A native of Utah, the Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish, was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Utah Dec. 2, at a special convention at St. Mark's Cathedral, Salt Lake City. The bishop-elect is currently staff associate for spiritual development at Washington National Cathedral and on the program staff of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.

Ms. Irish, 55, will succeed the Rt. Rev. George Bates, ninth Bishop of Utah, who announced last year his need to retire because of ill health. His retirement date has not been announced.

"Paradoxically, my election as an Episcopal bishop in Utah seems both a completely natural and a completely surprising outcome of my life and ministry," Ms. Irish said in a statement to The Dialogue, Utah's diocesan newspaper. "There is so much in life we do not understand or recognize or control; yet there are also moments when we are free to embrace the new possibilities that arise, and to say 'yes!' I do so now."

She is the daughter of the late O.C. Tanner, a prominent Utah businessman and philanthropist, and was reared in the Mormon Church. "I had a wonderful childhood and spiritual beginning and will be eternally grateful to the LDS Church for that," she told news media.

She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and Virginia Theological Seminary. After ordination to the diaconate in 1983 and the priesthood in 1984, she was an assistant at Church of the Epiphany, Washington, D.C., and Good Shepherd, Burke, Va. She was vicar of Holy Cross, Saline, Mich., 1985-88, then was archdeacon of Michigan for three years. She is the mother of four children.

Her consecration is set for June 1 at a site to be chosen in Salt Lake City, world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The announcement of her election was met in the conservative community with both elation and shock. The Mormon Church's wards (parishes) are headed by bishops and its doctrine does not permit ordination of women. The issue has long been a matter of contention between traditional and liberal LDS members.

Ms. Irish was elected on the fourth ballot. Others nominated were: The Rev. David E. Bailey, rector of St. Stephen's Church, Phoenix, Ariz.; the Rev. George M. Foxworth, rector of All Saints', Sacramento, Calif.; the Very Rev. H. Scott Kirby, dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Eau Claire, Wis.; and the Ven. Hartshorn Murphy, archdeacon for congregation development in the Diocese of Los Angeles.