The Rt. Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III, 59, was elected the 25th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church on Monday, July 21, in the place where the Episcopal Church began, old Christ Church, Philadelphia, the site of the first General Convention in 1789.

Bishop Griswold, who was elected on the third ballot, begins his nine-year term Jan. 1. He was chosen from a field of five candidates, including the Rt. Rev. Robert Rowley, Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. Richard Shimpfky, Bishop of El Camino Real, the Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson, Bishop of Southern Ohio, and the Rt. Rev. Don Wimberly, Bishop of Lexington.

For the first time in history, the actual results of the voting were reported to the House of Deputies.

In order to be elected, candidates needed a simple majority of the 213 members of the House of Bishops who were present. Bishop Thompson led in the first ballot with 89 votes, and Bishop Griswold was close behind with 86. On the second ballot, Bishop Griswold had 106 votes and Bishop Thompson 96. Bishop Griswold reached 110 on the third ballot.

The deputies were required to confirm the election, and insisting that it not be a mere formality, they called for a vote by orders.

On Monday morning, the bishops headed by bus from the Pennsylvania Convention Center to Christ Church. Behind locked doors, the roll was called and they cast written ballots. They remained in executive session while word of the election was brought to the House of Deputies for them to confirm. The bishops then came back to sit with their deputations as the new Presiding Bishop was received by the convention.

The new Presiding Bishop-elect has been Bishop of Chicago since 1985. Previously he served in three parishes in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, as rector of St. Martin-in-the Field, Chestnut Hill, rector of St. Andrew's, Yardley, and curate of the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr. He was educated at St. Paul's School, Harvard, the General Theological Seminary, and Oxford. He and his wife, the former Phoebe Wetzel, have been married for 32 years and have two children.

Who is Bishop Griswold?

He is well known for his deep interest in monastic spirituality. He serves as Episcopal visitor to the Society of St. John the Evangelist, the American branch of the Cowley Fathers. He also signed the Koinonia Statement, which advocates blessing same-sex relationships and ordaining non-celibate homosexual persons, at the 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis.

"A man who governs from the center with a mind informed from the left," is how the Rt. Rev. Alden Hathaway, Bishop of Pittsburgh, described him. "I think Frank will continue business as usual but with a more catholic style. We'll see an emphasis on spirituality, but I think we should also expect to see the revisionist agenda advancing under his leadership."

The centrist theme was echoed many times on the eve of the election.

"We're tired of the two ends of the theological spectrum dominating our business. We're looking for a centrist. We want to see the center setting the agenda for the mission of the church," said the Rt. Rev. Charles Duvall, Bishop of the Central Gulf Coast.

If the center is the place to be, there was considerable uncertainty about what it means. "It's not a specific position. The center is a kind of energy field that holds us all together," was the definition offered by the Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam, Suffragan Bishop of New York.

As expected, Bishop Thompson was nominated from the floor by the Rt. Rev Furman Stough in a carefully orchestrated joint session Sunday afternoon. But not all welcomed a fifth candidate. The Rev. Howard Anderson, deputy from Minnesota, rose to question whether Bishop Thompson had been subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny as the committee's four nominees.

The Rt. Rev. Calvin Schofield, Bishop of Southeast Florida and co-chair of the nominating committee, assured him that all the candidates went through the same background checks.

Following the election, Bishop Thompson said, "We have elected a great Presiding Bishop and I intend to give him all the support I can."

But there has been frustration among the deputies that the election of the Presiding Bishop should be left to a closed session of the House of Bishops. A proposal to change the constitution to have future Presiding Bishops chosen by both houses was introduced by deputy Byron Rushing of Massachusetts, and is expected to attract substantial support.

The next Presiding Bishop may be presiding over a smaller House of Bishops in the future. The bishops have approved a first reading of a constitutional change that would permit only active bishops with jurisdiction to vote.

This is the third time the bishops have attempted to take away the vote of their retired members. The margin in favor, 108-72, suggests that a unique tradition will be ended at the next convention in Denver in 2000. The Episcopal Church is one of three Anglican churches which give voice and vote to their retired bishops.

Even if the retired bishops lose their vote, another part of the constitution gives them the right to vote in the election of a Presiding Bishop.

(The Rev.) Jeffrey Steenson