Episcopal Press and News
David Birney Elected Bishop of Idaho
Episcopal News Service. March 4, 1982 [82060]
Carol Hosler, Editor of The Idaho Messenger
BOISE, Idaho (DPS, March 4) -- David B. Birney, coordinator of overseas ministries at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, was elected eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho at a special convention here Feb. 27.
Birney, 52, received the required majority votes in both the clerical and lay orders on the fifth ballot. A close runner-up was the Rev. James T. Booth, rector of St. John the Evangelist Church, Stockton, Calif. The other three candidates presented by the search committee were the Rev. James Davis, rector of St. Stephen's Church, Boise; the Rev. Logan E. Taylor, Jr., rector of St. Joseph's Church, Grand Prairie, Tex.; and the Rev. Robert E. Brown, rector of St. Christopher's Church, Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii. A sixth candidate, the Rev. Albert E. Allen, rector of the Church of the Ascension, Twin Falls, Idaho, was nominated from the floor.
Birney has accepted the election, subject to the consents of the majority of the standing committees and bishops of the Episcopal Church.
Reached at his home in Upper Montclair, N.J., and suffering jet lag from a 40-hour return trip from Africa, he said "I am overwhelmed and deeply grateful to God that this has happened. You have shown love and confidence in me and I pray that I am worthy of it and that we all will be proven faithful."
He will succeed the Rt. Rev. Hanford L. King, Jr., Ph. D., who retired last September because of poor health.
Born in New Orleans, and raised in Lancaster, Pa., Birney graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster and Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1955.
After serving parishes in York, Hanover, and Allentown, Pa., Birney and his wife Virginia were called to Uganda. Birney taught pastoral theology at Bishop Tucker Theological School until forced to leave because of the rule of Idi Amin. He then was assistant to Bishop Shannon Mallory in Botswana in charge of leadership development. He assumed his current post with the national Church six years ago where he also coordinates the Volunteers for Mission program and the Companion Diocese program and serves as the Episcopal Church liaison to African Anglican provinces.
The Birneys have two sons, ages eight and two.
The election convention was characterized by an atmosphere of prayer from the opening eucharist, in the meditations led by the Rev. Don Sower during each counting of the ballots, all through the night and day prayer vigil in St. Michael's Cathedral, and in the closing hymns and prayers.
A summer consecration is expected.