A slate of four nominees was announced this morning to stand for election as the next Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop, succeeding The Most Rev. Michael Curry, who completes his term in office later this year.
Nominees include The Rt. Rev. J. Scott Barker of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska, The Rt. Rev. Daniel G. P. Gutiérrez of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and its suburban counties), The Rt. Rev. Robert Wright of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta and The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe who serves as diocesan bishop for the two neighboring Episcopal Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York.
The bishop chosen will lead the 1.5 million-member mainline Protestant denomination, which has struggled with uninterrupted decline in recent decades. The Episcopal Church has shed 23 percent of members in the past 10 years, a rate that is accelerating.
The names of both Rowe and Gutiérrez had been widely discussed as potential nominees prior to today’s announcement.
In order to be nominated for Presiding Bishop, a diocesan bishop must not yet have reached the mandatory retirement age of 72. Historically, nominees are young enough to serve the entirety of the nine-year term. For much of the Episcopal Church’s history, the Presiding Bishop was the most senior of serving diocesan bishops. The office became elective in 1926.
Rowe is the longest serving of the nominees, and was 32 years old when elected as a diocesan bishop in 2007. For almost 12 years, he was the youngest bishop in the church. At age 24, Rowe was the youngest Episcopal priest in the U.S. at the time of his ordination. Both of his dioceses are relatively small, but their shared leadership and staff may be a model for dioceses considering consolidation amidst tight resources.
Gutiérrez is institutionally well-positioned, serving as president of The Compass Rose Society, which supports the work of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion. The society raises funds for the ministries of the Anglican Consultative Council (functionally a “standing committee” of the Anglican Communion) and designates contributions for mission projects approved by the secretary general. Of the four nominees, he probably has the widest connections within the broader Anglican Communion. Gutiérrez can also point to a more congenial tenure in a large diocese that faced significant conflict under his predecessor.
Wright, who lectures at United Methodist-affiliated Candler School of Theology at Emory University, entered the episcopacy in 2012 and also leads a relatively large diocese. He holds certificates from Ridley Hall, Cambridge University, Oxford University and The Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy. Adopted from an orphanage, he has a compelling backstory, including service in the U.S. Navy.
Barker is the least widely known, shepherding a smaller diocese far from the Episcopal Church’s historic centers of population in the Northeast or relative vibrancy in the American South. That said, former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori also came from a small diocese (Nevada).
Three of the nominees have connections to Virginia Theological Seminary, the denomination’s largest: Rowe and Wright are graduates, and Barker has served on the VTS Board. Gutiérrez was educated at Trinity School for Ministry, for many years the lone seminary in the evangelical Anglican tradition educating clergy for service in the Episcopal Church.
The denomination’s House of Bishops will elect the next Presiding Bishop on June 26 during the triennial Episcopal Church General Convention held June 23 – 28, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. The House of Deputies, composed of clergy and laity, will subsequently vote on confirmation of the bishops’ selection. The newly elected Presiding Bishop will be installed as the top bishop (‘primate’ in Anglican parlance) of the Episcopal Church at the Washington National Cathedral in the autumn.
Update [4/16/24]: The Episcopal Church Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop has announced that the Rt. Rev. DeDe Duncan-Probe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, has been nominated through its petition process to stand for election as presiding bishop. Duncan-Probe (pronounced PRO-bee) is a graduate of General Theological Seminary and previously served as rector of St. Peter’s in the Woods Church in Fairfax Station, Virginia between 2009 and 2016.
Comment by Nick Thomas on April 2, 2024 at 5:47 pm
Error.
“A slate of four nominees was announced this morning to stand for election as the next Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop, succeeding The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, who completes his term in office later this year.”
It is The Most Rev.
Comment by Jeffrey Walton on April 2, 2024 at 10:05 pm
You are correct, thanks for the catch! While The Most Reverend is typically used for Archbishops, Curry as Presiding Bishop is the Primate and Metropolitan so would have the same honorific.
Comment by David on April 3, 2024 at 6:00 pm
A lot of church decline can be traced to birthrates. That of white Americans is below replacement level. According to the Pew Reach people, 65% of adult members of the Episcopal Church are over age 50.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/religious-denomination/episcopal-church/racial-and-ethnic-composition/
Comment by Different Steve on April 4, 2024 at 8:25 am
Was the article even about demographics? White people are still having babies. They just aren’t bringing them to Episcopal churches. That’s not exactly accurate: I will see one or two kids, but they gave up on Sunday school a couple decades ago. The church advertised for a Christian formation director, but the job listing is gobbledegook and underpaid and has gone unfilled for a couple years. What are the kids supposed to be taught, even? Not the Bible, certainly. Just turn on CNN and MSNBC? Plus, by the church’s own admission in their own studies, the kids left when they grew up. Current seminarians (if Reddit is to be believed) are looking forward to the baby boomer clergy generation dying off so there can be a return to something resembling othodoxy. Meanwhile other churches (Catholic and non-denominational) are well attended at large campuses.
Comment by Corvus Corax on April 4, 2024 at 1:02 pm
Presiding bishop? Presiding over what?
Comment by David on April 4, 2024 at 2:26 pm
Given the number of Catholic church closures, I would not say they are so well attended. Here is some demographic reading.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/white-and-youth-population-losses-contributed-most-to-the-nations-growth-slowdown-new-census-data-reveals/
Comment by Different Steve on April 4, 2024 at 3:24 pm
I know old Catholic churches in deteriorating areas (blue cities) are being closed/consolidating
Out in the suburbs where I live, I’m aware of several large new construction Catholic churches, so large its fair to say one of them has a campus, and the very large parking lot is jammed on Sundays. Another is in the process of adding a lot of square footage and has added an additional Sunday service. The other I’m aware of I just know its new and large (not close enough to observe what actual attendance looks like). And there are other largeish newish Catholic churches in the area I can think of. Maybe somebody needs to get out a little more, gaslight statistics less? The decline in the Episcopal church vastly exceeds and cannot be explained the decline in white births, as I have pointed out many times. Besides which, given the Episcopal church’s emphasis on “radical inclusion”, where are the non-whites and gays? You mean to tell me that’s been a complete failure? What a shock, they went woke and went broke, who knew?
Comment by Susan Heuke on April 8, 2024 at 9:00 am
Who of the 4 nominees is the most conservative? Bishop Gutierrez? I hope the House of Bishops have the wisdom to elect such a bishop, if one exists. I know it would not be the Bishop from Atlanta. The church’s Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta has been a big promoter of Critical Race Theory. They have had the likes of Ibram Kendi speak at the Center and they have gone out to surrounding parishes where parishioners have been motivated to apologize for being white, sermons have increasingly inserted leftist ideology, parents are referred to as “guardians” and one book used for reading groups is “Me and White Supremacy” (a primer in CRT without mentioning CRT!) Personally, this has been an overwhelming distraction from my spiritual growth. I have not returned to the church and miss the service and fellowship. As a life long Episcopalian, I would like nothing more than to see the church change its path. I do wonder if this is one of the reasons that its numbers have dropped.
Comment by Thomas on April 9, 2024 at 9:09 am
Susan Heuke, I think the Episcopal Church is hopeless. A church that now says that traditional marriage and same-sex marriage are basically the same, who has fully adopted the gay agenda and gender ideology, and even supports openly abortion rights, doesn`t qualify as Christian anymore. They are still some dioceses and parishes who claim to be theologically conservative but they are in the wrong church and will soon disappear. TEC is now dead as a Christian denomination, its more like a neopagan church. Please join the Anglican Church in North America.
Comment by George on April 12, 2024 at 7:17 pm
As an Episcopalian I have observed this decline since the 1970s. My son is a believer and an Episcopal priest who grew up with believing “Holy Spirit-filled” parents. I find it interesting that the charismatic revival (renewal in our parlance) spread to the various denominations from the Episcopal church. I was involved in those days but now it seems Ichabod (אִיכָבוֹד) is the name over the doorway leading out. The glory has long and sadly departed. Though the various denominations might not reflect it, or even know it, God is moving all over the world and the real church is exploding outside the denominations! Its wonderful to see! I love our “church” but I know its not really THE church composed of disciples of Jesus. There seems to be only few in our pews. It’s just pretty and comfortable with “all things in moderation and good taste” and we love and pray for us all to know “Him whom to know is life eternal.” I’ve sat in my pew and prayed thus for 46 years now. I believe this has been a divine assignment for me. Lord Jesus quickly come! We long for your appearing.
Comment by Different Steve on May 5, 2024 at 7:34 am
Sorry for the untimely post, but I made a mistake. One one-of-several Catholic churches doing well in my area turns out not to be Catholic, the one that is doing major construction and adding a service turns out to be non-denominational. I was driving by it with my wife and pointed it out and she was dubious it was Catholic so she Googled it. So that’s one non-denominational that’s doing very well, and I regularly pass another non-denominational that is huge with a huge campus and parking lot that’s even more successful. That huge one has enough traffic on Sunday that there are guides out in the parking lot directing traffic. There is an actual Catholic Church near the church that I was wrong about, its a mid sized modern but not new construction, land records shows it as being on 11.5 acres with 21k square footage with the state appraising the value of land and improvements as being $4.75 million. Looking at online photos, the place has maybe a couple hundred people in it at times. So I’ve revised my impression of how well Catholic Churches are doing around here down a good bit, but still think they’re doing more than ok. Non-ecumenical, however, seems to be doing great. My wife volunteered that the local Episcopal Church is seeing a few more people than it has been in the recent past as well. I replied that the church having recently removed its woke signage (transsexual rainbow flag and “Black Lives Matter” banner) from the front entrance might account for much of that.
Comment by Colin Ross on August 25, 2024 at 12:05 pm
I love the people that say white people just arnt having babies. No one gives a damn about the episcopal church. It has a near zero retention rate. How many six figure salaried people does this “charity” have on the employ? The other part of the convention was making sure there were golden parachute options for all the senior priest….The same people that ran the denomination into the ground. The circuit city of churches if you will. The only difference is that circuit city didnt have tens of billions in trusts and assets to sustain it. Call me cynical but its hard not to see the episcopal church as just a scam for the elderly and a very very small group of priest will be spending billions maintaining graveyards. The only responsible thing to do at this point is how the episcopal church is plan for its legacy.