Bishop Sean Rowe of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania and the Diocese of Western New York has been named the following presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, succeeding Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who will full a nine-year time period later this yr.
Rowe, 49, acquired an awesome majority of votes from bishops on the church's common meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, on Wednesday. He acquired 89 votes when 82 have been wanted, whereas 4 different nominees acquired between 9 and 24 votes every. After the Home of Bishops accomplished its first spherical of voting, the Home of Deputies confirmed the election outcomes with a bang of the gavel, cheers and applause.
Rowe, who would be the twenty eighth and youngest elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, grew to become bishop of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania in 2007 and has been interim bishop for Western New York since 2019. A local of Sharon, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Grove Metropolis School and Virginia Theological Seminary. He additionally holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Studying and Management from Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania.
In a video posted on the Normal Conference's web site through the consideration of candidates, Rowe mentioned the following presiding bishop should be alert to voices that may “breathe recent air and new gentle and life into our beloved church” and assist the church “hear the testimony of the ladies on the empty tomb ” and “get to know Jesus on the way in which”.
About 3,500 folks attended the gathering of bishops on the Kentucky Worldwide Conference Heart in Louisville, Kentucky, together with 160 voting bishops and 829 representatives, clergy and lay representatives of greater than 100 dioceses or regional districts of the 1.4 million member denomination.
In his first public remarks as bishop-elect, Rowe in contrast the shifts swirling across the church — which he mentioned is dealing with an “existential disaster” — to the modifications he's seen within the Rust Belt, the place he watched the metal trade shut as a basis. college pupil.
“God is asking us deeper and deeper into the unknown,” he mentioned. “If we’re sincere with ourselves and ourselves, we all know that we can’t proceed to be the Episcopal Church in the identical method, no matter the place we stay.”
When he made the primary proposals to contemplate restructuring within the denomination to additional help the ministry on the bottom, he advised discovering new methods to speak to one another.
“We should decide to making a loving neighborhood the place we are able to disagree with out shaming, blaming or tearing one another down,” he mentioned to applause. “And right here's an thought: Let's use our anger at injustice as an alternative of turning it on ourselves.
He additionally mentioned he would observe and develop on Curry's commitments to evangelism, “look after creation” and racial reconciliation.
A day earlier than the election, the co-chairs of the committee that nominated the slate of 4 bishop candidates — the fifth and solely girl to be added by a petition course of — described what a survey of about 6,000 bishops mentioned. their needs for the following bishop.
“You're searching for a robust chief — and I would add a robust chief in adaptive considering to take care of the altering church of our time,” mentioned Bishop Mark Lattime of the Diocese of Alaska, who led the committee with Dr. Steve Nishibayashi, lay chief and retired pediatrician from the Diocese of Los Angeles. “I’m additionally searching for somebody who loves to evangelise and share the excellent news of Jesus Christ and his love. And naturally an individual of sturdy religion.”
In mid-June, the Episcopal Church introduced that two of the 5 bishops being thought-about for the denomination's prime management place are at the moment beneath church self-discipline investigations and their earlier complaints have been dismissed, as has a 3rd nominee. Rowe was not among the many three.
Curry, whose time period ends Oct. 31, was elected the Episcopal Church's first black bishop in 2015. His tenure included preaching a sermon on the marriage ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, which was the topic of an inside clergy misconduct grievance. response to allegations of abuse by a former bishop and ongoing hospitalization and medical remedy for mind hemorrhage, inside bleeding, and coronary heart illness.
However he opened the week-long assembly, which ends Friday, by telling bishops' leaders that he was not apprehensive about the way forward for their church.
“I’m right here to let you know that this Episcopal Church is stronger, extra resilient and has a future that God has ordained and that God has designed,” he mentioned in a gap tackle to a joint meeting of the Home of Deputies and the Home of twenty-two Bishops earlier than legislative classes started the following day. “And I'm right here to let you know, don't fear about this church. Don't cry and whine. Simply roll up your sleeves and get to work. That is our future.”
However at a press convention Friday earlier than the assembly, Curry acknowledged the challenges forward of his successor.
“Our subsequent presiding bishop in our church will in some way take heed to what the Spirit is saying to the church buildings and observe,” he mentioned. “It's not straightforward.
Sitting subsequent to his soon-to-be successor at one other information convention after Rowe's election was confirmed, Curry mentioned his management of the 2 dioceses and the brand new methods they've realized to share sources have served as examples for the broader church and indicators of the denomination's future.
“No matter new method God has earlier than us, that's what I see in Bishop Sean Rowe,” Curry mentioned. “The flexibility to assist us see and sense and discern that future and the best way to implement the mechanics, not simply speak about it. However truly do it.”
In a separate election, Home Speaker Julia Ayala Harris of the Diocese of Oklahoma was re-elected to her place. After defeating two different candidates, Alaya Harris, the primary Latina and first girl of colour to carry the submit, is ready to start her second time period when the conference ends Friday.
© Non secular Intelligence Service
