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Fairfield Elected Bishop Of North Dakota

Episcopal News Service. June 22, 1989 [89113]

FARGO, N.Dak. (DPS, June 22) -- The search for the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota is over.

The Rev. Andrew H. Fairfield, assistant to the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska, was elected bishop of the North Dakota diocese by delegates to the Diocesan Convention meeting in Fargo on June 10.

The speed of Fairfield's election surprised many. Barely two hours after the election process started Saturday morning, Fairfield received majority votes in both the lay and clerical orders on the second ballot.

However, it could have been even sooner. In the first ballot, he fell just two votes shy of being elected. Those two needed votes were in the clerical order, where he received six of a possible 15 votes. In the lay order's voting on the first ballot, he received 59 of a possible 108 votes, which gave him a commanding lead over the next closest candidate, who drew 22 votes. Election rules specified a candidate had to receive a simple majority in each order to be declared the winner.

In the second ballot, Fairfield expanded his lead over the four other candidates, drawing 68 lay votes, and received the two additional clergy votes, which gave him the election.

Besides Fairfield, the slate included the Ven. Ben Helmer, archdeacon for the Diocese of Western Kansas from McPherson, Kansas; the Rev. Jack McKelvey, rector of St. Paul's Church, Englewood, New Jersey; the Rev. William Roberts, rector of Christ Church, Xenia, Ohio; and the Rev. Richard Toll, rector of St. John the Evangelist Church in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Fairfield maintained a wide margin over the other candidates in lay votes on both ballots. The closest contender on the first ballot was Helmer with 22 lay and 2 clergy votes. On the second ballot it was Toll with 16 lay and 5 clergy votes.

Fairfield received word of his election at his home in Fairbanks, Alaska at 9 a.m. PST -- just minutes after the final vote -- from Sandra Holbrook, secretary of the Diocesan Convention.

The quick results were a marked contrast to the diocese's previous election of the Rt. Rev. Harold Hopkins, Jr., in 1979, which required nine ballots and was a daylong affair. Hopkins was the first elected bishop of the Diocese of North Dakota. Prior to his election, the previous eight bishops had been appointed by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church. In 1971, during Bishop George Masuda's administration, North Dakota was granted diocesan status. It was organized as a missionary district in 1883.

Hopkins resigned as bishop of the 3,600-member diocese last October to accept an appointment to the staff of Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning. Ironically, in his new role as executive director of the Office of Pastoral Development, Hopkins will be working closely with Fairfield during the next few months. A key part of the Pastoral Development Officer's responsibility is to help new bishops adjust to their ministries.

A unique feature of the convention was that it was held in the context of the Eucharist. The convention was called to order following the reading of the lessons, the Gospel, and the sermon. After an election was declared, the service continued with the celebration of Holy Communion.

Fairfield's consecration will take place on either November 27 or December 1. The site for the consecration will be decided later.

Fairfield, 46, has been assistant to the bishop of the Diocese of Alaska since 1983. From 1977 to 1983 he served as the diocese's staff officer for ministry development. Before that, he spent nine years serving churches along Alaska's Yukon River. He graduated from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, in 1968, and the following year was ordained a priest in Alaska.

The new bishop will be accompanied to North Dakota by his wife, Sarah Jane, and daughter Hannah. A second daughter, Bess, will be entering Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, this fall.