 [022307-05]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The bishop suffragan nominating committee in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut has added two more nominees to the slate of five it presented on February 9.
The process to receive additional nominations by petition opened on February 9 and closed a week later. The two candidates who were added to the slate on February 21 through the petitioning process are:
- the Rev. Dr. Barbara Cheney, 63, rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James in New Haven, Connecticut;
- the Rev. José A. Díaz-Martínez, 55, Hispanic Missioner in the Diocese of Connecticut, overseeing Iglesia Betania, Norwalk and San Lucas and San Pablo, Bridgeport.
Connecticut's diocesan bishop is Andrew D. Smith, and its other suffragan is James E. Curry. Bishop Wilfrido Ramos-Orench was serving as Connecticut's second suffragan until last year, when he accepted a call and appointment as missionary bishop of the Diocese of Ecuador Central.
The new bishop is scheduled to be consecrated June 30.
The other nominees are:
- the Rev. Dr. Laura J. Ahrens, 44, rector, St. James' Episcopal Church, Danbury, Connecticut;
- the Rev. Sarah Buxton-Smith, 57, rector, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Buffalo, New York;
- the Rev. Canon Thomas J. Furrer, 56, rector, Trinity Church, Tariffville, Connecticut;
- the Rev. Dr. Robert "Odie" Odierna, 57, rector, Church of the Good Shepherd, Nashua, New Hampshire; and
- the Rev. Dr. Michael Louis Vono, 58, rector, St. Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, Italy.
Biographical material and photos on all the nominees are on the bishop search website.
There are 174 parishes in the Diocese of Connecticut with approximately 68,000 baptized members and approximately 500 clergy.