Slate of Candidates for Bishop
Dear people of Western Massachusetts,
It gives us much joy as the Standing Committee of this Diocese to announce a slate of three candidates to serve as our 10th Bishop Diocesan. As we give thanks to God for the faithful ministry of Bishop Fisher, we also give thanks for the faithful and gifted clerics who have put themselves forward in this process of discernment.
We also give our heartfelt thanks to The Rev. Heather Blais and the incredible work of the entire Search Committee. This dedicated team of clergy and laypeople have thoroughly reviewed a large number of applications, engaged in interviews and gathered with finalists for a Spirit-led and intensive discernment retreat weekend. All this hard work and holy listening has yielded an impressive slate of faithful, talented clerics who have discerned a call to Episcopal ministry as our next Bishop.
The candidates are:
The Rev. Susan B. Fortunato
Rector, Christ Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie, New York
The Very Rev. Dr. Marcus George Halley
Chaplain to the College and Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell
Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, Connecticut
The people of our diocese will have the opportunity to meet and hear from the candidates at events throughout the Diocese November 4-6. More information on these “Meet-and-Greet” gatherings will be found on the Diocesan website. Clergy and lay delegates will then vote to elect our next Bishop at our Annual Diocesan Convention - November 14-15 at the UMASS Campus Center in Amherst.
Concurrent with this announcement we are opening a petition process whereby additional candidates may be added to the slate. The petition process runs from today, September 29, until 11:59pm on October 6. The requirements to be petitioned onto the final slate are:
- Signatures of four clergy and eight lay communicants in good standing of this Diocese who represent at least three different parishes of this Diocese.
- Submission of all application materials required of the earlier search process.
- No cleric will be considered who participated in the process conducted by the Search Committee and who was not selected for the final slate of nominees approved by the Standing Committee.
Throughout this process the Standing Committee has had every confidence in the work of the Search Committee. We feel confident that each of these candidates would make an outstanding Bishop in Christ’s Church. We ask that you continue to join us in prayer as we discern together who God is calling to lead us and to serve among us at this time and in this place.
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