1 / 10

The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster

The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster. Ever since Bishop Michael’s announcement of his retirement, many people have been asking about the process for discerning his successor.

jude
Download Presentation

The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster Ever since Bishop Michael’s announcement of his retirement, many people have been asking about the process for discerning his successor. Many of us were not around when the Diocese last went through this Electoral Process 20 years ago. The following is a quick guide to the process based on Canon 2

  2. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • When the See becomes vacant (official language for ‘when Bishop Michael has retired’) on September 1, 2013, the Dean will become the Diocesan Administrator. This means that he will make decisions that usually fall to the bishop and will direct Synod Office. He won’t take on the bishop’s parish-visiting duties, and another Bishop (most likely one of those retired in this diocese) will preside at any ordinations or confirmations that occur during the vacancy.

  3. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • At the June meeting of the new Diocesan Council elected at Synod, a 10 member Search/Nominations Committee (S/N C) will be elected. This consists of 5 lay and 5 ordained members of Synod who will receive nominations for the office of bishop, ensure the nominees are eligible and assemble biographical information about each of the nominees to be circulated to members of the Electoral Synod at least 14 days prior to the election. Ordained members of Synod who anticipate that they may be nominated for the office of Bishop should avoid serving in any capacity in the Nominations process. Members of Synod who are elected to serve on the Committee need not necessarily be Members of Diocesan Council.

  4. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • Any member of Synod may nominate an eligible person to stand for bishop. ‘Eligible’ in this case means being a priest in good standing in the worldwide Anglican Communion, ordained for a minimum of five years.

  5. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • Likely a Profile of the Diocese and the qualities sought for the next Bishop will be developed by the Search/Nominations Committee. Also, the Committee will find ways to enable members of the diocese to learn about the nominees (in 1993 videotaped interviews of the 18 candidates were circulated to each parish for members of Synod to review).

  6. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • A second committee, confusingly also named the Nomination Committee, of 2 lay and 2 ordained members receives notice of nominations up to ten days before the electoral synod. These are people not already vetted by the Search/Nominations Committee.

  7. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • Once the See has become vacant (i.e. after the end of August 2013) Diocesan Council requests permission from the Provincial Metropolitan (Archbishop John Privett) to call an Electoral Synod. The call has to be sent out to members of Synod within 30 days of receiving this permission.

  8. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • The electoral synod has to meet within three months of the call having been sent out. Its membership is the same as the Diocesan Synod May 2013. • Further nominations for the office of Bishop can be received from delegates on the floor at the beginning of the electoral synod.

  9. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • Voting is by house – in other words, the clergy and laity vote separately. All voting is by secret ballot. • Candidates with the fewest votes are dropped from the ballot over successive rounds of voting. • To be elected a candidate must receive a majority of votes in both houses – clergy and laity. This means that a call to the ministry of a bishop is discerned by both the lay and ordained members of the diocese.

  10. The Process of Discerning a New Bishop for the Diocese of New Westminster • And most importantly! This is a process of discernment, a prayerful journey open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t appropriate to talk of people ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ an Episcopal election.

More Related