Bishop Search 6

This week the people of the EDUSC will be completing a survey. This will help the Bishop Search Committee in making a profile with which to compare with the profiles of the candidates for Bishop. I have just completed the survey. This survey is not like the namby pamby open ended survey presented by the Dio of Rio Grande which I will summarize here:

What works well in our diocese?
What does not work well in our diocese?
What skills/experience should our new bishop have?
What personal attributes should our new bishop have?
What personal attributes should our new bishop have?
Where is God calling our diocese?
What challenges do we face in answering that call?

Instead, we were asked a range of questions including some on how important it was to have SSBs or SSMs. Questions on how important it was to have a Bishop committed to the Windsor process may have been over the heads of some of those surveyed. It is an amazing sign of the times that we would have to ask if a Bishop should be monogamous, undivorced, and committed to the creeds and liturgy, but recent results from other Episcopal dioceses point the need for these questions as I noted in a previous post about the selection of the Rev. Thew Forrester in Northern Michigan.

The survey is an important step in the process of calling our next Bishop, but there will be further steps along the road. So if your favorite question was left on the cutting room floor like mine was, you might get another crack at it when you meet the candidates.