Wednesday, March 17, 2010

WE HAVE AN ELECTION!

Just received via email from the Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs:

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop’s office notifies
Diocese of Los Angeles of successful canonical consent process

Bishop-Elect Glasspool ordination and consecration on May 15

[March 17, 2010] The Office of Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has notified the Diocese of Los Angeles that the canonical consent process for Bishop-Elect Mary Douglas Glasspool has been successfully completed.

As outlined under Canon III.11.4 (a), the Presiding Bishop confirmed the receipt of consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction, and has also reviewed the evidence of consents from a majority of standing committees of the Church sent to her by the diocesan standing committee.

In Canon III.11.4 (b), Standing Committees, in consenting to the ordination and consecration, attest they are "fully sensible of how important it is that the Sacred Order and Office of a Bishop should not be unworthily conferred, and firmly persuaded that it is our duty to bear testimony on this solemn occasion without partiality, do, in the presence of Almighty God, testify that we know of no impediment on account of which the Reverend A.B. ought not to be ordained to that Holy Office. We do, moreover, jointly and severally declare that we believe the Reverend A.B. to have been duly and lawfully elected and to be of such sufficiency in learning, of such soundness in the Faith, and of such godly character as to be able to exercise the Office of a Bishop to the honor of God and the edifying of the Church, and to be a wholesome example to the flock of Christ."

Glasspool was elected Bishop Suffragan on December 5, 2009. Her ordination and consecration is slated for May 15; Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will officiate.

A recap of the process

Upon election, the successful candidate is a bishop-elect. Following some procedural matters including physical and psychological examinations, formal notices are then sent by the Presiding Bishop’s office to bishops with jurisdiction (diocesan bishops only) with separate notices from the electing diocese to the standing committees of each of the dioceses in The Episcopal Church. These notices require their own actions and signatures.

In order for a bishop-elect to become a bishop, Canon III.11.4 (a) of The Episcopal Church mandates that a majority of diocesan bishops AND a majority of diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect’s ordination and consecration as bishop. These actions – done separately - must be completed within 120 days from the day notice of the election was sent to the proper parties.

If the bishop-elect receives a majority (at least 50% plus 1) of consents from the diocesan bishops as well as a majority from the standing committees, the bishop-elect is one step closer.

Following a successful consent process, ordination and celebration are in order.

===

Therefore: LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!

11 comments:

nycjoe said...

Amen!

whiteycat said...

Best news of the day!

MarkBrunson said...

Here is my act of compassion:

I will save MartinT. and LGMarshall the trouble;'

MartinT.

"Oh, it may be good news for you, but what about the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, INDIVISIBLE, MYSTICAL Church, which was just on the verge of coming back together with the Baptists and Orthodox and Catholics and Anglicans and Mennonites and everybody else embracing one another in a huge love-fest and forming a new one-church CHURCH sometime tomorrow afternoon until you bad, bad homosexually liberal people did this terrible, terrible thing to all of us who never did nothin' to you!"

LGMarshall:

"Repent! Repent! You have made a fornicator your high-priestess and you will be sacrificing UNBORN lives on the altar sometime this Sunday because it says in the Holy Scripture 'Suffer not a witch to live' and that shows us that Solomon and David and all the way back were just one man and one woman and God's little baby angels cry when someone is all gay!"

YES, yes, I know: "No ad hominem here!" and this is just terrible of me - it in no way, I'm sure reflects the fascinating, varied and subtly-textured arguments made by two of the most brilliant and ubiquitous conservative minds in the blogosphere.

Mea culpa,
Mea culpa,
Mea
Maxima
Cul
Pa

Nicole Porter said...

Wow Mark, you could have at least given me a chance to speak before putting words in my mouth. I'm not happy about this at all, a lot of people aren't. And you mocking us about our convictions isn't helping anything and it CERTAINLY isn't helping whatever cause you have. I had no illusions of a mass reuniting of Christian Churches anytime soon, but this action that our Church has taken by giving this priest a purple shirt isn't exactly helping either. More conservative minded people will leave and you say (good riddance). What you and others are hoping is that homosexuals will come in droves to our Church, and I just don't see that happening. We can't even attract disaffected Roman Catholics in numbers like we used to. Most of them rather remain unchurched then to come to a Church that has the sacraments, no papacy and male/female clergy. I have no doubt that this means a lot to you Mark, and I am happy for you and Rev.Susan. But while you see this as some kind of "prophecy", I see this as a step in the wrong direction and that isn't going to change just because she got enough votes to wear a miter. Our Church is on the way to becoming a regional Church like the Republicans are on the way to becoming a regional political party. Needless to say I won't be attending any Masses she will be presiding at.

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

Martin T ... you may or may not receive this as helpful, but we have 62 folks in our new member class this spring ... and handful of them are gay or lesbian ... and they're all excited about being part of a church that includes everybody.

It's time to move beyond worrying about who might leave because they aren't willing to be at the same table with gay people and start working on who will come because they haven't wanted to be at the same table with bigotry and discrminiation.

nycjoe said...

I can't speak for big numbers, Martin, but the inclusive message of The Episcopal Church drew me, a disenfranchised, disaffected Roman Catholic (yes, a tad skeptical about female clergy at first) recently (last six months).

I have never felt so close to God nor compelled to do the work of the Gospels in all of my life. I have easily and without effort realized that a priesthood without females is not only unfair, but it deprives the church of the special gifts females can bring to the priesthood and episcopacy. So, while I'm sorry this news upsets many, it makes me very happy about my choices and very happy to be an Episcopalian.

Thank God for The Episcopal Church; it gave me a home. And with me have come several others who were yearning for that inclusive message in their faith.

Nicole Porter said...

What about us on the verge of becoming a mere regional Church? Doesn't that bother you at all,Reverend? Or is everything just about being politically correct?

Nicole Porter said...

I'm glad that All Saints is flourishing as you say, but what about the other Episcopal parishes in the diocese? In this nation all together? You know, the more "red" parts of our country..they count don't they?

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

Martin, I'm a busy girl. And I'm frankly over my allotted "fooling with the blog" time for the day. Nevertheless ...

Yes, I care about the "red" parts of our country ... which is why I count so precious the consents received from Texas, Missouri and East Tennessee. I also know -- from my 6 years as Nat'l Integrity President in my travels around the country and the church -- that what we take for granted in Los Angeles they can't even IMAGINE in Louisiana ... and that those who yearn for this church to be fully inclusive of all God's beloved are counting on those of us who CAN to continue to move the church forward for those who have no voice, no power and no influence in their contexts.

What they do have is hope. It is a hope set not on "political correctness" but on Christ.

And I know from the emails, the phone calls and the Facebook posts that what we are doing here in TEC is received nothing less than a lifeline of hope for many throughout the worldwide communion ... in Uganda, the UK, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa etc, etc, etc.

Lambeth Palace is "not amused."

Oh well. Far from becoming a "regional church" I believe we're joining a global movement ... it's called the arc of history and -- rumor has it -- it bends toward justice.

MarkBrunson said...

Mocking?

How can it be mockery when you responded exactly as I said you would?!

Change the tape. We've moved on, you can, too!

Oh, and I'm in the "red part" (and never has the saying "Better dead than Red" had more truth than since Dubya stirred up the haters) of the country, and our (Episcopal) churches are growing here. Maybe there's something wrong with yours? See, Susan believes you when you tell her this garbage, that's why I'm here to tell her - and all who read here - it's a lie.

Nicole Porter said...

Move on to where? Out of TEC? Not a chance! Instead of staying and fighting, those in ACNA gave up and left. Mark,I will continue to be the thorn in your side and if those ACNA folks had a shred of love for this Church as I do, they wouldn't have left. They would have stayed and fight like I will continue to do! By the way Mark, I didn't respond "exactly as you said I would". Did you even bother to read anything I said, or do you just ignore all those who disagree with you? What a joke.