A News Release from the Communications Office of the Diocese of Virginia For immediate release—February 9, 2006 Standing Committee Announces Committee Membership Contacts: The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Virginia today announced the appointment of two committees to oversee the process leading to the election and consecration of a bishop coadjutor for the Diocese of Virginia. “We are deeply grateful to the men and women who have agreed to serve on these two committees, whose work will be so important to the future of the Diocese of Virginia,” said Jean Reed, president of the Standing Committee. He added that the Standing Committee had sought a balance in the membership of the two groups that reflects the diversity of the Diocese of Virginia with regard to geography, gender, race, age, and theological views. Seven priests and ten laypeople have been appointed to the search committee; five priests and six laypeople serve on the transition committee. (Complete lists follow this release.) The search committee will be chaired by Julian Bivins, a member of Trinity Church in Charlottesville, who has been active in the diocese for many years. His service has included the search committee for a suffragan bishop in the 1990s, the Budget Committee of Annual Council, the Church Planting Commission, and he chaired the Resolutions Committee of Annual Council for several years. The transition committee will be chaired by the Rev. Caroline Smith Parkinson, rector of Grace Church, The Plains. Mrs. Parkinson is the immediate past president of the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee plans a day-long retreat with the members of the search and transition committees at Roslyn Conference Center on Saturday, March 18. After that meeting, they will release an initial timeline for the search process to help ensure an election at the 212 th Annual Council in 2007. At the request of the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, 12 th Bishop of Virginia, the 211 th Annual Council authorized the election of a bishop coadjutor. Though Bishop Lee did not announce specific plans for his retirement, the canonical requirement that a diocesan bishop retire by age 72 ensures that his retirement would occur no later than May 2010. Plans call for the election of the coadjutor to take place on January 27, 2007, with consecration in the Washington National Cathedral in Spring 2007. The Standing Committee has also begun the canonically-required process of securing the consents of the other dioceses of the Episcopal Church to hold an election. Letters have gone to bishops with jurisdiction and to standing committees in all of the other 109 dioceses in the Episcopal Church in the United States. A bishop coadjutor is elected to assist and, ultimately, to succeed the diocesan bishop. Bishop Lee was elected coadjutor in February 1984 and was consecrated in the Washington National Cathedral in May of that year. He worked with the Rt. Rev. Robert Hall until the following year, when Bishop Hall died suddenly. Bishop Lee has served as diocesan bishop during a time of growth in the Diocese of Virginia, which is now the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church in the United States. The diocese has become known for its work in church planting. The diocese is also served by the Rt. Rev. David Colin Jones, Suffragan Bishop. A suffragan bishop is elected by a diocese to assist the diocesan bishop, but does not have the right of succession. Search Committee Transition Committee |