Help wanted: Diocese of Los Angeles continues nomination process for two bishops suffragan

By Pat McCaughan

 

The bishops suffragan search and nominations committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles (http://www.ladiocese.org) has been charged with double duty as the 147-congregation, 70,000-member diocese readies to elect not one, but two suffragan bishops.

 

The nominations process to fill openings created by the June 2010 retirements of both Bishop Suffragan Chester L. Talton and Bishop Assistant Sergio Carranza began April 2 and concludes May 15, according to the Rev. Julian Bull, committee chair. “We’ve been getting all sorts of names, every day, from all over the country,” he said.

 

They’re getting questions, too, with which the 26-member committee is wrestling, Bull added. Questions about how they intend to hold dual elections at the same Dec. 4-5 annual convention meeting. And questions about seeking a diversity of candidates in the six-county diocese where worship is regularly held in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, as well as English and some African and Native American languages.

 

“We’re considering some options,” said Bull, who is headmaster of Campbell Hall, a K-12 Episcopal school located in North Hollywood. “The folks out there wondering are not the only ones. We are conducting our work with an eye toward the whole team of bishops working as a whole, balancing each other and Bishop Bruno’s gifts as well.”

 

‘Faith, Future, Family’

 

Bishop J. Jon Bruno announced the June 2010 retirements of Talton and Carranza on Dec. 5, 2008. At the same time, he also called for the election of two bishops suffragan  during his address at the annual diocesan convention meeting, themed “Faith and our Future.”

 

Concurrently, he announced creation of a new five-year strategic plan, also dubbed “Faith and Our Future” and said it will include studying trendsof the present “Great Emergence” of change within the church and the world. Components of the plan include: welcoming all as Christ; renewing God’s creation; serving with generosity; and building new community.

 

During his convention address, Bruno acknowledged sentiments about the inclusion of women and multi-lingual persons in future Episcopal elections, which were expressed by numerous participants during a series of regional meetings held the previous year.

 

Bruno is the sixth Bishop of Los Angeles, historically one of the most populous of the Episcopal Church’s 110 dioceses. It includes 40 schools and 20 other specialized service institutions and two cathedral sites, St. John’s in downtown Los Angeles and St. Paul’s Cathedral Center in the city’s Echo Park neighborhood.

 

He was elected coadjutor in November 1999, succeeding the retiring Bishop Frederick H. Borsch. Talton was elected in June 1990. Carranza was appointed in 2001. Bishop Assistant Robert M. Anderson retired in December 2008.

 

The search committee is “a very congenial group, from teen-agers to retirees who are working very hard and being very careful to make the search accessible and to attract quality women and men as candidates,” said committee member Dolores Conyer, a parishioner at St. Mark’s Church in Upland.

 

“There is a representative on the committee from each of the diocese’s ten deaneries,” said Conyer, who is also a member of the diocesan standing committee.

 

Among the qualities desired for the new bishops are women and men who are comfortable with diverse groups of people, she added. “We are also seeking someone who is open and available to young people, someone who is tuned in to technology, because that’s the world of young people today.”

 

Conyer added that because the Los Angeles diocese’s geographic size and diversity can seem daunting, “That’s why the committee is working very hard to be inviting so women and men will feel encouraged to apply,” she said.

 

The Rev. Canon Lester V. Mackenzie, curate at St. John’s Pro-Cathedral in Los Angeles echoed that sentiment. The search committee is itself “a melting pot,” reflecting the diocese’s rich diversity, in age, ethnicities and languages that represent “the gamut of the diocese,” he said.

 

Mackenzie called the dual election “a gift that Bishop Bruno is giving the community. He is saying to the community; let us choose together for the benefit of the diocese, comprehensively.”

 

That mutuality is important, added Mackenzie. “He (Bruno) is saying, ‘let us see together who will answer this call and continue the work we are trying to do, which is being creative, and outside the box, a forerunner in creativity.

 

The newly elected suffragans will “be fresh bishops, so to speak, freshly consecrated,” said Mackenzie. The community will celebrate the new bishops, as well as the ministries of Talton and Carranza, he added. “That’s the call, too, we are really wanting to do this together as a community, a family.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most information is available on the search website, in Spanish and English, according to Mackenzie, who chairs the communication and website subcommittee.

 

“Now that the website’s up, we’ll begin fine-tuning some of the other details,” such as the size of the pool of candidates, he said.

 

Both nominations and applications may be completed and transmitted online. Videos of a Saturday, September 19 forum at Campbell Hall featuring the final slate of prospective candidates will be posted on the search website at: http://bishopssuffragansearch.ladiocese.org/. Once a final slate of candidates has been approved, the next step will be the December election.

 

Noting that a hallmark of Bruno’s episcopacy has been teamwork and collegiality among bishops, Mackenzie said, “The time between December and June will be a kind of handing over, so we have a smooth transition as to the work of the diocese.

 

“So (there will be) nurturing of that work and forming that Episcopal collegiality within the bishop’s offices. We want that to be a smooth transition so the work, the ministry continues smoothly.”