Bishop
The leadership of bishops is one defining aspect of The Episcopal Church. In fact, the root of the word “bishop” is the Greek word episkopos meaning “overseer.” So “episcopal” means “having to do with a bishop.” According to An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, “[o]ne of the three orders of ordained ministers in the church, bishops are charged with the apostolic work of leading, supervising, and uniting the church. Bishops represent Christ and his church, and they are called to provide Christian vision and leadership for their dioceses.” (Read more about the official and canonical definitions and roles of bishops here.)
Why don’t we have a bishop?
You may understandably be asking yourself, “If the role of a bishop is so vital in a diocese, why doesn’t The Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes have a bishop?”
The most recent two bishops who served as a Bishop Diocesan and a Bishop Provisional for our two legacy dioceses, the Rt. Rev. Whayne M. Hougland Jr. and the Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, both ended their relationships with our dioceses in the midst of Title IV (clergy disciplinary) processes. These bishops both served at crucial times in our journey of discernment that ultimately led to our juncture and becoming a new diocese.
Becoming a new diocese literally, legally and canonically takes a tremendous amount of focused effort and work, not only by diocesan staff, but really primarily by the volunteer members of our Standing Committee and Diocesan Council. This workload is in addition to the relational, spiritual and prayer work of becoming the new diocese which God is calling us to be. And this, too, is added to the normal workload of ministering as and attending to the “regular” business of a diocese!
Likewise, the work of prayerfully and carefully calling a new bishop, the person who will be the first bishop of our diocese, takes a tremendous amount of focused effort, work, time and prayer. It is understandable that people across our diocese, especially those who lived through the turmoil of two tumultuous bishop departures in three years, would associate being a new diocese with starting fresh in all ways, with a new bishop. However, the work of becoming takes time, and we are in the midst of that big work.
In January, current Standing Committee president, the Rev. Molly Bosscher, sat down with our Director of Communications, Rachel Ravellette, to talk through some of the confusion surrounding the process and timing of calling our first diocesan Bishop.
The Work of Calling a Bishop
Please rest assured that your diocesan leaders – staff and volunteers who compose our governing bodies – are eager to call a bishop. We’ll use this space, our Circle Community and other diocesan communications to keep you up to date on where we are in the process. As in all things, we aim for transparency and timely communication and you are always welcome and encouraged to reach out to us with your questions or concerns.
Ministry of the Episcopate Team
One group of volunteers who is working to prepare our diocese to call a bishop is the Ministry of the Episcopate team. This team grew out of the work of the Transition Leadership Team, a group of lay and clergy leaders from around the diocese who, between the Special Convention at which juncture was approved in March of 2024 through mid February of this year, worked to shepherd many of the different aspects of merging two dioceses to make a new diocese through their processes.
The Ministry of the Episcopate Team comprises co-Chairs the Rev. Anna Leigh Kubbe and the Rev. Randall Warren, the Rev. Dr. Jared Cramer, the Rev. Lewis Crusoe, Dr. Nancy Foster, Mr. Tim Grant, the Rev. Mary Joe Hudson, the Rev. Dr. Jay E. Johnson, Ms. Ginny McNabb, and Ms. Carolyn Purcell. Rachel Ravellette, Director of Communications, serves as the staff liaison. The three goals of this team are:
- to explore our (bi)diocesan history with bishops,
- to provide education on the Episcopacy and
- to discern, based on what information they’ve gathered, what our diocese needs from a new bishop.
Beginning with our Primary Convention in October of 2024, this working group distributed a survey to the diocese, primarily through convention delegates, in which they sought information about people’s experiences with and expectations and hopes for bishops. The survey closed in late 2024 and the team is currently reviewing the data they collected. In all, they received 535 responses, 89% of which were from lay members of the diocese. Once they’ve reviewed the data, they’ll work together to prepare an easy to understand, transparent report of their findings that we’ll share across diocesan channels.
The team is also currently conducting video interviews with current Episcopal Church bishops which will be shared with our diocese as part of their goal of providing education on the Episcopacy. They are also working to publish and, ultimately, distribute a history of the Episcopate in our two legacy dioceses.
Vision and Mission Working Group
As you can read here, the work of this team which will shepherd the process of discerning the new vision and mission statements for our diocese, will be informed by, among other things, the work of the Ministry of the Episcopate Team.
Standing Committee and Diocesan Council
The Standing Committee and Diocesan Council of our diocese are currently working together to develop the model of leadership that will be most effective, healing and transformative for our diocese during this season of becoming. One of the major tasks ahead for these bodies is discerning how and when to assemble our bishop search team. As in all things, we will continue to strive for transparent, timely and frequent updates on this process and we welcome your questions at any time.