Episcopal Press and News
WYOMING: Diocese announces five nominees for next bishop
Episcopal News Service. December 7, 2009 [120709-04]
ENS staff
The Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming has chosen five priests to stand for election as its next bishop.
The candidates are:
- the Rev. Rebecca Brown, 59, rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Foxborough, Massachusetts (Diocese of Massachusetts);
- the Very Rev. Robert Neske, 62, dean, St. Mark's Episcopal Pro-Cathedral, Hastings, Nebraska (Diocese of Nebraska);
- the Very Rev. Canon F. Michael Perko, 63, dean, Diocesan School for Ministry and Canon to the Ordinary/Ecclesiastical Authority (Diocese of the Rio Grande);
- the Rev. Canon Dr. Clark Michael Sherman, 52, rector, St. James Episcopal Church, Bozeman, Montana (Diocese of Montana); and
- the Rev. John Sheridan Smylie, 57, rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Casper, Wyoming (Diocese of Wyoming).
"Thousands of hours of hard work and prayer have gone into the search committee's efforts and we are confident the Holy Spirit has guided their decision-making," said Norm Peterson, co-chairman of the oversight committee which is charged with overseeing the process of electing Wyoming's next bishop.
The Dec. 7 announcement also opens the way for a process by which clergy and laity in the diocese can nominate other candidates. The deadline for those nominations is Dec. 21. Information about that process is here.
The election will take place in March 2010. The person elected will succeed Bishop Bruce Caldwell, the eighth bishop of the diocese, who will retire in mid-2010 after 12 and a half years as bishop.
Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election. The consecration and ordination tentatively is set for July 24, 2010.
The Diocese of Wyoming encompasses 97,818 square miles and approximately 7,400 Episcopalians worshipping in 45 congregations.