Oregon Nominates Three Candidates for Bishop

From the Living Church-

The Diocese of Oregon has offered a new twist on full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: One of the nominees to become the diocese’s tenth bishop is married to a pastor in the ELCA.

The nominees are
The Rev. Michael Joseph Hanley, rector of St. Christopher's Church, Roseville, Minn.;
the Rev. Andrew Jeffrey MacBeth, rector of Calvary Church, Memphis, Tenn.; and
the Rev. Britt Elaine Olson, canon to the ordinary for the Diocese of Northern California.

Canon Olson's husband, the Rev. Byron Hansen, is pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Auburn, Calif.

The diocese sought nominees to “walk collaboratively with us, as together we create a new way of being Christ’s church in the 21st century,” and “pioneer with us new ways of being a bishop and of being a diocese.” The diocese said applicants should “recognize Oregonians as independent-minded people who respond to leaders who respect them and have earned their trust, but resist those who have not.”

Two of the nominees specifically praised the diocese's vision for a different model of episcopacy.

“I am excited by the challenges and joys of walking collaboratively with you and pioneering news ways of being a bishop,” Fr. Hanley wrote. “The values you claim—tolerance, diversity, independence, love of Mother Earth and a commitment to social justice—I find wonderfully refreshing.”

“I am intrigued by Oregon's desire to forge a new kind of relationship with its bishop,” Fr. MacBeth wrote. “I feel called to a ministry of support and encouragement for clergy and lay leaders in congregations.”

“Oregon is my heart's home,” wrote Canon Olson, whose family settled in the state when she was 7. “I believe that the diocese is poised for a new, vibrant and hope-filled future and I would be honored to be part of that Spirit-led development.”

The diocese's ninth bishop, the Rt. Rev. Johncy Itty, served from September 2003 to December 2008. Bishop Itty left the diocese in April 2008, returning to Long Island, where he had served before his election in 2003. He was a nominee by petition when the Diocese of Long Island elected a bishop coadjutor in March, but he was not elected. The Rt. Rev. Sanford Z. Hampton has served as an assisting bishop in Oregon since April 2008.

Candidate walkabouts are scheduled for Oct. 26-30. The diocese will elect the new bishop during its convention on Nov. 19-21. Pending consents from bishops and standing committees, the new bishop will be consecrated on April 10, 2010.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/8/7/oregon-nominates-three-candidates-for-bishop