Episcopal Press and News

NORTHERN MICHIGAN: Diocese announces 4 nominees for bishop

Episcopal News Service. October 1, 2010 [100110-01]

Mary Frances Schjonberg

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan announced Oct. 1 that its bishop's search committee has nominated four priests to stand for election as the diocese's next bishop.

The nominees are:

• the Rev. Dr. Susanna E. Metz, 60, executive director of the Center for Ministry in Small Churches at Sewanee: University of the South in Tennessee, and rector of St. John the Baptist Church, Battle Creek Tennessee (Diocese of East Tennessee);
• the Rev. Rayford Ray, 54, a member of the Episcopal Ministry Support Team in the Diocese of Northern Michigan;
• the Rev. Nigel Taber-Hamilton, 57, rector of St. Augustine's-in-the-Woods Episcopal Church, Freeland, Washington (Diocese of Olympia); and
• the Rev. Jos Tharakan, 46, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Russellville, Arkansas (Diocese of Arkansas).

The election will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Escanaba, Michigan, on Dec. 4, with a consecration and ordination planned in May 2011.

"We had an excellent response to the publication of our diocesan profile, and we are delighted to be able to recommend four such talented nominees," Pat Micklow, a member of the search committee who is also a member of diocesan council, said in a diocesan press release.

The diocese's previous search for a bishop ended in July 2009, when the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, a priest of the diocese, did not receive the canonically required consents to his ordination and consecration (as outlined in Canon III.11.4(a)) from the wider church.

The diocese has been without a bishop since Bishop James Kelsey died in an automobile accident in June 2007. Bishop Tom Ray, who preceded Kelsey, now serves as assisting bishop.

Thew Forrester, chosen during a special convention on Feb. 21, 2009, to succeed Kelsey, came under intense scrutiny after his election.

Initially, concern centered on his status as the only candidate at the convention and the question of whether his practice of Zen Buddhist meditation has diluted his commitment to the Christian faith, making him unsuitable to serve as a bishop. That attention led to the internet publication of some of Thew Forrester's sermons and writings along with a revision he made to the Episcopal Church's baptismal liturgy, raising further concern among some about his theology.

The Northern Michigan Diocesan Convention met in October 2009 and set out the framework for conducting a second search for the diocese's next bishop.

When the search committee's roster was announced, the Rev. Kim Moote, a deacon and member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Munising, said that the committee had a "good foundation to build on, but we can move on and use a process that the national church will accept to choose a person who will guide us in the mutual ministry that is such an important part of our lives. I've been a part of this diocese for 40 years and involved with mutual ministry for more than 20 years, since the beginning. We want to continue on that path and share it with the world."

Mutual ministry includes every baptized person and focuses on ministry in daily life. The diocesan profile, developed as part of the current search for a new bishop, explains how the diocese has used mutual ministry. The Episcopal Ministry Support Team that was approved by the same convention that elected Thew Forrester grew out of the diocese's experience with the mutual-ministry model and is meant to share with the bishop in the oversight, development and management of the diocese.

In the profile, the diocese said that it "can only explain the lack of support [for Thew Forrester] as a misunderstanding of our search procedure and our concept of mutual ministry. Therefore, our current search for a bishop is being publicized as much as is possible and practical."

Metz lectures contextual theology and serves as the director of field education in the School of Theology at Sewanee. She also is publisher of Tuesday Morning, a quarterly journal on liturgical preaching and ministry.

Ray, a four-time deputy to General Convention, has served in Northern Michigan for more than 20 years, working as ministry development coordinator. He was recently an adjunct instructor at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is married to Suzanne Ray, who also is a priest in the diocese.

Taber-Hamilton, who served on the commissions on liturgy and music, ministry, and stewardship in the Diocese of Indianapolis before being called to Freeland, Washington, is certified as a mentor in the University of the South's Education for Ministry program.

Tharakan, formerly the director of a Christian publishing house in his native India, writes a column for a local newspaper and has launched numerous web sites. He is an active member of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.

More information about the nominees, including links to their resumes and their answers to four questions put to them by the search committee, is here.

The diocese also is accepting nominations by petition until Oct. 15. Instructions and links for nominating by petition are available on the diocesan web site home page here.

The diocese, founded in 1895, comprises 27 congregations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.