I asked Rosalie Harden, the rector at Holy Innocents, if I could join her and her congregants in the discussion about the election of the new bishop of the Diocese of California . I'm representative of the largest group of Episcopalians in the U.S. (those who do not go to church), and while there has been no coordinated effort by the diocese of California to include us in the selection of the new bishop, Rosalie and the congregation at Holy Innocents graciously invited me to join them in the process of discernment that precedes the election. It has been a very rich and rewarding experience for me.
On Sunday last a group of us met following the service and discussed the seven candidates. Wednesday night I met with another small group at Holy Innocents in San Francisco for the purpose of talking about the election of the bishop this Saturday and the process itself. We began with a celebration of the Eucharist and then retired to a potluck and a discussion.
We were joined in the conversation by Neela Banerjee, a reporter for the New York Times. The story she wrote appeared in this morning's New York Times. No, I'm not quoted. Rosalie Harden was quoted, though. The Times story itself is okay. It is more about the conflict in the Episcopal Church over the possibility of another Gay bishop and what it would do to the Episcopal Church than it is about our election, but that's the part that makes the election national news. I did have a nice opportunity to visit with Ms. Banerjee (May I call you Neela?). She's a homey from St. Charles Parish just outside of New Orleans.
I'll be very surprised if either of the Gay candidates is elected. There's a better chance of the Lesbian being elected, but no one was giving her good odds. From our conversation, it looks to be a three-way race between Mark Andrus, the suffragan bishop of Alabama, Jane Gould, a minister from Massachusetts, and Eugene Sutton, who serves at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. My preferences are Andrus and Gould with Sutton a distant third.
By the way, I'm going to New Orleans next month. I want to see what's going on, look up old friends, check on some of my cousins and then run off to South Beach (Miami) for a week's vacation.
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