Andrew Waldo elected as Upper South Carolina's next bishop
Episcopal News Service. December 12, 2009 [121209-01]
ENS staff
The Rev. W. Andrew Waldo was elected Dec. 12 to be the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, pending the required consents from the majority of the church's other dioceses.
Waldo, 56, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, Minnesota (Diocese of Minnesota), was chosen on the third ballot out of a field of seven candidates. He received 129 votes of 234 cast in the lay order and 64 of 116 cast in the clergy order. An election on the third ballot required 118 in the lay order and 59 in the clergy order. The results of all the ballots are available here.
The election was held at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia where one of the candidates, the Very Rev. Dr. Philip C. Linder, is dean.
Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to Waldo's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election.
Waldo was elected to succeed Bishop Dorsey Henderson, who is retiring on Dec. 31 after serving the diocese since 1995. Waldo's consecration is set for May 22, 2010. The diocesan Standing Committee will become the ecclesiastical authority in the diocese between Henderson's retirement and the consecration.
Waldo, who has taught early music and has a master's degree in the recorder, served parishes in New Hampshire and Georgia before being called to Trinity in 1994. His accomplishments there include leading two capital campaigns and helping the parish grow to more than 550 members. He was ordained deacon in June 1988 and priest in April 1989 after earning a master of divinity degree from Sewanee: The University of the South in Tennessee. Waldo and wife Mary Halverson Waldo are the parents of three sons. More information about Waldo, including his résumé and answers to the search committee's questions, is available here.
The other candidates were:
- the Very Rev. John B. Burwell, 58, rector, Church of the Holy Cross, Sullivan's Island, Daniel Island and I'on, South Carolina (Diocese of South Carolina);
- the Very Rev. Dr. Philip C. Linder, dean, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia, South Carolina (Diocese of Upper South Carolina);
- the Rev. Canon Neal O. Michell, 56, canon to the ordinary, Episcopal Diocese of Dallas;
- the Rev. David F. O. Thompson, 58, rector, St. Bartholomew's Church, North Augusta, South Carolina (Diocese of Upper South Carolina);
- the Rev. Jerre Stockton Williams Jr., 58, rector, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Kerrville, Texas (Diocese of West Texas); and
- the Rev. Robert Brown, rector, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina (Diocese of Upper South Carolina), who was nominated from the floor.
Additional information about all the nominees, including video presentations by each and their answers to the search committee's questions, is available here.
Based in Columbia, South Carolina, the Diocese of Upper South Carolina is made up of approximately 25,300 Episcopalians worshipping 61 congregations in 22 counties in the upper part of the state.