Episcopal Press and News
EL CAMINO REAL: Slate of four nominees chosen for diocese's third bishop
Episcopal News Service. April 2, 2007 [040207-06]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real announced April 2 a slate of three women and one man as nominees to be its third bishop.
They are:
- the Rev. Paige Blair, 36, rector, St. George's Episcopal Church, York Harbor, Maine, Diocese of Maine;
- the Ven. Mary Gray-Reeves, 44, archdeacon for deployment, Diocese of Southeast Florida;
- the Rev. Gale Davis Morris, 60, rector, Church of the Good Shepherd, Acton, Massachusetts, Diocese of Massachusetts;
- the Rev. John Palarine, 58, rector, Episcopal Church of Our Savior, Jacksonville, Florida (Diocese of Florida).
More information about the search process is available here.
The four were selected from a field of 58 applicants, according to a diocesan news release.
Nominations by petition will be accepted until April 12. That process is described here.
The electing convention is scheduled for June 16 in Monterey, California.
The new bishop will succeed Bishop Richard Shimpfky who resigned at the end of March 2004, after leading the diocese for 14 years. Bishop Sylvestre Romero-Palma, formerly Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Belize, has been serving as assisting bishop for the diocese.
"We have moved slowly and deliberately through our interim time in order to build a solid foundation for future ministry," said Ann Wright, president of the Standing Committee, in the diocese's news release. "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 as we accept differences that exist in our community."
Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan Standing Committees must consent to the election and subsequent ordination and consecration.
The diocese, formed in 1980 out of the Diocese of California, is the youngest Episcopal diocese. It extends along the Pacific coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles from Palo Alto to San Luis Obispo, encompassing the counties of Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo. Trinity Cathedral in San Jose serves as the diocesan see while the diocesan offices are located in Seaside on the Monterey Peninsula. Farming, technology, vineyards and resort areas are found in the diocese. Congregations worship in English, Spanish, Tagalog, Laotian, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Sudanese dialects and Lakota. About 14,330 Episcopalians worship in the diocese's 50 congregations.
The diocesan profile is available here.