Macarthur To Be W. Texas Suffragan
Episcopal News Service. October 29, 1987 [87218]
SAN ANTONIO (DPS, Oct. 29) -- The Rev. Earl N. McArthur, rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wimberley, Tex., since 1981, was elected suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas on Sept. 19.
McArthur, 62, was elected on the fifth ballot at a special council which met at Christ Episcopal Church here. Attending were 291 lay delegates and 121 clergy. Ninety of the 94 churches in the 60county diocese were represented by lay delegates.
The Rt. Rev. John H. MacNaughton, bishop of West Texas, presided as the council convened at 11:30 a.m. following the Eucharist. The first order of business was a nominating ballot.
Immediately after a break for lunch, the Bishop announced that 27 priests, 21 of them from the Diocese of West Texas, had been nominated. Election balloting began shortly after 1 p.m., and the front-runners were the Ven. C. Eugene Jennings of San Antonio, archdeacon of the diocese; McArthur, whose church is in Hays County northeast of San Antonio; the Rev. Robert B. Hibbs, rector of St. Barnabas', Fredericksburg; the Rev. Phillip M. Stevenson, rector of St. Andrew's, San Antonio; and the Rev. Samuel R. Todd, Jr., rector of the Church of Reconciliation, San Antonio.
On the final ballot, McArthur received 70 clergy votes, a clear majority of the 121 cast, and 165 lay votes, a majority of the 285 cast. Jennings had 49 clergy votes and 117 lay votes.
MacNaughton declared, "We have an election," and his announcement of the choice of McArthur brought a wave of applause that almost drowned out his invitation to the suffragan-elect to come to the chancel.
It was 4 p.m. when McArthur spoke briefly to the council, saying that he was "pleased and honored to work with MacNaughton and to work for him."
A native of Houston and a 1948 graduate of Rice University, the suffragan bishop-elect graduated in 1963 from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. He was ordained deacon in 1963 and priest early in 1964 in the Diocese of West Texas and served as deacon-incharge and later rector of Church of the Annunciation, Luling, until 1965, when he was called as associate rector of Church of the Holy Spirit, Houston. In 1967, he was called as rector of All Saints' Church, Corous Christi, where he served until going to St. Stephen's, Wimberley, in 1981.
Born on New Year's Day in 1925, McArthur was in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific from 1943 to 1946 and a petroleum engineer prior to entering seminary.
A deputy to General Conventions in 1982 and 1985, he had been elected deputy for 1988. In the Diocese of West Texas, he has been active in both the Cursillo and Faith Alive movements and currently is serving as Diocesan Spiritual Director of Cursillo.
McArthur is married and father of four, two boys and two girls. His wife's name is Shirley -- the same as MacNaughton's wife.
MacNaughton has announced that the consecration service is tentatively set for Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, with the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning as the chief consecrator. Place of the service will be announced later.