The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Florida has completed the process for nomination by petition. The process is now closed, and the slate is finalized.
The following process is based upon similar processes adopted in the dioceses of California, Easton, Maryland, Massachusetts, Newark, North Carolina, Olympia, South Dakota, Southern Virginia and Western North Carolina. Some language is adopted with thanks.
The canons of The Episcopal Church provide for an election process in which laity and clergy are empowered by the Holy Spirit to discern and raise up new episcopal leadership. No one person or group knows whom God will use, the people consenting, to lead this diocese. Rather, the invitation to leadership is a process of discerning a call.
The principal method for calling nominees for election in the Diocese of Florida is discernment work carried out by the Bishop Search Committee (the “Search Committee”). This committee, comprised of a diverse and faithful group of lay persons and clergy, is appointed to carry out the task of forming a slate of nominees for election.
The petition process, by contrast, is intended to address the circumstance when a person called to candidacy has not been vetted in the Search Committee process or was not identified by it as one of the slate of nominees. The petition process also opens an opportunity for the diocese to continue discerning the person God is calling to be our next bishop.
The decision of whether a petition nominee will continue in the process or be added to the slate will be made by the Standing Committee of the diocese and is not appealable.