More bishops named 'episcopal visitors'
Episcopal News Service. October 11, 2007 [101107-03]
Four additional bishops have accepted Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's invitation to serve as "episcopal visitors" in dioceses requesting this provision.
Bishops Philip Duncan of Central Gulf Coast, Duncan Gray of Mississippi, Rayford High (suffragan) of Texas, and Rodney Michel (assisting) of Maryland have agreed to assist in this capacity, Jefferts Schori has confirmed.
The Presiding Bishop offered the episcopal visitors option during the September meeting of the House of Bishops. Under the provision, the participating bishops provide dioceses with pastoral visitations usually made by the Presiding Bishop as part of the canonical duties of the office.
Jefferts Schori has left to the participating bishops and dioceses the details of establishing these relationships, with two provisos: that the visitors "will not encourage departures from the Episcopal Church" and will provide occasional reports on the status of the relationships between dioceses and episcopal visitors.
The four newly appointed episcopal visitors join a list of eight announced at the House of Bishops meeting. Those are diocesan bishops Frank Brookhart of Montana, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina (based in Columbia, S.C.), John Howe of Central Florida (based in Orlando), Gary Lillibridge of West Texas (based in San Antonio), Michael Smith of North Dakota, James Stanton of Dallas, and Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, together with retired Connecticut bishop Clarence Coleridge.