Search the Episcopal Press and News

Committee Announces Slate of Four Candidates for Presiding Bishop

Episcopal News Service. April 18, 1997 [97-1740]

(ENS) The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop announced a slate of four nominees April 14 for election as the next presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The four bishops nominated are: Frank Griswold III of Chicago, Robert Rowley, Jr., of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Richard Shimpfky of El Camino Real (California), and Don Wimberly of Lexington (Kentucky).

The election will take place in the House of Bishops July 21 during the church's General Convention in Philadelphia and must be confirmed by the House of Deputies.

In commenting on the work of the committee, completed during its final meeting April 10-13 in Delray Beach, Florida, co-chairs Katherine Tyler Scott of Indianapolis and Bishop Calvin Schofield of Southeast Florida said in a joint statement, "We are grateful for all of the prayers of the church as we have engaged in our work and for those who submitted to this process of discernment. We are offering the names of four individuals whom we believe possess the necessary qualities and abilities for this uniquely important calling."

During a two-year process that was marked by its confidentiality, the 29-member committee developed broad criteria for the office, underscoring the canonical requirement that the presiding bishop "shall be the chief pastor and primate of the church." The committee also emphasized the presiding bishop's "responsibility for leadership in initiating and developing the policy and strategy of the church and, as chair of the Executive Council of General Convention," with implementation.

Schofield said after an earlier meeting of the committee that the nominating process differs from the past because all those whose names are offered as nominees now undergo the background checks required of all active clergy and others in leadership roles in the church. The General Convention also reduced the term from 12 years to nine.

It is still possible that other candidates could be nominated "from the floor" but they would be subject to the same background check before their names could be offered to the House of Bishops.

Nominees reflect broad experience

The four nominees for the office are marked by broad experience in the church and the world.

Bishop Frank Griswold

Griswold is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford Universities and attended the General Theological Seminary. Following his ordination in 1963, he served parishes in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. He was elected bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Chicago in 1984 and assumed office as diocesan bishop in 1987. He serves as chair of the Standing Liturgical Commission and as co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States.

In a letter to diocesan clergy and laity, April 15, Griswold said he felt "deeply honored" by the committee's choice, but gave credit to the examples of "dynamic leadership" being exercised by the diocese's clergy and lay leaders. He noted that the diocese's life and ministry made "a very deep and positive impression" on the team from the nominating committee that visited the diocese in February.

"The one thing that is certain is that I am the bishop of Chicago," he said. "The rest is possibility and speculation which should not distract us from what we are called to do and be now."

Bishop Robert Rowley

Rowley is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, George Washington University and Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1965, he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific but resigned his commission to attend seminary. Following his ordination, he served parishes in Hawaii before accepting a call to the staff in the Diocese of Bethlehem. He was elected bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania in 1989 and became diocesan bishop in 1991.

"I feel very honored and at the same time I feel humbled to be one of the ones chosen," Rowley said.

In an interview with the Erie Daily Times, Rowley said that he is not sure exactly what qualities he has that led the committee to nominate him. Perhaps, he suggested, it was "some of the leadership that I've given in the House of Bishops in dealing with very delicate issues -- issues on which there is disagreement still today -- such as the ordination of women." Rowley chaired the committee for dialogue on the canon on women in the priesthood.

Rowley told the newspaper, "I think that in my ministry I allow all viewpoints to be heard and attempt to support those who do not prevail and still include them in the life of the church." Rowley added that he learned the value of teamwork in the Navy, and believes it has applications in the church, too. "I think in all denominations we are seeing more and more that the ministry is shared and that the ordained person is just one of many on the team. I've always been a team player."

Bishop Richard Shimpfky

Shimpfky is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Virginia Theological Seminary. He served parishes in the Dioceses of Virginia and Newark before election as diocesan bishop for El Camino Real (California) in 1990. As president of Province VII, he is a member of the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice, served on the committee to study human sexuality, and is convener of the General Convention's Standing Commission on Stewardship and Development.

"I am very pleased and grateful for the opportunity to speak to the church as a nominee," Shimpfky said. "Also, I'm honored to be among such distinguished bishops. I've spoken to each of them to congratulate them and to say that, together, we can model good will to the church, and maybe help the church by our conversation along the way." In speaking to the church, Shimpfky said in a column in the diocesan newspaper that he hoped to be able to call the church to be "light in the dark." To be light is "seeing ourselves for what God made us: every single Episcopalian with a vital part in a church for all the people," he said.

"This wonderful old church of ours has many problems, great and important issues to debate, but our mission is greater than the sum of them," he said. "Common light, Common mission. Common prayer. It is enough, enough to light even the darkest corer."

Bishop Don Wimberly

Wimberly is a graduate of Louisiana State University and attended its law school. He graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1971, served a parish in the Diocese of Kansas and was called to be dean of St. John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida. He was elected bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Lexington in 1985. He has served on the Executive Council and chaired its Administration and Finance Committee. He has also served on the Program, Budget and Finance Committee for General Convention.

In an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper, Wimberly called the nomination "the greatest compliment ever paid to me in my professional life." His selection as a nominee is "a call, and we pray for God's will in it."

Recognizing that the prospect of serving as presiding bishop is "both an awesome responsibility and frightening," Wimberly said, "I would look forward to the challenge and think I bring certain gifts to the position that could be helpful to the church." He referred in particular to his role as chair for the past three years of the Executive Council's Committee on Administration and Finance.

Bishop Roger White of Milwaukee and Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia were candidates, but withdrew from the process in the final weeks.

Remembering his own nomination

While calling the role of presiding bishop "the best job in the church," Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning also observed in a column for Episcopal Life, the national newspaper of the Episcopal Church, that the ministry "is not all tea and cakes." Whoever is called to this office, "whatever his abilities, must be deeply grounded in the life of faith or he will simply be buried under a mountain of irrelevant paper, or drown in a sea of care and worry," he said.

At the same time, as presiding bishop, "I have been given an opportunity to witness the goodness of people, their grace-filled ministries, their sacrificial offerings," Browning said. "Because I am privileged to be the church's chief pastor, I have learned from people of their struggles and accomplishments, their grief and their joys."

The time between nomination and election, he recalled, is "a kind of limbo, a holding time, for the nominees, their families, and their dioceses. It is a time when it is difficult to make plans in any area of your life."

The church owes "a great deal to the nominees -- who have prayed and thought carefully about their call to the office of the presiding bishop," he said. "It is a momentous decision to allow your name to go forward. During this time, it is an important discipline for all of us to surround the nominees, their families, and their dioceses with prayer."

[thumbnail: Candidate for presiding b...] [thumbnail: Candidate for presiding b...] [thumbnail: Candidate for presiding b...] [thumbnail: Candidate for presiding b...]