Episcopal Press and News
EASTERN OREGON: Rivera appointed provisional bishop
Episcopal News Service. May 29, 2009 [052909-03]
Bishop Edna Bavi "Nedi" Rivera was elected provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon by unanimous vote during a special convention May 23. Twenty-seven clergy and 67 lay delegates representing 21 of the 22 congregations in eastern Oregon were certified to vote.
The diocesan standing committee appointed Rivera, who also serves as suffragan bishop in the Seattle-based Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, assisting bishop in early March. Rivera will work one-third of the time in Eastern Oregon, for which the diocese will reimburse the diocese in Seattle, according to an agreement approved by Bishop Gregory Rickel, diocesan bishop of Olympia.
Rivera was elected Olympia's first bishop suffragan in 2004. She is the first Hispanic woman bishop in the Episcopal Church and the daughter of the late Bishop Victor Rivera of the Diocese of San Joaquin. Ordained to the priesthood in 1979, she served in parish ministry in the dioceses of El Camino Real and the Diocese of California. Before moving to Washington she was rector of St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in San Francisco from 1994-2004.
In another letter, addressed to the people of the Diocese of Olympia, Rivera described the people of Eastern Oregon as "in a huge transition. With only a couple dozen (mostly small) congregations, they will have to consider new ways of being the Episcopal Church in Eastern Oregon. None of us know yet what that will be.
"They have called a bishop whom they believe can (among other things) think creatively and explore new models of the episcopate, strengthen lay leadership, understand and embrace shared ministry and area ministry models, understand the culture of the church in the west, and collaborate with other small and rural dioceses. This first step of ministry shared between two dioceses is a first 'new model of the episcopate'," she said.
The Diocese of Eastern Oregon has about 2,615 active members and encompasses 22 congregations and 69,000 square miles. Created as a missionary district in 1907, the diocese was previously part of the Diocese of Oregon and became a full-fledged diocese in 1970. It has been without a bishop since Bishop William O. Gregg resigned in 2007 to become assistant bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.