LOVE EPISCOPAL STYLE

Midwest Conservative Journal

Webster Groves, Missouri - Copyright 2004, 

by Christopher S. Johnson

1/15/2004

Last Sunday at Washington's National Cathedral, on the occasion of the celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord, Frank Griswold delivered a sermon that demonstrated once again that whatever his religion is, it isn’t Christianity:

North Dakota nominates one bishop candidate by petition

N.D. EPISCOPAL DIOCESE: Candidate for bishop draws opposition

Associated Press

FARGO - Voters in North Dakotas Episcopal Diocese will have six candidates instead of five to choose from when they select a new bishop next month.

Three clergy and three lay persons nominated the Rev. Henry Thompson III of Coraopolis, Pa., through a petition process. He joins five others picked by a selection committee. None of those five candidates has directly expressed his views on the recent confirmation of the openly gay New Hampshire bishop, the Rev. Gene Robinson. Thompson disagrees with the confirmation of homosexual clergy but said it is important to work together.

The search committees lack of direct questions regarding homosexuality angered some members of the diocese, who used the petition process to nominate Thompson. Thompson had been rejected by the search committee.

I think he’s a very well-rounded candidate, said the Rev. John Floberg, of Thompson. Floberg said he led the petition drive to give the diocese a broader range of candidates.

Donna Pettit, the search committee chairwoman, said she believes the committee came up with a list of qualified candidates.

I’m disappointed, she said. The committee worked very hard.

North Dakota Bishop Andy Fairfield, who strongly opposed the election of Robinson, retired in August.

The other five candidates to succeed him are the Rev. Christopher Chornyak, of Ellsworth, Maine; the Rev. George Martin, of Edina, Minn.; the Rev. Michael Smith, of White Earth, Minn.; the Rev. John Shepard of Spokane, Wash.; and the Rev. Peter Stebinger, of Bethany, Conn.

The election of the next bishop for the North Dakota diocese will be Feb. 7 at Fargo’s Gethsemane Cathedral. One candidate must receive a majority of votes, or the nomination and election process will start over.

END