Episcopal Press and News
Utah diocese elects Scott B. Hayashi as bishop
Episcopal News Service. May 22, 2010 [052210-01]
Pat McCaughan
The Rev. Canon Scott Byron Hayashi was elected May 22 as 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, pending required consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction and standing committees of the Episcopal Church.
Hayashi, 56, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Chicago since 2005, was elected on the second ballot out of a field of three nominees. A fourth nominee, the Rev. Canon Mary Sulerud, withdrew after the first ballot.
Hayashi received 73 of 128 votes cast in the lay order and 20 of 38 cast in the clergy order at a special electing convention at St. Mark's Cathedral in Salt Lake City. An election on that ballot required 65 in the lay order and 20 in the clergy order.
Pending a successful consent process Hayashi would succeed the Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish, 70, who was elected in 1996 and a year ago announced her decision to retire.
During nearly 25 years of ordained ministry Hayashi has served inner city, suburban and rural congregations in California, Utah and Washington.
After his 1984 ordination to the diaconate (June 2) and priesthood (Oct. 1) he served for five years as vicar to two small rural mission congregations -- St. John the Baptist Episcopal Mission in Ephrata, and St. Dunstan's Episcopal Mission in Grand Coulee -- in the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, Washington.
No stranger to the Utah diocese, he was called in 1989 to be rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Ogden, an inner city parish where he served until 1998.
Next, he became rector of Christ Church in the suburban communities of Portola Valley and Woodside, in the Episcopal Diocese of California, then "the single wealthiest area of the world," where he served until called to the Diocese of Chicago.
He was born Dec. 8, 1953 in Tacoma, Washington, and received a bachelor of social work degree from the University of Washington in 1977. He holds a master of divinity degree from Harvard University's Divinity School (1981); and a Certificate of Theology from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California (1984).
A General Convention deputy, he has served at local, diocesan and national church levels. He has served as a member of the diocesan standing committee, council, ecclesiastical court, board of trustees, commission on ministry, and on local boards of agencies.
He has also served nationally as a member of the Board for Transitions Ministry, and as a conference leader and team leader for CREDO (Clergy Reflection, Education and Discernment Opportunity) for 10 years.
During the search process, he described the Episcopal Church as "a people who live in the grace of God.
"It is clear from the history of the Episcopal Church in Utah that for 140 years Episcopalians have been bringing this message to the people of the Beehive State," he said in statements posted on the Utah diocese's website.
"They brought it by word, through the preaching of the Gospel. They brought it in deed, by the strategy of Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle that established schools that provided an alternative to those administered by the L.D.S. and St. Mark's Hospital. They brought it through the witness of Bishop Franklin Spalding and Bishop Paul Jones, reaching out and including the Native American Community. Welcoming all has been a fundamental part of the Episcopal Church in Utah and continues to form the ministry and mission of the Episcopal Church to this day. The Episcopal Church seeks to include people," he said.
He and Amy Perlman O'Donnell have been married 29 years. They have three adult daughters.
The consecration is expected to take place Nov. 6. The bishop will be formally seated on Nov. 7 at St. Mark's Cathedral.
The other nominees were:
The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, 55, canon for congregational ministries in the Diocese of California;
The Rev. Canon Juan Andrés Quevedo-Bosch, 54, rector of Church of the Redeemer, in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island; and
The Rev. Canon Mary C. M. Sulerud, 59, canon for deployment and vocational ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C.
Information about all the nominees is available here.
Founded as a missionary district in 1867 encompassing Utah, Idaho and Montana, the Diocese of Utah includes 25 congregations and about 5,000 Episcopalians. It covers Page, Arizona, and most of the state, except for part of southeastern Utah that is included in the Diocese of Navajoland.