NORTHERN MICHIGAN: Convention agrees on search process outline
Episcopal News Service. November 3, 2009 [110309-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Participants in the Diocese of Northern Michigan's 114th annual convention Oct. 30-31 set out the framework for conducting another search for the diocese's next bishop.
The convention, which met at St. Stephen's Church in Escanaba, passed a resolution saying that the process would form a search committee engaged in discernment that will build on the work done by the previous search committee (known as the Episcopal Ministry Discernment Team), be open to working with a search consultant, use a broad process of collecting potential candidates, intend to present multiple candidates to the electing convention, use a petition process for adding names to the slate, and communicate effectively with the wider church.
Agreement on a new process, which a diocesan news release said came after "lengthy discussions," was necessitated by the failure of the diocese's previous attempt to call a successor to Bishop James Kelsey who died in June 2007.
The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, chosen during a special convention on Feb. 21, 2009 to succeed Kelsey, came under intense scrutiny after his election.
Initially, concern centered on his status as the only candidate at the convention and the question of whether his practice of Zen Buddhist meditation has diluted his commitment to the Christian faith, making him unsuitable to serve as a bishop. That attention led to the internet publication of some of Thew Forrester's sermons and writings along with a revision he made to the Episcopal Church's baptismal liturgy, raising further concern among some about his theology.
Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4 (a)) that apply for all episcopal elections, a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees had to consent to Thew Forrester's ordination as bishop within 120 days from the day after notice of his election was sent to them. On July 27, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori notified the diocesan Standing Committee that the necessary consents had not been received within the prescribed time period and therefore his election was "null and void."
During the convention, an attempt to exclude a petition process, which allows additional nominees to be added to a slate of candidates approved by the diocesan Standing Committee, was defeated. Two visitors -- retired Diocese of Chicago Bishop William D. Persell and the Rev. Canon Cindy Voorhees of the Diocese of Los Angeles -- urged the delegates to preserve the right to submit petition nominees.
"The petition process provides insurance against a search process gone awry," Persell told the convention, according to the news release. "It also provides assurance to the wider church that you intend to elect your next bishop in an open and transparent way."
Persell and Voorhees were among five visitors from across the Episcopal Church who attended the convention to offer support to the diocese.
The new search committee will be composed of two members selected by each of the diocese's four geographic regions; one member from the Diocesan Council; and one from the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee may also appoint up to three members to ensure that the search committee is representative of the diocese. The search committee will likely begin its work in February 2010, according to the release.
Bishop Tom Ray, Kelsey's predecessor, now serves as Northern Michigan's assisting bishop. Ray has been providing what the diocesan newspaper called "apostolic sacramental care and wise counsel to the leadership of the diocese" since Kelsey's death.
"Bishop Ray has been our rock through all of this," said Linda Piper, chair of the diocese's Standing Committee, in the release.
The Standing Committee continues as the ecclesiastical authority in the diocese.
On the first night of the convention, the Very Rev. Ernesto Medina, dean for urban mission at Trinity Cathedral in Omaha and General Convention clerical deputy from the Diocese of Nebraska, led the convention in a process he developed called "Authority of Generations." Convention attendees, in small groups, told stories and sang hymns that answered the question, "Where have you experienced God in the past year?"
In summarizing the stories told, according to the diocesan news release, Medina said: "Fear and painful losses lead to calmness, and to God being present in the transitions of our life. Through our loss we find God's spirit speaking through us."
Dr. Fredrica Harris Thompsett, of the Episcopal Divinity School, was the convention's chaplain. She had been one of the so-called "reflectors" that helped the diocese with the discernment process that resulted in Thew Forrester's election. The other reflectors were Diocese of Wyoming Bishop Bruce Caldwell and Diocese of Vermont Bishop Thomas Ely.
The Diocese of Northern Michigan, founded in 1895, comprises 27 congregations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.