WYOMING: Two nominees added to bishop slate
Episcopal News Service. December 23, 2009 [122309-03]
ENS staff
The slate for the election of the 9th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming grew by two Dec. 23.
The diocesan search committee said in a news release that it has certified the petition nominations of the Rev. Canon Margaret Babcock and the Rev. Sandra Casey-Martus, making a total now of six nominees. The two candidates will be officially added to the ballot for the electing convention once they have been cleared in the required background checks, the committee said in the release.
The electing convention is set for March 20, 2010, at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Laramie, Wyoming. The person elected will succeed Bishop Bruce Caldwell, the eighth bishop of the diocese, who will retire in mid-2010 after 12 and a half years as bishop.
Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect's ordination within 120 days of receiving notice of the election. The consecration and ordination tentatively is set for July 24, 2010.
Babcock, 56, serves the Wyoming diocese as canon for congregational and ministry development.
Casey-Martus, 61, is rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has roots in Wyoming. She was the executive director of the Alta Retreat Center for 10 years and the vicar of St. Francis in the Tetons from 1996-2005.
The résumés of the new nominees will be added to the bishop search website as quickly as the holiday permits, according to the news release. The six nominees' answers to the search committee's essay questions will also be added to the site as soon as possible, the release said.
After the Dec. 7 search committee's original slate, clergy and laity in the diocese had until Dec. 21 to nominate other candidates during a petition process. Information about that process is here.
The search committee announced Dec. 12 that one of the original six nominees, the Very Rev. Robert Neske, dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Pro-Cathedral in Hastings, Nebraska, had withdrawn. No reason was given by the search committee.
The remaining candidates then were:
- the Rev. Rebecca Brown, 59, rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Foxborough, Massachusetts (Diocese of Massachusetts);
- the Very Rev. Canon F. Michael Perko, 63, dean, Diocesan School for Ministry and Canon to the Ordinary/Ecclesiastical Authority (Diocese of the Rio Grande);
- the Rev. Canon Dr. Clark Michael Sherman, 52, rector, St. James Episcopal Church, Bozeman, Montana (Diocese of Montana); and
- the Rev. John Sheridan Smylie, 57, rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Casper, Wyoming (Diocese of Wyoming).