Six Nominees for Bishop of Washington by Robert Stowe England

[David Virtue]

Six Nominees for Bishop of Washington

By Robert Stowe England

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Diocese of Washington has published on its web
site the names of six nominees for the eighth Bishop of Washington
selected by the Search Committee. The election for the bishop is slated
for late January and the next bishop is to take office in June 2002.

The list contains five men and one woman, The Rev. Helen M. Moore, 59,
interim dean at the Cathedral of St. James in Chicago. She is
previously the rector of St. Hubert's Episcopal Church in Kirtland
Hills, Ohio. She is married to Tom Moore, who is currently
participating in the process leading to ordination in the Diocese of
Chicago.

One of the nominees was long rumored to be under consideration: The
Rev. Dr. Harold T. Lewis, 54, of Calvary Church in Pittsburgh, a larger
liberal parish. He supported a controversial proposal in the Diocese of
Pittsburgh to have the diocese withhold the funds it sent to the
Province of Rwanda because Rwanda has supported the irregular
consecration of bishops for the Anglican Mission in America.

Nominee Rev. Dr. Mark S. Anschutz, 57, rector of St. Michael and All
Angels in Dallas. He is also the former rector of St. James in New York
and Christ Church in Alexandria. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and
graduated from Western High School. His father and grandfather were
Episcopal priests. Anschutz announced this month at St. Michael's, a
sort of upscale establishment Republican parish, his support of the gay
rights agenda, apologized for past homophobia, and declared St. Paul
wrong on the gay question. A movement will soon be afoot to compel his
resignation as a recently elected deputy to General Convention. He was
elected in October without announcing what he meant to announce in
November.

The Very Rev. John Bryson Chane, 57, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, San
Diego, another of the nominees, was formerly the rector of St. Mark's
Church, Southborough, Mass. He has been active in developing new
mission strategies in the Diocese of San Diego.

The Very Rev. Allen W. Farabee, 55, is dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in
Buffalo, N.Y. The resume does not list the previous positions but
simply summarizes his career has servicing rural, town, suburban and
urban congregations in four diocese in the South, Midwest and New
England. The son of a Methodist pastor, he was originally ordained into
the Methodist church. He was ordained into the Episcopal Church and
earned a STM graduate degree at Nashotah House.

The sixth nominee, the Rev. Lloyd Prator, 57, is rector of St. John's
Church in Greenwich Village, New York. His official bio credits him
with energizing this "formerly somnolent, inward-looking parish into a
vibrant and diverse congregation with numerous effective outreach and
Christian formation programs." Prior to coming to New York, he was
rector of All Saints, San Francisco.

He appears to be the only unmarried candidate among the slate of six.
Lloyd Prater recently posted a message on "Metanoia," the Seattle-based
Internet therapy site for gay and lesbians with a distinct anti-ex-gay
bent. He expresses disdain for the ex-gay movement and offers the
following manipulative message to counter the appeal of the ex-gay
movement to homosexuals trouble about their lives: "If you are
considering changing your sexual orientation . . . If you are
discouraged because meeting -- or trying to meet -- people in bars is
so boring and degrading and humiliating . . .If you have lost someone
you loved with all your heart and don't thinkyou will ever find anyone
else to glove again-- ever . . .If you are feeling that you are about
to miss out on the opportunity to marry and to have children and know
the love and support of a family . .If you have a vague sense that
someone in the universe there is some unseen force that wants you to be
fundamentally different from the way you are now . . .You may be
tempted to try to change your sexual orientation. Before you do, you
might consider looking at some other options for living life as a
lesbian or a gay man. There are people like you who have found
communities to love and support them. You might find that Jesus is with
you, even right where your are now."

Additional nominees by petition are allowed under procedures set up by
the Standing Committee, if the nominee has the signatures of 25 clergy
and 75 laity submitted by November 30 to the Rev. D. Thomas Andrews,
President of the Standing Committee.

This 25/75 requirement, the short time allowed for gathering petitions
after the names of the nominees are released, and the controversial
language in the profile have been cited as barriers to enlisting
potential nominees by petition. Previously candidates have been
nominated by 15 clergy and 50 laity, petition gatherers have had more
time, and no political or theological litmus test was applied to
nominees.

An early version of the profile said that the next bishop should try to
serve all the constituents within the diocese. However, a last-minute
change inserted language stating that a bishop should support the "full
inclusion of women and gay and lesbian people" in the diocese. The
phrase was taken by many to mean that others were not fully included or
perhaps, in some cases, excluded as a result.

A protest against the procedures established by the Standing Committee
is expected from the Committee for a Fair Election of Our Next Bishop
and others within the diocese.

The Search Committee released a statement describing their work: "We
have sought to work carefully and prayerfully to discern individuals
who individually have gifts and experiences that closely match those
described in the profile of the Diocese of Washington which we
published in June."

Perhaps in response to concerns that the slate would be narrowly
focused only on candidates who would aggressively push the revisionist
agenda, the Search Committee states: "Collectively, we have attempted
to offer a slate of nominees that offers a range of choices to the
clergy members and lay delegates to the convention of this diocese."

The committee's chair is Paul E. Cooney, an attorney who is also
parishioner at Christ Church, Kensington, and the deputy chair is the
Rev. Paul R. Abernathy, rector of St. Mark's on Capitol Hill. Its
members include the Rev. Michael W. Hopkins, rector of St. George's,
Glenn Dale, Md., and President of Integrity, the gay and lesbian lobby
in the Episcopal Church.

END