Episcopal Press and News
EL CAMINO REAL: Fifth nominee added to slate for diocese's third bishop
Episcopal News Service. April 17, 2007 [041707-03]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real recently announced that a fifth priest has been added by petition to its previously named slate of three women and one man as nominees to be its third bishop.
The Rev. David Breuer, 60, was nominated through a process that ended April 12. He is the rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Los Gatos, California, in the Diocese of El Camino Real. He is the only nominee from within the diocese.
Breuer joins a slate of four nominees announced April 2. 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 electing convention is scheduled for June 16 at York School 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.
In a letter to the diocese just before the petition process closed, Ann Wright, president of the Standing Committee, wrote that the "journey of discerning who we are as a diocese, reflecting on our past relationships, and the root causes of our problems" was concluding and that the diocese is ready to move forward.
"It has been an exciting ride filled with many opportunities for healing, growth, and enrichment for ourselves as individuals as well as for the diocese," she wrote. "I am so very proud of all that has been done by both laity and clergy, as we have walked together on the path towards our future."
Reminding the diocese that the discernment process continues as the election draws near, Wright wrote: "I believe we have reached that time when we can say, through our process of discovery, we have attained the unity of spirit we were looking for -- the unity that allows us to carry out our mission of spreading the good news to those within and without our diocese -- to bring the good news to a broken world."
"We have spent three years looking inward, now it is time for us to reach out," she wrote. "Is this not what God is calling us to do? This is what we are inviting our new bishop to do -- to join us in our mission to spread that good news."
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 consecration is planned for November 10 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Saratoga, California.
The diocese, formed in 1980 out of the Diocese of California, is the second-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.