In [Peter] Beckwith’s absence, the diocese’s standing committee, made up of four clergy members and four lay people, will carry on day-to-day activities, according to the Venerable Shawn Denney, the diocesan archdeacon. The standing committee has also begun the election process, with guidelines and nomination forms going out last week.
A nominating synod will whittle the list to four or five candidates, who will meet with clergy and church members at several locales in the diocese. An electing synod, made up of clergy and lay delegates from the various congregations, is scheduled to convene in mid-September to finalize the choice.
The candidate is then put on the national stage, to the bishops and dioceses’ standing committees.
Carlinville’s Bettman said he hopes the diocese doesn’t get a re-play of what happened in the Diocese of South Carolina in 2007. The electing synod’s first vote to name the Right Rev. Mark Lawrence, a conservative, was declared void. Lawrence was subsequently re-elected, approved and consecrated bishop in 2008.
“It’s hard to come up with a majority sometimes,” said Bettman. “It’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. “People have deep-held beliefs (about their candidates.)”
Denney said the timeline is realistic and that the process is not being rushed.
“We have everything lined up,” he said. “There’s no reason the selection of the bishop can’t take place.”
Ok, I’ll bite. What happened to Beckwith?
I used SF’s search mechanism to look for answers, but all it brought up was a 2008 press conference.
Sorry, I should have read the whole article, instead of going off searching. I just looked at the posting and assumed I had missed a previous announcement.
Mea culpa,
Marie
A very fine man, Bishop Beckwith. He is a schoolmate from my hometown. I am sorry he retired, but wish him well in whatever he does next.
The article included the following item on its timeline:
[blockquote]
March 2004 — House of Bishops allows parishes to separate from church organization.
[/blockquote]
I don’t remember this. It can’t mean what it appears to mean.