Episcopal Press and News
IDAHO: Bishop nominees announced; June electing convention set
Episcopal News Service. May 5, 2008 [050508-04]
Pat McCaughan
The Diocese of Idaho on May 5 announced four nominees for fifteenth Bishop of Idaho. Included are:
- The Very Rev. Richard Demarest, Dean, St. Michael's Cathedral, Boise, Idaho
- The Rev. Kelsey Hogue, Rector, St. Francis Episcopal Church, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
- The Ven. Faith Perrizo, Archdeacon, Diocese of West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia
- The Rev. Brian Thom, Rector, Church of the Ascension, Twin Falls, Idaho
The bishop-elect will succeed the Rt. Rev. Harry B. Bainbridge III, who began serving the Diocese of Idaho in 1998, and who had undergone chemotherapy earlier this year. A retirement party for Harry and Kit Bainbridge is planned for May 17.
A statement from the search committee said the selections were based upon skills and experiences in a variety of areas of ministry, and included “an understanding of the vast and challenging geography of Idaho.”
Petitions to include additional candidates will be accepted through 5pm, May 16, the statement said. The petition process is structured to allow so additional candidates to be nominated, and to provide enough time for each nominee go through personal background checks as required by diocesan and the Episcopal Church's election process. Nominations from the floor will not be accepted at the June 28 electing convention.
Petition candidates are asked to submit the same materials as Search/Nominating Committee candidates plus a petition signed by at least 15 individuals. At least five of the signatures must be canonically resident clergy and the remaining lay signatures must be individuals who are either vestry members, members of a diocesan committee, or delegates to the 2007 Diocesan Convention. Furthermore, signatures must be from individuals at congregations in three of the four diocesan deaneries.
Detailed information about the nominees will be available on the diocesan website after May 16. The nominees will be available for get-acquainted and question-and-answer sessions the first week of June. Presentations have been scheduled as follows:
- June 3, 2008 - All Saints, Boise, for the Western and Southwestern Deaneries.
- June 4, 2008 - Ascension, Twin Falls, for the Central Deanery.
- June 5, 2008 - St. Luke's, Idaho Falls, for the Eastern Deanery.
The electing convention has been set for June 28 and once it “has chosen the Fifteenth Bishop of Idaho, we pray you will resolve, along with us, to embrace the individual chosen with open hearts and willing hands,” the statement added.
The diocese stretches from the Church of the Redeemer in Salmon to the urban St. Michael’s Cathedral in downtown Boise and from St. James, Payette, near the Oregon border, to St. Luke’s, Idaho Falls at the gateway of the Yellowstone and the Tetons, and includes 29 congregations in-between.
The Diocese of Idaho also founded St. Luke’s Hospital and St. Margaret’s School for Women in Boise. The hospital, now a regional medical center and one of the largest facilities of its kind in the Northwest, is rated among the nation’s top 100 hospitals. St. Margaret’s School was the forerunner of Boise Junior College, which has grown into Boise State University, now the largest public university in the state.
A consecration date has not yet been set. Attempts to reach committee co-chairs Sue Carver and the Rev. Jim Herndon were unsuccessful.