The Bishop Nominating Committee, pending the approval of the Standing Committee, anticipates that a preliminary slate of nominees for election as the 17th bishop diocesan of the Diocese of Massachusetts will be announced on Friday, March 15, 2024.
A petition process for submitting additional names will open when the preliminary slate is announced and will conclude at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 22, 2024. Complete information about the petition process will be included in the preliminary slate announcement.
The slate is the result of a seven-month discernment process conducted by a Nominating 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 May 7-11, giving the people of the diocese an opportunity to meet and learn more about them. Details will be announced.
The election will take place on Saturday, May 18 at Trinity Church 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. (Preliminary electing convention information is available at www.diomass.org/electing-convention-2024.)
Pending consent from a majority of The Episcopal Church’s bishops exercising jurisdiction and a majority of dioceses (via their Standing Committees), the consecration of the bishop-elect is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Trinity Church in Boston.
Visit www.diomass.org/bishop-search for information and updates.
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The diocesan community is invited to join in the following prayer:
Loving and Living God, as we seek a bishop for the Diocese of Massachusetts, we also seek you. Help us to listen deeply as you speak through the people of our diocese; through our parishes, missions, ministries and institutions; through our neighborhoods, towns and cities; through our past and our present; through word and sacrament.
When we are distracted by other voices, other tasks, other pressures, call us back to you. Give us courage, vision and an ability to see past the surface of things. May we be patient and compassionate, trusting always in your mercy and goodness to us and to all that you have made.
We pray this in the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, one God. Amen.
Dios amoroso presente en nuestras vidas, mientras buscamos un obispo para la Diócesis de Massachusetts, también te buscamos a ti. Ayúdanos a escuchar profundamente mientras hablas a través del pueblo de nuestra diócesis, a través de nuestras parroquias, misiones, ministerios e instituciones, a través de nuestros vecindarios, pueblos y ciudades, a través de nuestro pasado y nuestro presente, y a través de la palabra y el sacramento.
Cuando nos distraigan otras voces, otras tareas, otras presiones, llámanos de vuelta hacia ti. Concédenos valor, visión y la capacidad de ver más allá de la superficie de las cosas. Que seamos pacientes y compasivos, confiando siempre en tu misericordia y bondad hacia nosotros y hacia todo lo que has creado.
Oramos esto en el nombre de la Santísima Trinidad, un solo Dios. Amén.
Prayer by The Rev. Ginger Solaqua; Translation by The Rev. Deacon Ema Rosero-Nordalm