Nominees announced for 2014 bishop election

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts announced today its slate of nominees for election as bishop. They are:

• The Rev. Holly Antolini, Rector, St. James’s Church, Cambridge, Mass.;
• The Rev. Ronald Culmer, Rector, St. Clare’s Church, Pleasanton, Calif.;
• The Rev. Alan Gates, Rector, St. Paul’s Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio;
• The Rev. Ledlie Laughlin, Rector, St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia, Penn.; and
• The Rev. Sam Rodman, Project Manager for Campaign Initiatives, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

More information about each of the nominees is available at www.mabishopsearch.org.

L-R: Holly Antolini, Ronald Culmer, Alan Gates, Ledlie Laughlin, Sam Rodman.

A petition process for submitting additional names opens today and will close on Jan. 31. Complete information about the petition process and the petition form are available at www.mabishopsearch.org.

The slate is the result of a seven-month discernment process conducted by a Discernment Committee comprising lay and clergy members from across the diocese and reporting to the diocesan Standing Committee. With the announcement of the slate, a Transition Committee, also comprising lay and clergy members from across the diocese, implements the next stages of the election process, also reporting to the Standing Committee.

The nominees will participate in a series of open meetings around the diocese March 14-19, giving the people of the diocese an opportunity to meet and learn more about the nominees. Details will be announced.

The election will take place on Saturday, April 5 at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont Street) in Boston. All canonically resident clergy of the diocese and lay delegates (two elected from each of the diocese’s parishes and missions) vote separately as “orders”; a majority of votes on the same ballot from both the clergy and lay orders is required for election.

Pending consent from a majority of the Episcopal Church’s diocesan bishops and a majority of dioceses (via their Standing Committees), the consecration of the bishop-elect is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Sept. 13 at the Agganis Arena at Boston University, with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding.

The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, became the 15th bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts in January 1995. In preparation for retirement, he plans to resign his office at the time of the new bishop’s consecration in September.

The Diocese of Massachusetts, among the Episcopal Church’s oldest and largest, in terms of baptized membership, comprises 183 parishes, missions, chapels and chaplaincies in eastern Massachusetts.

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The Standing Committee invites the diocesan community to join in the following prayer:

Loving Creator, you call us together and send us forth to be your disciples in all places. We are grateful for your leading, accompanying and directing as we discerned the candidates to be our next bishop. Now guide the hearts and minds of Holly, Ronald, Alan, Ledlie and Sam as they each discern a new call to be with us as a faithful pastor and teacher in Christ's name. Give them courage, joy and vision as we continue to draw closer to you. Continue to abide in us as we remain prayerfully open to the call of these candidates to serve as you lead. Make us all, candidates and people, open to your divine call so that together, our spirits may be transformed. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Oh Dios Creador de cielo y tierra, tú nos has llamado y nos has enviado a ser tus discípulos y discípulas en el mundo. Te agradecemos el que nos hayas guiado, dirigido y acompañado mientras discerníamos los candidatos y candidatas para nuevo obispo. Con humildad te pedimos que guíes los corazones y las mentes de Holly, Ronald, Alan, Ledlie y Sam mientras que, en lo profundo de su ser, disciernen su propio llamado a servir en nuestra diócesis como fiel pastor y maestro, pastora y maestra en nombre de Cristo Jesús. Te imploramos que les prodigies fortaleza, alegría y visión mientras todos nos acercamos cada vez más a ti en este proceso. Mantente junto a nosotros y a nosotras mientras contemplamos y oramos con espíritus abiertos al llamado de estos candidatos al servicio que tú diriges. Haz que cada persona en este proceso estemos abiertos a tu divina llamada para que juntos como un solo cuerpo, podamos ser transformados de espíritu. Todo esto te lo pedimos en nombre de Cristo, Amén.

January 15, 2014