In the video posted on the General Convention website, Rowe said the next presiding bishop must be attentive to voices that can “breathe fresh air and new light and life into our beloved church,” helping the church “hear the testimony of the women at the empty tomb” and “recognize Jesus on the road.”
Wright, the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, was ordained a bishop in 2012. He’s the first Black bishop of the diocese. He was born in an orphanage in Pittsburgh and enlisted in the U.S. Navy before earning a degree in history and political science from Howard University in Washington. He worked as a children’s advocate for two mayors of Washington and has an M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary.
“God is right now extending an invitation for us to be remade as individuals and as a church,” Wright said in his online video. “Our part of this difficult, even painful refashioning is to offer ourselves, our systems, our souls and our bodies to a trustworthy God who is reworking Christ’s church into more than we can ask or imagine, according to the faith at work in us.”
Bishop Jeffrey D. Lee, retired bishop of Chicago, said the Episcopal Church needs a presiding bishop who has both a “rock solid” spirituality and the practical skills for responding to the organizational decline facing all Christian denominations. He added that some on social media have reacted to the lack of women on the slate. Lee celebrated the growing number of women bishops in the denomination, saying he hopes to see that trend continue, and noted that there are three women bishops on the nominating committee, “and I know they did the hard work of looking at an appropriate makeup for that slate.”
The candidates were chosen by the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop, a 20-person committee of bishops, clergy and laypeople that has been gearing up for this election since fall 2021. The committee is required to nominate at least three bishops for the job.
Additional bishops may also be nominated via petition. Any bishop or deputy who will be part of the upcoming General Convention can nominate a bishop, with their permission, between April 3 and April 15. After completing the application and required screening process, any additional nominees are expected to be announced in early June. All nominees will be presented to both houses of General Convention on June 21.
“We appreciate the many Episcopalians who prayerfully set us on our way to discerning this slate of nominees,” the Rt. Rev. Mark Lattime, bishop of Alaska, who co-chairs the committee with Canon Steve Nishibayashi of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, said in a press release.
