From New Jersey-
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey Bishop George Councell has announced that he will retire at the end of 2013.
In an Oct. 21 letter to the diocese, Councell said the timing of his decision has to do with the fact that by the end of 2013 he will have served the diocese for 10 years and will be 64 years old. He also noted that it takes between 18 months and two years to elect and consecrate a bishop.
"Please be assured that no crisis or sudden deterioration in my health has driven me to this decision," he wrote.
Councell announced in August 2007 that he has Parkinson disease. Parkinson is a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the part of the brain controlling movement, muscle control and balance. Councell wrote at the time that the disease was progressing very slowly in him.
The bishop said that he had informed the diocesan Standing Committee, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rt. Rev. F. Clayton Matthews, the church's bishop for pastoral development, about his decision. "We are beginning an orderly transition to a new chapter in the history of our diocese under the care of a new chief shepherd," he wrote.
More here-
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_130288_ENG_HTM.htm
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