The nominees are:
â– The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, 64, Diocese of Southern Ohio
â– The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, 62, Diocese of North Carolina
â– The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, 56, Diocese of Connecticut
â– The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith, 61, Diocese of Southwest Florida
Read it all and there is more here.
With a 9 year term of office, isn’t 64 year old Breindenthal too old to fulfill the term before the mandatory retirement of 72?
I am struck by the fact that with the marginal exception of Ian Douglas [4 years], all of these candidates appear to be as old or older than the Presiding Bishop [b. March ’54].
Normally if you are choosing a new leader, particularly for a long tenure [9 years] you will skip a generation to ensure time for the person to grow into the role and while they still have the energy to function.
But perhaps TEC is trying to ensure that its PB reflects the general age of its remaining congregants by ensuring that it becomes a Soviet or Chinese style geriatocracy.
I know very little about internal TEC politics nowadays, but I find it hard to imagine that the HOB will NOT elect Ian Douglas as PB, and for this reason alone: he will wed Lambeth irrevocably to TEC at the very moment when the latter mandates same-sex weddings. Douglas is a scholar-bishop, he can indaba about missio-dei, and he is already an ACC insider. How can Canterbury and the English establishment not say: “Welcome to the club!” It’s a marriage made in… oh, well.