The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta has announced five priests to stand for election as the next bishop of Atlanta, which serves middle and north Georgia. The five are on a slate that was presented by the Nominating Committee.
The Feb. 13 announcement opens a month-long period during which members of the diocese may petition to add additional names to the ballot….
Read it all and please follow the links.
Hey — maybe Sam Candler can do for the Diocese of Atlanta what he’s done for the Cathedral!!
ASA in 2001 around 1400
ASA in 2010 a touch over 1000
Jim Pritchett has done a very good job as Canon to the Ordinary in Western NC. He’s smart and has a heart for mission.
This is a major problem for me. The idea that a bishop is elected. Anyone who would want that job should IMHO be instantly disqualified. If you want a good bishop look for the man who would run off and hide in the wilderness if his name was even mentioned as a possible candidate for a pointy hat.
A.O.,
I agree there is a certain ‘purple-itis’ that drives some and it is not a particularly pleasant fragrance.
However, we must not dismiss in the Word where Paul actually encourages the concept of – let’s say – “holy ambition”:
1 Timothy 3:1 [i] “This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”[/i] (KJV)
and in a modern translation,
[i] 1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. [/i] (ESV)
The question in this context (and certainly not the only question for the discernment process) is humility in God’s leading.
Jim Pritchett is a nice guy. I was thinking about applying for a job in Western North Carolina, and I had to deal with him. He did get seem to get rather defensive when I asked an innocuous question about one of the hiring policies, which I thought was oddly worded. That would raise my eyebrows a bit if he were bishop, but maybe I caught him on a bad day.
None of the women categories present, but we have the obligatory stately guy with a beard, the token good looking younger guy, and the African American guy, and the guy with the combover/weird smile. Overall, a pretty stock group of TEC Bishop candidates.
Are any of them to the right of Neil Alexander?
As for Sam Candler, let me say that Atlanta could do much worse. Maybe Kendall will allow himself the freedom to comment here, since I know that he has had extensive contact with Dean Candler through their work on opposite sides of the fence at General Convention over the years. My impression, which Kendall can correct if he wants, is that the two men had a good working relationship, built on mutual respect as “worthy opponents.”
Anyway, Sam and I were seminarians together back at Yale in the early 1980s (although I think we were a year apart). I regret to say that my impression of Sam is that he was fairly ambitious to climb the church ladder even back then. OTOH, he is a genuinely nice guy, very smart, very capable, very dedicated. He’s a good communicator and a capable administrator. If St. Philip’s Cathedral has declined significantly over the last decade, as Sarah pointed out above, well, so have most big cathedrals in this country. The real point might be that he has proven abilities in running a large, complex church that would suit him well as a bishop.
Moreover, I give him credit for having a pastor’s heart. But there is absolutely no doubt that Dean Candler has swallowed the whole pro-gay, inclusivist “gospel” hook, line, and sinker. I’m afraid that he’s totally deceived. But again, Atlanta could easily do worse.
David Handy+
Yale Div. School 1983
My understanding from folks who endured Sam Candler’s reign at Trinity in DUSC was that he was an utter disaster, in pretty much every way [administratively, numbers, and general kooky loony-tunes revisionist].
I’ve also had contact with folks at the Cathedral in Atlanta or who are otherwise connected with the Cathedral — same story. I expect there will be any number of people there — liberal AND conservative — who are hoping for his “elevation” to bishop so that they can view his departure from the cathedral with happy anticipation [although of course there will be any number of revisionists there who are just happy to have a revisionist whether competent or not].
He became dean in 1998 and let’s just say that a decline in ASA of [i]nearly 1/3[/i] of the attendance did not happen “by accident,” so to speak.
The only thing positive I can think of is that he’s probably not a *raging* revisionist. He’s as extreme a revisionist as anyone else you might name in TEC that springs to the mind of conservatives [Bruno, Bennison, Chane, Swing, Andrus, etc.] but probably not a raging cauldron of fury and spite.
So [i]that’s[/i] nice, I guess.
#8–David–Sam is a nice guy. I’ve known him since 1994 and went to GC with him in 1997. Also, while we were on opposite ends ofo tHe Robinson vote, he was never “in your face”. I still see him from time to time and he is very gracious. Since theology is no longer a consideration in most TEC bishop elections, they may as well pick a nice guy.
#3–I agree. Every priest I have ever known who actually coveted being a bishop has been an egotistical, nut job. Unfortunately, a couple of the ones I have known who didn’t really want to be a bishop, but got elected anyway, ended up being egotistical,, nut jobs. Is there a pattern here?
So again — perhaps he can do for the entire Diocese of Atlanta what he did for Atlanta’s Cathedral!
Sarah–Does it matter? Knowing what I do about the leadership of the Diocese of Atlanta IMHO they are doomed to decline no matter who they elect from this slate. I have no dog in the hunt; but I’ll bet in 5 years they will have lost another 10 to 15% of ASA no matter who the bishop is.
I personally believe that we should follow the St. Anselm model. If memory serves, he was selected from the crowd when a dove landed on his arm. As a former political wonk, I have a negative view of the entire episcopal election process. It is overtly political and often turns into a personality contest devoid of any real consideration ecclesiology or theology or Christology. The office of Bishop is not one that anyone in their right mind should aspire; rather, like the offices of Deacon and Priest, it is one to which someone is called. I pray that the Holy Spirit will move the hearts and minds of the voters in any episcopal election to choose according to the Will of God, rather than will of man.
Fr. Michael+
What……no women?
RE: “Sarah—Does it matter?”
Not to some, of course.
But then, to others it matters.
And yes, I think with good leadership some dioceses could be like Tennessee or South Carolina — at least hold steady, maybe gain a bit.
Do I think that will happen for Atlanta? Nope.
But I’m going to continue to point out the known and demonstrated colossal failures where I’m aware of them.
One candidate, James H. Pritchett, Jr., joined the [url=http://episcopalmajority.blogspot.com/2006/08/who-we-are.html]”Episcopal Majority”[/url] (remember them?) in September 2006. Louie Crew, Elizabeth Kaeton, Katie Sherrod, Mark Harris, Ann Fontaine, and Susan Russell, and Gene Robinson joined within a few weeks of Pritchett.
In their own words:
[blockquote] The Episcopal Majority is a grassroots organization committed to the values and vitality of The Episcopal Church and working to neutralize the negative influence of the American Anglican Council (AAC), the Anglican Communion Network (ACN), and related groups. The impetus for our group began in Columbus, Ohio, during the recent General Convention of The Episcopal Church. Initially, we were a group of former university chaplains, but our membership has grown to include many people and organizations from different places (both theologically and geographically). We welcome their participation.
We have felt for some time that there needed to be an organized response to the well-financed and well-organized groups whose words and actions have been largely destructive. Many others, clergy and lay alike, are looking for ways to counteract the damage done and to build a coalition representing the majority of The Episcopal Church.[/blockquote]
It does matter, since bishops are elected to the whole Church.
But, I suspect that a faithful, orthodox Christian would be unelectable in the long-gone Diocese of Atlanta.
Having a “nice” person sounds well and good, but that isn’t going to stop the loss to ACNA, which is thriving in that diocese. Furthermore, it appears that Fr Candler has not shown himself competent as a leader. Sarah’s comment in #9 is noteworthy.
Pigeon — good note. My understanding is that Pritchett was also the lead sponsor of a resolution there in Atlanta (and wrote an article in the diocesan newsletter in support) some time in 2005/2006 to require those churches that refused or could not pay the 10% diocesan assessment to lose their votes after one year and to be declared aided parishes after the second year, which would allow the bishop to remove the vestry and appoint a new one that would give up the money to the diocese. Obviously that kind of behavior should be a HUGE red flag to any conservatives in that diocese.
So you can add “malevolent” I expect to his description.
A little clarification about my earlier comment (#8) about Dean Sam Candler. I expected readers to realize that I was damning with faint praise. Merely being a nice guy is nowhere near enough to qualify someone to be a bishop in the Church of God. Of course not.
As for his basic pastoral competence, I will defer to Sarah’s more extensive knowledge of his performance and wider contacts with some of his former parishioners. But I still tend to think that Atlanta could do much worse than electing Sam (although that is surely not saying much).
As for those above who have compalined about the infamous “purple fever” being sufficient reason to raise serious red flags about someone’s fitness for being made a bishop, I heartily agree. I was hinting at that in my #8. Now people can change over the years. I hope that most of us grow and mature and become more Christ-like over time, and maybe Sam has. But those of us who’ve been to seminary are too familiar with that minority of clergy who seem to have been running for bishop since the day they entered seminary. And I again regret to say that Sam always struck me as one of those.
Have you heard the latest paraphrase of 1 Tim. 3:1, in the New Reversed Non-Standard Version? It goes like this:
“[i]If anyone aspires to the office of bishop—
they should get stuck with it![/i]”
On the whole, it’s a thankless job, at least in TEC these days.
Regardless, I would remind everyone that Sam Candler holds a distinguished postion once held by one of the greatest priests in TEC, a former President of the House of Deputies, the great, orthodox, evangelical Dean of St. Philip’s, the Very Rev. David Collins. The stark contrast between the much admired David Collins, a prominent leader in charismatic renewal circles in TEC, and staunchly pro-life, and the ever politically correct Sam Candler, is like day and night. Very sad. But in that devastating contrast you see the whole decline of TEC in microcosm.
I wasn’t recommending my old seminary classmate, just offering a little background FWIW. I’m glad others are chiming in and adding more info about him, and others.
Finally, I’ll just point out that the national office of the AAC is in Atlanta. Both +David Anderson (CANA/ACNA) and the astute Fr. Phil Ashey are based there (although they both are often on the road). As locals, it would be interesting to see if they contribute observations at some point on this list of nominees. I hope they will.
David Handy+
#19 David and #15 Sarah–I am not recommending any of them. My comments were intended to be satarical irony. If it was up to me all dioceses would have conservative, orthodox bishops and clergy, I would never have heard of Gene Robinson and I we would all still be in PECUSA.
David Keller (#20),
Thanks for the clarification, and for your earlier back-up about the niceness of Dean Candler. Don’t worry, I assumed you were being somewhat sarcastic too. However, in the spirit of Kendall’s blog, I was also trying to be as charitable as I could.
David Handy+
Can anyone comment on Rob Wright+ at St Paul’s Atlanta? He says in his annual report that in his ten years as Rector, attendance (ASA?) has grown from 151 to 500. (archive.constantcontact.com/fs004/1101953126089/archive/1109101962398.html)
#22–They also publish their budget on their web site–$1.14M.
I don’t know Fr Wright. His credentials look very good except for one itty-bitty thing. From their website at:
http://www.stpaulsatl.org/rector.html
I don’t quite know what a “Black Episcopal Church” is. I suspect that if any parish in our diocese were to promote itself as a “White Episcopal Church,” the bishop would be making a phone call.
The rotating photos at the home page are indeed photos of only black people.
Perhaps the new bishop could plant a Homosexual Episcopal Church.
Ralph, you’ve combined three topics into one (a candidate’s credentials, race, and sexuality). I think you would have done better to have kept it simple: “I don’t know Fr Wright. His credentials look very good.”
Ralph (#24),
While there is no history of the parish posted, I’m assuming that it was planted as a segregated mission sometime between 1865 and 1965.
In the South, especially, there is likely the same tendency to self-identify as a black church as would be the case in an AME or NBC congregation.
Given the course of Southern Episcopal history – the long ban on black congregations participating in diocesan conventions, for example – I can understand the endurance of such an identity. The question is more whether that identity distorts how this congregation worships and reaches out in mission today.