| | | Background: Electing Our Next Bishop Bishop Andrus then addressed the convention by telephone [text attached], an address that was interrupted by applause, and that was warmly received by those in attendance. Immediately following Andrus' address, the convention celebrated the Holy Eucharist, then adjourned. After a process that lasted one-and-a-half years, and that included the prayerful and diligent work of the diocesan Standing, Search, and Transition Committees, the Diocese now celebrates and rejoices in the election of Marc Handley Andrus as Bishop of California. Following consent at General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio, this June, Andrus will be received as Bishop of California in a celebration at Grace Cathedral on July 22, 2006. More: The Standing Committee of the Diocese of California announced on March 15 that the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, Officer for Congregational Development, Diocese of California, and the Rev. Donald Schell, co-rector, St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco, have been nominated by petition to stand for election for bishop on May 6, 2006. The reverends Barlowe and Schell were nominated in a petition process established by the diocesan Standing Committee, and their nominations bring the total slate of nominees to seven (see below for the full list of nominees). The petition process closed at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 13, and no more nominees will be added to the slate. The rules for the petition process adopted by Standing Committee included the following: Each nominee was required to obtain the signatures of at least 21 church members from at least three different congregations within the Diocese of California. The petition also needed to include the names of at least nine clergy and at least nine lay persons. Petition nominees must comply with the same regulations and procedures as the nominees presented by the Search Committee and announced by the Standing Committee on February 20, 2006. Oasis news release issued: Bay Area LGBT Episcopalians pleased gay man & lesbian are nominated in search for a new Bishop and here for more on this historic event. Election of the eighth Episcopal Bishop of California was completed in a special electing convention on May 6, 2006 in Grace Cathedral. The bishop-elect will then be presented to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (June 13-21 in Columbus, Ohio), for consent. Following consent, the bishop will be consecrated at Grace Cathedral on July 22, 2006. For more information about the search process, visit bishopsearch.org. A Gay and a Lesbian are among the slate of five nominees to become the next Episcopal Bishop of California. The Very Rev. Robert Taylor and the Rev. Bonnie Perry are among the nominations advanced by the Diocesan Search Committee (see the full slate of nominees below). On May 6th, laity and clergy will meet in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral to elect the 8th Episcopal Bishop of California. A month later, in June, the bishop-elect will be considered for ratification by lay and clergy deputies and by the House of Bishops at the General Convention of the National Episcopal Church, in Columbus, Ohio. Following ratification, a consecration is scheduled for July 22. This list of names is not necessarily complete, since there is a petition process that allows other names to be submitted from members of our local churches. Other names may be added before March 13th. Integrity, a national Episcopal LGBT group, hailed inclusion of a gay man and a lesbian woman in the slate of nominees. As it has in the past, Integrity expects General Convention to follow canonical procedures to the letter, giving consent to the bishop-elect if there is no justifiable impediment to his/her consecration. The canons clearly state that, "No one shall be denied rights, status or access to an equal place in the life, worship, and governance of this Church because of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disabilities or age,” the group stated. “We realize that some of our brothers and sisters in other provinces of the Anglican Communion will be dismayed by Robert and Bonnie’s nomination and, perhaps, regard it as deliberate disregard for the Windsor Report. However, it must be remembered that the Windsor Report is a set of recommendations with no binding authority. Both the Diocese of California and the Episcopal Church must discern and obey the will of God as faithfully as they know how, even if doing so in not consonant with the understanding of other members of our communion.” The Very Rev. Robert V. Taylor is Dean of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle. Since his arrival in 1999, the Cathedral's congregation has flourished as has its presence as a public voice and gathering place, a center for inter-religious dialog, worship and reconciliation. Previously, he served as Rector of St. Peter's Church in Peekskill, New York, two year-long Interim posts in New York and two years as Associate Rector of Grace Church, White Plains. Robert received his Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1984 and his B.A. from Rhodes University, South Africa. Born and raised in South Africa, Robert experienced police harassment for anti-apartheid activities and, facing mandatory military service, left for the US in 1980 with the assistance of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He currently serves as a member of the Board of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Governing Council of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County. His curriculum vitae is here.
 The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe is the Officer for Congregational Development for the Diocese of California. He serves as Chair of the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on National Concerns, and on the boards of the School for Deacons and the Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership. A priest for 23 years, Michael was the founding Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa; Rector of Grace Church, Plainfield, New Jersey; and assistant at St. Paul's, Westfield, New Jersey. Before ordination, he was an officer of the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. Michael graduated with honors from Harvard College and the General Theological Seminary, and is completing a doctorate at CDSP in church planting and evangelism to young adults. Michael has been a children's advocate, editor of the Ecumenical Bulletin, seminary tutor, and retreat leader. You can learn more at Condev, the Diocese's congressional development blog. Michael's curriculum vitae is here, and his personal statement is here. His Essays can be found here in pdf and browser readable formats.
 The Rev. Bonnie Perry, D.Min., is Rector of All Saints' Church, Chicago, a diverse, outreach-centered congregation with an average age of 36. She is an adjunct faculty member at Seabury-Western Seminary, supervising seminarians and teaching a course she developed entitled, Advanced Studies in Congregational Leadership. She consults with clergy and vestries in Chicago and congregations in West Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Minnesota on congregational development, young adult evangelism and stewardship. She received her B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts then served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in West Oakland and South Central Los Angeles. She received her Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and her doctorate in Congregational Development from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. In addition to her ministry, Bonnie is a passionate sea kayaker. She's a certified American Canoe Association Open Water Instructor and a British Canoe Union Level 3 Sea Coach. Her curriculum vitae is here.
 The Rev. Donald Schell is rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in San Francisco, a parish devoted to liturgical renewal and innovation inspiring for Anglican Christians around the world. Donald also serves as a fellow of the College of Preachers at Washington's National Cathedral. Following ordination in New York in 1972, Donald served as a deacon-in training in Louisiana, an associate university chaplain at Yale University and as the rector of St. David's, Caldwell, Idaho. In 1980 he joined the Rev. Rick Fabian in founding St. Gregory's, known for its creative liturgies, its Food Bank, its yearly innovative liturgy conference and its semi-annual Artists and Writers' Weekend retreats. Donald currently serves as president of the Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission and has been a board member, bishop's representative and president of the board of St. Dorothy's Rest camp and retreat center at Camp Meeker, California. Donald received his BA at St. John's College, Santa Fe and his M.Div at the General Theological Seminary in New York; on the secular side, he received an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco in 1991. His curriculum vitae is here, and his personal statement is here. His Essays can be found here in pdf and browser readable formats.
 The Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus has served as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Alabama since 2001, where he's initiated the Task Force for the Stewardship of Creation and the Pilgrimage for Peace, and been responsible for diocesan college chaplaincies and the camp and conference center, along with episcopal ministries. He serves on national steering committees for Bishops Working for a Just Society, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, and the Executive Council Committee on the Status of Women. He was Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Middleburg, Virginia; Chaplain and teacher at Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia and curate at the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Prior to ordained ministry, he worked as a regional planner on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Bishop Andrus received his M.Div. at Virginia Theological Seminary, a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from VPI&SU (Virginia Tech) and a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Tennessee. His curriculum vitae is here.
 The Rev. Jane Gould is Rector of St. Stephen´s Church, Lynn, Massachusetts, a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-racial urban church. Ordained in Massachusetts in 1986, she has served urban and suburban parishes of the Diocese. In addition, she served 6 years as MIT´s Episcopal Chaplain and Coordinator of the Technology Forum. Local commitments include Diocesan Council, youth ministry, mission strategy work, several urban ministry committees, and numerous community boards. Nationally, she serves as deputy to General Convention and board member of Episcopal Urban Caucus. Thanks to Kellogg Foundation and Lilly Endowment grants, she has extensive international experience and leadership training.
With a Californian father and eastern mother, Jane is decidedly bi-coastal growing up in Washington D.C. and receiving BA and MA degrees from Stanford. Her curriculum vitae is here.  The Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton is Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral, and Director of the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. He co-founded an ecumenical network of churches and individuals in the Washington area who practice centering prayer, and is a frequent leader of retreats and conferences throughout the nation on prayer, spirituality, and preaching. Canon Sutton has served as a college chaplain, parish priest and a professor in homiletics and liturgy at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is a contributor to the book The Diversity of Centering Prayer. His curriculum vitae is here.
Election of the eighth Episcopal Bishop of California will be held in a special electing convention on May 6, 2006 in Grace Cathedral. The bishop-elect will then be presented to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (June 13-21 in Columbus, Ohio), for consent. Following consent, the bishop will be consecrated at Grace Cathedral on July 22, 2006. For more information about the search process, visit bishopsearch.org.
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