Episcopal Press and News
NEBRASKA: Three nominees for bishop announced
Episcopal News Service. March 15, 2011 [031511-01]
ENS staff
The Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska has selected three priests to stand for election as its 11th bishop, according to a March 15 release from the diocese.
The election will be held at St. Mark's Pro-Cathedral in Hastings on June 4.
Nominees are:
- the Rev. J. Scott Barker, 47, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Warwick, New York;
- the Rev. Margaret Duncan Holt Sammons, 62, co-rector of St. Michael's in-the-Hills Episcopal Church in Toledo, Ohio; and
- the Rev. Canon Sarah J. Shofstall, 59, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts.
"We delight in the grace of the Holy Spirit in providing us such talented candidates," said the Rev. Ruth Tomlinson and Richard Kauders, co-chairs of the search committee, in making the announcement.
Barker is a member of diocesan council of the Diocese of New York. He is a frequent guest preacher at Battell Chapel at Yale University.
Holt Sammons has served on the Standing Committee, Episcopal Community Services Development Council and Commission on Ministry in the Diocese of Ohio.
Shofstall has been faculty for a CREDO vocational team and currently serves as a conference leader. She was a designer and presenter for Basic Reconciliation Seminars for the dioceses of Western Massachusetts, Los Angeles, Northern Indiana and Ohio.
Biographical information about the three candidates is available here.
The diocese will accept nominations by petition until March 31, according to the release. For more information, click here.
The Diocese of Nebraska, founded in 1868, includes 55 congregations throughout the state. Its 10th bishop, the Rt. Rev. Joe Burnett, has announced that he will resign March 31 to accept a call as bishop assistant in the Diocese of Maryland.