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Search Committee Updates

Search Committee Updates

August 9, 2009 Search Committee Meeting

The Search Committee has met on successive Saturdays, July 25th and August 1st, to consider the responses of applicants for the next bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande.

Once the Profile was published and distributed throughout the wider Church, those persons who thought they might be called to bishop had a six-week period in which to submit the required application papers. The deadline was July 25th.

The Search Committee designed its process so that it would be congruent with the Committee’s emphasis on mutual discernment by candidates and by the Committee, as the major component in seeking a new bishop. The traditional and now little-used method of soliciting nominations of potential candidates often resulted in a large and unwieldy number of names of persons who then had to be asked whether they wished to be considered. Many were not aware that they had been suggested and immediately decided not to enter the process. Our Search Committee chose another approach that combined applications with traditional nominations: potential candidates were invited to apply directly and at the same time submit letters of reference. This allowed applicants to start the process of discernment directly in conversations with their references. It also saved months because the Search Committee was not required to contact those nominated by others to confirm that they wished to proceed.

As a result, 30 applications have been received. The Committee’s consultant, Suzanne Foucault, has described this as a “very healthy” number, based on her experience with many other bishop search processes in the Episcopal Church.

The Search Committee has received training in how to evaluate the essay portion of the application and has begun to read 30 sets of responses to the questions asked. (The essays of those who are nominated will be published in late March-early April when petition nominees are announced.) The Committee will meet for three days in late August to continue its discernment of whom may be called to be Bishop of The Rio Grande.

June 6, 2009 Search Committee Meeting

At its 6 June meeting, the Search Committee completed a significant task. The Profile, describing the Diocese of the Rio Grande from the perspective of calling the next bishop, is complete and is now posted on the Diocesan website (http://www.dioceserg.org/). The Application Form for potential nominees is also available on the website.

The Search Committee has identified five criteria, drawn from the data of the Focus Groups and the On-Line Survey, to be used in looking for a new bishop:
“We seek a bishop who:
- will walk with us in our continued journey towards healing and reconciliation
- is able to inspire a shared vision, and to motivate and empower others in its implementation
- will lead us to a new way of being Christ’s church in the 21st century
- has leadership experience as a parish Rector or Vicar, and as a member of Diocesan committees or commissions
- has experience serving and creating community in a diocese with distant, rural parishes.”

The first hour of the Committee’s meeting was spent in study and reflection on discernment. How might the process and techniques of discernment inform our search for a bishop? The understanding that it is God’s call and not ours was central to the Committee’s conclusions.

Discernment continued as the Search Committee considered essential criteria, in addition to the five listed above, that will be used in developing a template for evaluating applicants.

The Committee confirmed a proposed timetable and marked many spaces in their calendars for meetings to come as they move ahead to a new phase in the search – that of receiving names and of evaluating those who apply. The means by which the wider church is to be informed of our search was discussed. The Committee is taking advantage of the many modes of communication now available to distribute information.

One important way of soliciting candidates depends on the people of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. If you know of a person whom you think might be called to be bishop of this Diocese, please ask them to read the Profile and Application Form. Should they wish to be in discernment with the Search Committee, they are invited to fill out the Application form found on the website.

May 1, 2009 Search Committee Meeting

At its 1 May meeting, the Bishop Search Committee reviewed and edited the first draft of the Profile, describing the Diocese and the attributes sought in applicants for the episcopate. This Profile will be made available to both the people of the Diocese and to
the wider church in the late spring. The Committee discussed how to best disseminate the material it is producing and determined that the Diocesan website (about to be newly launched) would be the primary vehicle. The web will also be the means by which
applications may be made. A web designer has been engaged to aid in these tasks.
The Search Committee received the election date – 24 April 2010 – set by the Standing Committee and reviewed the overall timetable.
The overall theme for the meeting, discernment, was set by the Education Subcommittee’s presentation on the life and ministry of Bishop Stoney. The Search Committee’s reflections on Bishop Stoney’s election as Bishop affirmed the role that discernment has in the Diocese’s current process.

The Search Committee will meet next on 6 June. In the interim, subcommittees will continue to work on their assignments in eager anticipation of next year’s election.

The Bishop Search Committee continues to make progress toward recommending nominees for the election of the next Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande. Previous to the March meeting of the full Search Committee, the Screening Subcommittee met twice – once in Elephant Butte and once in Albuquerque- to outline a process that the full Search Committee can use to solicit names and discern who those nominees might be. At this point the Screening Subcommittee is focused on recommending to the entire Search Committee what application process might be used., Those process steps include means by which names may be solicited, determining the various documentation that needs to be submitted by applicants, means by which names may be solicited, and what criteria will be used in screening applicants. They also suggested topics for the essay questions that will be used in the application process. When a slate of candidates is named, their responses to these questions will be published.

March 28, 2009 Update
The Survey and Profile Subcommittee of the Search Committee also met in March. Since reconfiguring the way in which a survey was to be accomplished, they have turned their attention to the Profile which will be assembled to describe the Diocese of the Rio Grande, its congregations, and its people.. Both the Screening Subcommittee and Survey/Profile Subcommittee have reflected on and incorporated into their work the “treasure troves” of information from the 2007 Diocesan Convocation discussions, recent regional and on-line Focus Groups, and the New Life gatherings. The Profile will also be published for people of the Diocese to read.

At the meeting of the entire Search Committee on 28 March, the Education Subcommittee led the group in an examination of the roles of clergy and laity in relation to a bishop and a bishop’s election. The Committee as a whole discussed the results of the work outlined above by the Screening and Survey/Profile Subcommittees.
The Search Committee also discussed more effective and efficient ways of communicating information to the people of the Diocese. The Diocesan Communications Committee is already involved in helping the Search Committee achieve this goal.

The subcommittees will continue working on their projects and report to the entire Search Committee at its next meeting on May 1st, in Albuquerque.

February 28, 2009 Update
The Bishop Search Committee met at St. Thomas of Canterbury, Albuquerque on Saturday, 28 February. At its meeting the Committee heard about work on the Profile; reviewed the proposed Survey that is to be mailed to the people of the Diocese; discussed the focus groups that have been held (and that are now nearly finished); and talked about the meeting that the Screening Subcommittee had the previous afternoon.

The next meeting of the entire Search Committee will be on Saturday, 28 March. The Screening Subcommittee will meet again on 13 March. Other subcommittees are continuing their work via e-mail.

January 24, 2009 Update
The Search Committee held its most recent meeting on Saturday, 24 January 2009, in Albuquerque at the Cathedral of Saint John. The committee would like to thank all respondents to the census that was conducted in the Fall of 2008; the findings will be most helpful in preparing the profile of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Also in regards to the profile, the committee retained Sanderoff Research & Polling to do a more-detailed mail survey of the diocese and hopes all recipients of that survey will fill it out and return it promptly. The faster the committee gets answers the more expeditiously it can move ahead.

During February and March the search committee will be holding Focus Group meetings in all parts of the diocese for members of the laity, with separate ones for the clergy. These meetings will present an opportunity, not for discussion, but for you to voice your concerns about the diocese and its future. Responses will be used in our continuing effort to call the best bishop for the Diocese of the Rio Grande.

The rough draft of the Profile (findings from the mail survey and Focus Groups will be added later, in addition to results from the New Life Retreats) is being prepared and will be presented to the Search Committee for refining into a final draft to be issued to the wider church.