Episcopal Press and News
Los Angeles Picks Scholar as Bishop
Episcopal News Service. January 14, 1988 [88005]
LOS ANGELES (DPS, Jan. 14) -- The Very Rev. Frederick H. Borsch was elected bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles on Jan. 8.
Election came on the third ballot at a special convention of the diocese held at St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church here. Electors included 290 clergy and 444 lay delegates representing the 148 congregations of the diocese, one of the largest jurisdictions in the Episcopal Church.
Reached at his home in Princeton, N.J., immediately after the final ballot, Borsch said, "I look forward with enthusiasm to sharing in ministry with the people of the Diocese of Los Angeles. There is so much we can learn from one another and do together for our Lord to build communities of hope and faith, and be in service to one another and to those in need in the Los Angeles area and the world."
Dean of the chapel at Princeton University since 1981, Borsch served as dean and president of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., from 1972 until 1981. He was a professor of New Testament at first Seabury-Western Theological School and later at General from 1966 until he was called to the Church Divinity School.
Borsch, 52, has served seven years on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, has been a consultant to the House of Bishops, and has just completed a six-year term as one of the Episcopal Church's three delegates to the Anglican Consultative Council.
Originally from Chicago, Borsch is a graduate of Princeton University and of the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He also holds a master's degree from Oxford University and a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, England.
Borsch and his wife, the former Barbara Edgeley Sampson, have been married since 1960 and have three sons.
In a statement released prior to his nomination, Borsch said his greatest overall concern has been "with ways of deepening understanding of the Christian faith and Its implications for our corporate as well as individual lives spiritually, politically, and economically."
The election needs to be rectified by a majority of the Standing Committees and bishops of the other 118 dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Therefore, consecration and institution of the bishop-elect is not expected before late Spring at the earliest.
Borsch was one of five candidates nominated by a diocesan-wide nominating committee. The others were the Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson, sub-dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City; the Very Rev. Alan W. Jones, dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; the Rev. Thomas F. Pike, rector of the Parish of Calvary, Holy Communion and St. George, New York City; and the Rev. James A. Trimble, rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia. Jones withdrew his name prior to the election.
Also nominated from the convention floor was the Rev. Charles E. Bennison Jr., rector of St. Mark's Church in Upland, Calif.
Elected fifth Bishop of Los Angeles, Borsch succeeds the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Rusack who died in office on July 16, 1986. Since that time Suffragan (assistant) Bishop Oliver B. Garver Jr., has served as interim bishop.
The diocese of Los Angeles includes all of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Bernardino counties, and half of Riverside County.