Episcopal diocese elects new bishop

From Eastern Oregon-

The Rev. Patrick Bell was elected the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon Dec. 12 at Church of the Redeemer in Pendleton.

Bell was one of three finalist from a pool of 16.

The new bishop is a seventh-generation Eastern Washingtonian and comes from a long farming tradition.

He was raised Episcopalian and attended Whitworth College, a Presbyterian school in Spokane. He received a master’s in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and served as a Pentecostal minister. In time, he returned to the Episcopal Church.

“I realized I wasn’t a fundamentalist,” Bell said.

More here-

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/People/20151218/episcopal-diocese-elects-new-bishop

Eastern Oregon diocese announces 3 nominees for bishop

From Oregon-

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon has announced a slate of three nominees to stand for the election as bishop of the diocese. The candidates are:

The Rev. Patrick W. Bell, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho;

The Rev. Jedediah Holdorph, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Bend, Oregon; and

The Very Rev. Churchill Pinder, dean of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The petition process officially closed on Nov. 3 and produced no new candidates.

The nominees will participate in a series of open “walkabout” meetings from Nov. 30-Dec. 5, allowing members of the diocese to meet and learn more about the candidates.

The election will take place on Dec. 12.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/11/05/eastern-oregon-diocese-announces-3-nominees-for-bishop/

The Push for Communion Without Baptism is an Assault on the Church

From Mississippi-

The topic of Communion Without Baptism (CWOB) continues to make the rounds in the Episcopal/Anglican blogosphere.  Lately that's largely due to the Open Table resolution for this summer's General Convention from the Diocese of Eastern Oregon.


At The Curate's Desk, Fr. Robert Hendrickson has posted a good response to the Diocese of Eastern Oregon's position paper on this matter.  He writes:


The Eucharist has been the central act of worship for large parts of Christianity since Christ said “Take, eat, this is my Body.” Somehow, over 2000 years, this has not been a source of tension. This was the pattern in lean times of persecution and in the bloated years of full-blown Christendom and in every era in between. Wax or wane Christianity has held, at its core, Baptism as entry into the life of Christ.


The challenge is not that we have a ministry of the baptized and Communion as our central act of worship – the challenge is that we have clergy ill-trained in Sacramental theology administering them. We have laity that we have failed to form in Sacramental living. We now have a wide body of our priests that do not believe anything much actually happens in the Sacraments.


Do you believe the Holy Spirit descends upon a person and transforms their very being in Baptism so that they are united with Christ? Do you believe that Christ is truly present in the Body and Blood we receive at the Altar? Are the Sacraments God’s action or ours? I have heard far too many talking of Baptism as an entry rite rather than as transformation just as I have heard too many speak of Communion as a “meal” alone rather than the very Presence of Christ among us.

More here-

http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2012/05/push-for-communion-without-baptism-is.html

Provisional bishop named to diocese

The Rev. Bavi Edna Rivera was affirmed as provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon earlier this month. A convention of about 275 Episcopalians - including a delegation from Hermiston's St. John's Episcopal Church - made the decision at a convention in Cove on May 23.

Rivera also serves as bishop suffragan, or assistant to the bishop, in the Diocese of Olympia. She plans to devote about one-third of her time to Eastern Oregon, which has been without a bishop since 2007 when the Rev. William Gregg resigned to become an assistant bishop in North Carolina.

Rivera addressed the convention after the decision, saying her first priority would be getting to know the diocese.

"We are nothing if we are not together," Rivera said.

She added: "God will be with us."

Rivera was first ordained to priesthood in 1976, and is the first Hispanic woman bishop in the Episcopal Church. She is a third-generation priest and second-generation bishop, after her father Victor Manuel Rivera served as bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin in California from 1968 to 1989.

The Diocese of Eastern Oregon encompasses the entire state east of the Cascade Mountains, plus Klickitat County in Washington. The diocese includes 22 parishes and more than 2,600 Episcopalians.

http://eastoregonian.com/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=93329&SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48