NAVAJOLAND: Bishop-elect David Bailey completes successful consent process
Episcopal News Service. May 25, 2010 [052510-01]
Pat McCaughan
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's office announced May 24 that Bishop-elect David Earle Bailey of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland has received the required number of consents from bishops with jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees to his ordination and consecration.
Bailey was elected March 24 during a meeting of the House of Bishops at Camp Allen, Texas. He received 105 of 106 votes cast.
However, the presiding bishop had asked that Bailey not only be the House of Bishops choice, but that his service would also be the will of the people.
According to that process Bailey, 70, was selected as interim canon to the ordinary from a field of two nominees during a special Oct. 17, 2009 convocation attended by 40 delegates in Farmington, New Mexico. The election was presided over by the Rt. Rev. Rustin Kimsey, former assisting bishop of Navajoland.
His ordination is slated for August 7. The presiding bishop will be the chief consecrator.
While Bailey has received the necessary majority of consents, they will continue to be accepted up to and including the July 28 deadline date.
Bailey had most recently served as canon to the ordinary and deployment officer for the Diocese of Utah. He told delegates at the October convocation that he hoped to serve as "co-leader toward our ultimate goal of a Diné bishop to lead us in the future."
Prior to his 1998 arrival in Utah, Bailey had served as rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Phoenix and chaired Native American Ministries in the Diocese of Arizona. He had also served as a diocesan liaison to Navajoland.
He had also assisted former Bishop Steven Plummer in an administrative capacity, helping the ECIN create a mission statement, economic development plans and as a Hogan Learning Center consultant. Plummer, the first elected bishop and first indigenous appointee to the position, died in 2005 after a long battle with cancer.
Bailey will replace Bishop Mark MacDonald of Alaska who in 2006 was appointed bishop of Navajoland. MacDonald resigned as bishop of Alaska in 2007 after his appointment as the first national indigenous bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada. He continued to serve in Navajoland until July 27, 2009, when he formally resigned.
Created by General Convention 1978, Navajoland is the only area mission in the Episcopal Church. It functions much like a diocese but with more oversight from the office of the presiding bishop and the House of Bishops. The area mission was carved out of parts of the dioceses of Utah, Arizona and Rio Grande. Its border is contiguous with that of the Navajo Nation.
Bailey leaves the Diocese of Utah after 12 years of service. His new post will be headquartered in Farmington, New Mexico. Navajoland serves the reservation, which covers a land area about the size of Virginia, with churches scattered over Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.
As outlined under Canon III.11.4 (a), the presiding bishop confirmed the receipt of consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction (diocesan bishops only), and has also reviewed the evidence of consents from a majority of standing committees of the church.