New Episcopal bishop says he'll make visiting reservations a priority

The new bishop-elect for the Episcopal Church in South Dakota says he’ll make visiting reservation congregations a top priority.

“A priority of mine -- and this is not meant as an assessment or judgment of the past, because I live in the present, not the past – but a priority of mine is to be among the congregations,” the Rev. John Tarrant said.

Tarrant, 57, was elected May 9 to succeed Bishop Creighton Robertson as the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota. He has been pastor of Trinity Church in Pierre since 2005 but spent the majority of his ministry career in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Robertson, who suffered health problems during his 15-year tenure as bishop, including a kidney transplant in 2005, was criticized by some Native American Episcopalians for a lack of visits to their parishes over the years, as well as his recent decision to close nine small churches on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Robertson, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux tribe, was the first Native American diocesan bishop in the church.

Although defending the closure decisions as “not taken by Bishop Robertson alone,” Tarrant promised a “ministry of presence” to the people of Pine Ridge and elsewhere. “One of my first priorities would be to visit congregations and do a whole lot of listening,” he said. “That’s no commentary at all on Bishop Robertson. That’s my style and what I perceive to be a need.”

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http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/05/12/news/top/doc4a08adb51ef4e220425879.txt