Episcopal Press and News

ROCHESTER: Nominations open for diocese's eighth bishop

Episcopal News Service. June 4, 2007 [060407-07]

Mary Frances Schjonberg

The nominating committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester has announced that it is accepting names of potential candidates for a bishop to succeed Bishop Jack McKelvey.

Nominations are due by July 2 with the election scheduled for February 2, 2008, according to a timeline set out on the diocese's special website set up for the process.

McKelvey announced in October 2006, during the diocese's last convention, that he would retire in April 2008 and asked that the process to elect his successor begin. McKlevey will be 67 on the planned consecration or installation date of May 31, 2008.

He became the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in December of 2000, after serving for nine years as bishop suffragan in the Diocese of Newark.

The Diocese of Rochester stretches from Lake Ontario south to Pennsylvania; its eastern and western borders are formed by the Diocese of Central New York and the Diocese of Western New York. It is among the smaller of the dioceses in the United States, according to the diocesan profile developed for the search process. The profile reports that the diocese has 7,728 communicants in good standing in 51 congregations. Among those communicants are 3,253 pledging units whose average pledge is $1,502. The majority of Episcopalians within the diocese reside within 30 minutes of downtown Rochester, the profile says.