Our cathedral's dean is a finalist for the Calif. bishop post

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002818625_taylor21m.html

It would be awesome for him, it would be cool because he would be the second gay Episcopal bishop, but it would SUCK for us because he is so amazing and to lose him... well, it actually breaks my heart to even think of it. :(

I'm praying that Robert gets the best of everything in his life, even if it takes him from us.

I understand your cathedral is active in the environmental area.

That's pretty cool. It's a cooperative project between the cathedral and the City of Seattle.

The letter we received from Robert this week kind of makes me think he's leaning against accepting it if offered the position. Obviously, there are a lot of things at stake here. It should make for an interesting day on Sunday, that's for sure! :)

I'm sure whoever gets the position is going to be great

...is that they aren't going to be able to fill this vacancy for some time.

You see, once a candidate is chosen locally, they can't be consecrated until (I believe) 2/3rds of all current diocesan bishops ratify the election.

As part of the "Windsor Report," it was recommended that the Episcopal Church promise to not ratify any gay or lesbian candidates until after 2008's Lambeth Conference. (The hope on the part of the conservatives was that we would basically tell them to stick their proposal where the sun don't shine, whereupon they would have grounds for having us tossed out of the Anglican Communion.) Instead, we crossed them up by agreeing to the proposal, except that we would take it a step further, and not ratify any such election, whether the winning candidate was gay or straight, until then. (Which puts the ball back in their court; knowing the leaders of that movement, we assume they'll probably walk out on their own to form their own "Orthodox Anglican Communion" :eyes: rather than put up with us under the same roof for the next few years.)

So, the point is that whoever is elected to fill that diocese's vacancy won't be able to have their election ratified, nor take office, for several more years. :shrug: