Meeting Bishop Candidates

This week, my husband and I have joined hundreds of other lay and clergy
members of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino
Real (ECR) attending presentations and coffee hours with the five candidates
for ECR’s 3rd Bishop. I
started writing about this in my
6 June 2007
blog.

I have so far been to a coffee hour and two 5-hour presentations with the
candidates. All of them are very impressive priests and, as the

Search Committee told us, all are capable of being a good Bishop. Our
task is to understand through listening, discussion, and prayer which of the
five is the Bishop called by the Holy Spirit to lead our diocese. The
diocesan convention to elect our Bishop is a week from today, on 16 June.

It is not my intention to influence other convention delegates in their
considerations or decisions. Each of us needs to reach our own decision on
how to vote. Nor do I need to reproduce the excellent material about the candidates
already available on ECR’s
Episcopal Search and Transition web pages. However, the experience of
listening to five extraordinary and different spiritual leaders answering very
hard questions at length is unique to my experience. This blog entry is to
share some of my thoughts and understanding so far in this process.

Some of the questions which have been asked are personal (whether the
candidate tithes, what their spouse thinks about being married to a Bishop),
others are church-political (gay marriage and clergy, giving communion to the unbaptized), and others are exploratory (what is your passion? how would
you and the diocese have to change? why is Bishop the best job for you and
why are you the best person to be Bishop?).

Some of what I have heard and seen so far:

1. The Reverend Paige Blair
   
   quick big grin of joy, 3 ear rings, sits but rarely holds still
   
   
   Passionate about sharing the Good News
   
   
   What is essential and where can we play?
   
   
   All are welcome at God’s table
   
   
   Begin by listening and learning
   
   
   World mission – living into the truth of our Baptism
   
2. The Reverend David Breuer
   
   paces, figits, gleeful grin, never sits
   
   
   Templates and lists, administration and finance
   
   
   Evangelical moment
   
   
   Living in ambiguity, living as an Episcopalian, generous orthodoxy
   
   
   Collaborative, mutually accountable servant-ministry
   
   
   Pursuit of excellence, revitalization
   
   
   Ministry of money
   
3. The Venerable Mary Gray-Reeves
   
   sideways smile of sharing, elegant, rarely sits
   
   
   Passionate about great leadership
   
   
   Sharing power
   
   
   The Gospel commands the spiritual discipline to love people we don’t like
   
   
   Transformation: affirmation and correction
   
   
   Speaks Spanish well and fluently
   
   
   The stewardship of compassion
   
4. The Reverend Gale Davis Morris
   
   looks into each person’s eyes, artistic clothes, centered
   
   
   Passionate about the Episcopal Church
   
   
   Always includes babysitting and food
   
   
   The altar is God’s table, not an Episcopal table, all are welcome there
   
   
   We learn best from stories
   
   
   The stewardship of creation
   
   
   God created everyone and said “It is good”. God loves us and each of
   us is worth loving.
5. The Reverend John Palarine
   
   small shy smile, sits quietly
   
   
   Never base your self esteem on the whim of a 14 year old
   
   
   “And I give thanks to God for that” ends most statements
   
   
   Celtic hospitality, hospitality of the heart
   
   
   Youth-lead youth ministry
   
   
   Unity does not mean agreement