OREGON: Bishop transfers ecclesiastical authority to Standing Committee
Episcopal News Service. March 28, 2008 [032808-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Episcopal Diocese of Oregon Bishop Johncy Itty has transferred ecclesiastical authority in the diocese to the Standing Committee.
Mary M. Cramer, president of Oregon's Standing Committee, sent a letter to the diocese on March 25 saying that she had received a letter from Itty the day before announcing he had made the transfer effective at midnight on Easter Sunday.
"We feel the seriousness of this responsibility and our pledge to you is that we will maintain open communication and prayerfully consider each decision" involved in the transition to a new bishop, Cramer wrote.
She said that the Standing Committee is negotiating an agreement for an assisting bishop.
"We will complete this work as soon as possible," Cramer wrote. "When it is completed, we will inform everyone via email. We also have other positions, due to the recent retirements and a voluntary resignation, to fill on an interim basis and will be making those announcements soon."
Information about three of those staff members' departures -- the canon to the ordinary, Itty's executive assistant and the chief financial officer -- has been posted on the diocese's website here.
Itty, 44, will remain bishop of the diocese until the end of the year, according to Deirdre Steinberg, diocesan director of communications.
She said that Itty would not make any public statements at this time about his decision to hand authority over to the Standing Committee.
Itty had told the diocese during its annual convention in November that he planned to resign.
"After some time of prayerful discernment, in recognition of personal, professional and family needs, I feel that now would be the appropriate time to share news of my desire to begin the important work of electing my successor, the 10th bishop of Oregon," Itty said at the time.
The Standing Committee and "some key persons" had been informed before his convention announcement about his decision, Itty said. He had promised that details of the "process of transition" would be forthcoming in 2008.
Itty was elected May 17, 2003 to be the ninth bishop of Oregon. He received the canonically required consent to his ordination and consecration during 74th General Convention in Minneapolis in June 2003.
Itty is also vice president of the National Council of Churches and serves on the board of directors of Church World Service.
Prior to his election, Itty, who was born in India, was canon residentiary of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York, in the Diocese of Long Island. Previously, Itty was the social justice officer for the Episcopal Church and served as the human rights officer in the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations.
The Diocese of Oregon consists of more than 22,000 Episcopalians in 76 churches throughout Western Oregon.