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CDO Aids in Search for Erie's Bishop Coadjutor

Diocesan Press Service. June 11, 1973 [73152]

NEW YORK , N. Y. -- When the Rev. Donald Davis, Bishop Coadjutor-Elect of Erie, is consecrated on September 15 of this year, he will become the first bishop of the Episcopal Church, and perhaps of the entire church, whose name was initially suggested to a diocese on the basis of a computerized search of a clergy data bank.

The data bank used was that of the National Clergy Deployment Office of the Episcopal Church at its Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York.

Less than three years old, the data bank already contains critical information on over three-fourths of the active clergy and is available to the entire church, dioceses, parishes, and other institutions.

In October of 1972, early in its search for a new Bishop, the Diocese of Erie had decided that in addition to the traditional ways of gathering names of likely candidates, they would also use the CDO. The Nominating Committee had also asked the Rt. Rev. David E. Richards, of the House of Bishops Committee on Pastoral Development to help them develop significant criteria. These criteria, once accepted, were then translated into the categories used by all Episcopal Clergy in listing their data for the computer.

On January 19, 1973, the Nominating Committee requested the CDO to make a search, and on January 22, a search of the entire files was made. Seventeen names, which included those of two men already bishops, as well as that of Fr. Davis, were sent to the Committee on January 30.

The Committee chose three names from this list to include in the eight names submitted to the Convention, which met on May 19. Fr. Davis was elected on the fifth ballot and has since accepted his election, pending the necessary approvals.

"I am reasonably sure that his name would not have come to us from any other source" the Very Rev. Frederic R. Murray, Vice-Chairman of the Committee wrote in a letter to CDO.

Fr. Davis, who is presently Rector of Trinity Church, Bloomington, Indiana and Chaplain at the University there, recently expressed his pleasure that the new deployment system is now an accepted part of the Church's life. As it happened, he had participated in the early planning stages of design. "I have been a strong supporter of this since the first time I heard of it. It has seemed to be a most useful channel for the Church and ought to provide an opportunity for the Church to step forward under the guidance of the Holy Ghost toward effective personnel procedures. "

The Rt. Rev. John Burt, Bishop of Ohio is the Chairman of the Clergy Deployment Board, and the Rev. Roddey Reid, Jr. and Mr. William A. Thompson are Executive and Associate Directors.