Thursday, August 19, 2010

West Mo. Nominates Three


From The Living Church-


The Diocese of West Missouri has nominated three veteran priests in the search for its eighth bishop:


The Rev. Peter F. Casparian, rector, Christ Church, Oyster Bay, N.Y.

The Very Rev. Martin S. Field, rector, St. Paul’s Church, Flint, Mich.


The Rev. Canon E. Daniel Smith, canon to the ordinary, Diocese of Missouri.


The diocese will elect its new bishop Nov. 5.
In brief profiles, the nominees described feeling a possible call to the episcopate through the voices of other people. Casparian was the only nominee to address church divisions regarding sexuality: “My early years in Kansas City coincided with prayer book revision and women’s ordination — both of which brought about speculation about the ‘end of the church as we knew it!’ My sense is that the latest challenges of human sexuality and similar panic in certain quarters will eventually be incorporated into our Church’s resilient and progressive new history while still rooted in the our great story of Christ’s redeeming love.”

Smith referred to another timely issue — abuse of clergy power — from his time as a rector in West Des Moines, Iowa. “In my ministry in Iowa, I had the opportunity to help bring healing to a congregation following sexual and financial misconduct of a clergy person,” he wrote. “This work taught me how great the impact is when boundaries, great and small, get crossed. I also learned again about God’s grace and realized that the return to health and mission is a story of the resurrection.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2010/8/18/west-mo-nominates-three

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