Sep 02 | Sede Vacante

Well, today is September 2nd and it’s official: the Right Reverend Michael Ingham, bishop in the church of God, is retired.

It seems bizarre…and yet not. 19 years is a heck of a run, and it was certainly a generation’s worth of change he helped us through…maybe even more than a generation. I shall never forget his grace, courage, and gentle heart. I actually saw him at a funeral on Thursday and really wanted to say hello but, as he is wont to do, he vanished as soon as the thing was over. He’s actually a rather shy and quiet person most of the time. He’s inspiring not only to a young firebrand Christian but an occasionally shy one as well. ;)

 

So now the real work begins. This is going to be historic for me! I was only 9 or 10 years old when he was consecrated – still living in Ottawa and only barely aware of how the workings of the church functioned. Now, aware and in awe, I get to witness not only the selection of a bishop, but a real honest-to-God consecration!!! It’s going to be magical! I am so desperately curious about who our candidates will be. I have one or two preferences in mind, but unfortunately I’m not eligible to vote. It’s likely that by the time I would be, the candidate will already have been chosen.

So are you curious about how this works? I’ll give you the run-down!

 

SO YOU WANT TO CONSECRATE A BISHOP

Of course the first thing that happens is that the currently serving bishop retires or somehow vacates the seat. Then, in this particular Diocese, we begin the process of selecting a new one according to the laws laid out in Canon 2.

Since the selection of a new bishop is a very involved process that takes quite a while, the Dean of the Cathedral will become the Diocesan Administrator, taking care of administrative matters and directing Synod. The sacramental role, however, cannot be assumed by the dean, of course, because there are certain offices that only a consecrated bishop can perform, like ordinations and confirmations. For those things the help of a retired bishop can be recruited.

At the next Diocesan Council meeting a 10 member Search/Nominations committee is elected. Diocesan Council here has already met, in June, and so a committee has been formed, although I don’t know who is serving on it. The committee does contain five ordained and five lay members of Synod who will do the work of any search committee, receiving and evaluating nominations, which will then be distributed to the members of Electoral Synod. The last time this happened, in 1993, there were videotapes made of each candidate which were then circulated to each parish for review. A profile of the Diocese is also provided to each candidate.

Anyone who is a member of Synod can nominate an eligible person to stand for bishop, “eligible” being defined as “a priest in good standing in the worldwide Anglican Communion, ordained for a minimum of five years.” I, unfortunately, will likely not be able to nominate or vote, because I am not a member of (or, in our terminology, a delegate to) Synod. Postulants for ordination are automatically made members of Synod, but the earliest possible time I could be a postulant would not be until May, and we’ll likely already have a bishop by then. This is why I’m praying so hard for the work of the committee – because I don’t get a vote! Haha.

A second committee (which for some reason is ALSO called the Nominations Committee, blargh!), comprised of 2 lay and 2 ordained people, “receives notice of nominations up to ten days before the electoral synod. These are people not already vetted by the Search/Nominations Committee.”

Once the See is vacant (which was officially the case yesterday), Diocesan Council requests permission from the Provincial Metropolitan to call an Electoral Synod. Our Metropolitan is the Most Rev’d John Privett. Within 30 days of his permission, the call must be sent out to members of Synod, and they must meet within 3 months of the call. All of its members will be the same as those who attended Synod as voting members in May of 2013. At the beginning of this Synod, further nominations may be offered by delegates from the floor. As clergy and laity are part of two separate groups in Synod called “houses,” voting is done separately by each in rounds (candidates with fewer votes are dropped in each successive round). To be elected, a candidate must have a majority vote in both houses – that way a candidate can be truly said to have been chosen by both ordained and lay members of the church.

Finally, the election is confirmed by a majority of the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia. Then, consecration!

 

All of these notes are paraphrased or quoted directly from the Christ Church Cathedral’s bulletin of May 5th, put together by both the Very Reverend Peter Elliott, our dean and rector, and the Venerable Dr. Ellen Clark-King, our vicar and Archdeacon.

They also provide what I believe to be a very helpful note at the end of this summary: “This is a process of communal discernment, a prayerful journey open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t appropriate to talk of people ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ an Episcopal election.”

How very true. If I might be a bit flippant for a moment, anyone who is truly called to episcopacy should never think it a prize to be won, but rather a willing burden to be shouldered. Being a bishop is one of the hardest things to be. Priests already sometimes speak about how their lives are not their own, and how much more the case for a bishop, a shepherd not only to churches but to their priests as well! All I had to do to learn that was to go down to the archives one day in search of materials for a project on the blessing of same-sex unions in this Diocese. As I discussed the case briefly with the archivist, she asked dryly, “Do you want to look over all the hate mail Michael received? I’ve filed all of it.” I told her, wincing, that I’d give it a pass.

I guess at this point we’re still going through all of the nominations. The process has been largely kept under wraps, of course. I’m very glad I get to sit out of this nomination committee! I was actually suggested as a replacement to the student representative on the principal search committee at VST, and accepted. It was a very educational process, but it was also immensely draining and at times very frustrating. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy! I know it won’t be the only time I’m required to sit on a committee like that, but at least the next time I’ll know what to expect.

So there you have it. Are you bursting at the seams with knowledge? I am! (Not really). I am, however, tremendously excited for this new era of our Diocese.

-Clarity

UPDATE: The Electoral Synod now has their own website! You can look at it here.