General Convention: Susan Goff confirmed as Bishop Suffragan for the Diocese of Virginia

The news from General Convention in Indianapolis is the confirmation of the Rev. Canon Susan Goff as our bishop suffragan. Because her election was within 120 days of General Convention, she had to be confirmed by the deputies and House of Bishops meeting this week.

The Very Rev. Hilary Smith, who leads our deputation (note: not called "delegation") posted a short video of the vote on her Facebook last night. What was remarkable was how unremarkable it has become that women are elected and confirmed as bishops. There were no speeches, no dissenting votes, just a quick "aye" before the House of Deputies moved onto the next order of business.

Meanwhile, the Church of England, our "mother church," continues to struggle with the concept of women bishops. There is proposal awaiting its governing body that would allow women bishops but limit their authority because they are women. A number of women priests in England consider that proposal a "poison pill" and are considering a "no" vote.

In the United States, we crossed the river of women bishops in the 1980s, and the Church is the stronger for it, in my view (and we now have a woman as our presiding bishop and primate).

I've been asked what a "suffragan" bishop is. Basically, suffragan bishops have full sacramental authority but serve as assisting bishops to the diocesan bishop. Suffragans have no right to succeed the diocesan bishop, though that sometimes happens through an election upon the death or retirement of a diocesan bishop. In the Diocese of Virginia, Canon Goff was elected to fill the vacancy of Bishop Suffragan David Jones, who retired earlier this year. Typically, large dioceses (like ours) have suffragan bishops to share the workload and Sunday visits to parishes with the diocesan bishop.

God willing, and the weather cooperating, Canon Goff will be ordained a bishop at ceremony at St. Paul's, Richmond, on Saturday July 28 at 11 am. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will preside, and everyone is invited. Please come if you can!

By James Richardson, St. Paul's Memorial Church, Fiat Lux

Susan Goff elected Bishop Suffragan

Bishop Ted Gulick, Susan Goff, and Bishop Shannon Johnston
photo taken at today's electing Council

FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia -- Today we made history: the election of Susan Goff as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Virginia. She is the first woman so elected in our diocese, the largest domestic diocese in the Episcopal Church.

And someone can correct me on this: To my knowledge, Susan is the first woman elected bishop from a Southern diocese (if we don't count Washington D.C.).

Susan was elected from an extraordinary group of six nominees, two of whom were formed as Christians as young adults through the Canterbury program at St. Paul's Memorial Church (Hillary Smith and Randy Alexander).

I've gotten to know Susan the last couple of years in her capacity as Canon to the Ordinary. She led our Vestry retreat in January. She is prayerful and a great listener. She also knows how to get to the heart of matters without injecting her own agenda.

Today's election was held at St. George's Episcopal Church, an historic church in the center of Fredericksburg. We jammed into the old pew boxes, sang hymns, had Eucharist, listened to meditations, and cast ballots. We broke for lunch and returned for more this afternoon. Susan was elected in the fourth ballot (it takes a majority of both clergy and lay delegates to have an election).

We stood to applaud, and she addressed us from the pulpit for the first time as Bishop-elect to thank everyone, especially her fellow nominees, for the prayers and the trust.

It was my privilege to be a part of this election and to be with so many faithful people.

Bishop candidates appearing next week

Next week, the six candidates for bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Virginia will participate in a series of walkabouts. These events are open to all, and are especially geared for those who will be voting delegates at the April 21 election at St. George's, Fredericksburg. The walkabouts will be a chance to hear from the candidates and listen to their responses to questions submitted in advance by the people of the Diocese. The walkabouts will take place: Monday, March 19, St. Paul's, Ivy, 7-9:30 p.m. 851 Owensville Rd., Ivy, VA  Tuesday, March 20, Christchurch School, Christchurch, 1-3:30 p.m. 49 Seahorse Ln., Christchurch, VA  Tuesday, March 20, St. George's, Fredericksburg, 7-9:30 p.m. 905 Princess Anne St., Fredericksburg, VA  Wednesday, March 21, Christ Church, Winchester, 7-9:30 p.m. 114 Boscawen St., Winchester, VA  Thursday, March 22, Good Shepherd, Burke, 7:30-10 p.m. 9350 Braddock Rd., Burke, VA  Friday, March 23, St. James's, Richmond, 7-9:30 p.m. 1205 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA  No registration is required for the walkabouts. We look forward to seeing you at one of these events, and invite you to view the Job Description and Ministry of the Bishop Suffragan document to learn more. Read profiles of the candidates online. Delegates, don't forget to register  for the Electing Council by April 15!

Nominees for Bishop Suffragan announced

Here is the official announcement from the Diocese of Virginia on the slate of nominees for Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Virginia. Our own Mildred Robinson was on the Search Committee, and she kept confidences well. Here is the slate and more information about the upcoming election (and in the Episcopal Church, we elect our bishops):

February 3, 2012 After 11 months of prayerful discernment, the Nominating Committee for Bishop Suffragan announces the following slate of nominees:  The Rev. Randy Alexander Rector of Christ Church, Pelham Diocese of New York The Rev. Canon Susan Goff Canon to the Ordinary Diocese of Virginia The Very Rev. David May Rector of Grace Church, Kilmarnock Diocese of Virginia The Very Rev. Dr. Hilary Smith Rector of St. Paul's on-the-Hill, Winchester Diocese of Virginia The Very Rev. Shirley Smith Graham Rector of St. Martin's, Williamsburg Diocese of Southern Virginia The Rev. Canon Sue Sommer  Subdean and Canon Pastor of Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral Diocese of West Missouri  The slate of nominees has been received with commendation and gratitude by Bishop Johnston and the Standing Committee.  You can learn more about the candidates, plus a detailed description of the Nominating Process, in the Final Report of the Nominating Committee for Bishop Suffragan. This report contains the candidates' biographies, a letter of introduction and responses to three essay questions.  The six nominees were selected from an initial field of 78 names submitted to the Nominating Committee last year. Of these, 38 agreed to enter into the discernment process with us. Through careful and prayerful discernment, the committee then narrowed the potential nominees over the course of several months through a review of submitted documents, telephone interviews, travel to visit potential nominees and a discernment retreat.  Additional nominations are allowed by petition from February 3 until February 13.Learn more about the petition process on the Bishop Suffragan Search Process Web site. All nominees will visit the Diocese in March to participate in a series of walkabouts, a series of meetings scheduled to provide the Diocese with the opportunity to meet, hear from and talk with the nominees. These gatherings are open to anyone and not just to delegates to Council. These are scheduled to take place at the following dates and times:  March 19, St. Paul's, Ivy, 7-9:30 p.m. March 20, Christchurch School, Christchurch, 1-3:30 p.m. (*Note Location Change) March 20, St. George's, Fredericksburg, 7-9:30 p.m. March 21, Christ Church, Winchester, 7-9:30 p.m. March 22, Good Shepherd, Burke, 7:30-10 p.m. March 23, St. James's, Richmond, 7-9:30 p.m. The Transition Committee invites members of the Diocese to submit potential questions for the nominees to respond to during the scheduled walkabouts. Questions can be sent to suffragan_transition@thediocese.net, and should be submitted no later than February 17, 2012. The Bishop Suffragan will be elected at an Electing Council held at St. George's, Fredericksburg on April 21, 2012.

Bushop Suffragan nominees to be released today

We are expecting the search committee for the Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Virginia to release its list of nominees today. I will post when I see the list, but you may want to check into the Diocese website by clicking HERE.

We expect the nominees will be making appearances together to answer questions during the week of March 19. The first such "walk about" will be at St. Paul's, Ivy, in Charlottesville on that evening. I will definitely have more to say here as this process unfolds. For now, please keep all of the nominees, and all who will vote, in your prayers.

Nominations for Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Virginia now open

This announcement came via email yesterday, and I commend it to your careful consideration. The election of our Bishop Suffragan will be next April to replace David Jones who is retiring.

Bishops suffragan have the sacramental authority of bishops and sit in the House of Bishops with other bishops. But their administrative authority is at the discretion of the diocesan bishop (Shannon Johnston). Basically, a Bishop Suffragan is an assistant bishop.

The duties of our new suffragan develop are in a profile of the diocese (noted below in one of the links). The duties were written by Bishop Johnston, and those duties are:

Our Bishop Suffragan will be an integral part of the team of bishops who lead our diocese, a team led by our Diocesan Bishop Shannon Johnston, who has prepared this job description for our new Bishop Suffragan: 

•  The Bishop Suffragan will support and serve the diocese and its ministry priorities by providing oversight for a number of specific ministries as assigned by the diocesan bishop. 

• The Bishop Suffragan will be responsible for new and continuing congregations (including oversight of both continuing congregations and, should the Diocese of Virginia prevail in the property litigation, the discernment process for use of church properties recovered for the mission of The Episcopal Church at the conclusion of the current litigation), overseeing the work of the Commission on Congregational Missions to provide direction, support and guidance to mission churches. 

• He or she will oversee our efforts in multicultural ministry with the Diocese of Virginia’s non- English speaking congregations, which currently include four Spanish-speaking missions, two Spanish-speaking worship services, two Sudanese language worship services, two Korean missions, and one Vietnamese mission. The Bishop Suffragan will work to expand the ministries and create new ministries to serve the whole diocese. 

• The Bishop Suffragan will support the Diocesan Bishop in the mission priority for youth and young adult ministries, including the exercise of oversight of college chaplaincies and the ongoing creation of new ministries serving young adults. 

•  The Bishop Suffragan will maintain a full schedule of parish visitation and provide regular Episcopal oversight and pastoral support for clergy, in addition to other duties as assigned.

The announcement from the Nominating Committee is below, including to a profile of the diocese:

+ + +

July 1, 2011

Nominations are open! The Nominating Committee for the next Bishop Suffragan invites your suggestions of names for consideration from July 1-31, 2011. The Committee seeks a comprehensive field of qualified persons from the Episcopal clergy; therefore, we desire that the list will include many women, African-Americans and others from minority groups. 

The Nomination Form can be accessed online.

Please keep in mind the following:

• All nominations will be kept strictly confidential and submitted directly to the Nominating Committee.
• Nominators must have the consent of the potential nominee in order to submit a nomination.
• If you have any trouble with the nominating process, please contact the Nominating Committee at vasuffragan@gmail.com.
• Those whose names are suggested will be asked to submit a résumé (or curriculum vitæ), their current Office of Transition Ministry (OTM) portfolio, answers to essay questions provided by the Committee, the references of three people and the names of the bishops under which they have served. The Committee will review this information with strict confidentiality.

We wish to thank the almost 1,100 respondents to the survey of the Diocese, which was created and analyzed pro bono by the president and CEO of Customer Care Measurement and Consulting, Scott M. Broetzmann, a member of St. Paul's Church, Alexandria. The responses were sufficient to provide relatively precise data for creating the profile. View the profile online.

An Executive Summary of the survey results is also available for viewing.

Representatives of the Nominating Committee interviewed Bishop Johnston and Bishop Jones as well as the staff of the Mayo Memorial Church House. Data from these interviews will inform our interviews with potential nominees, and provide a sense of the scope of the next Bishop Suffragan's ministry.

Please take note of the following important dates:

• The Nominating Committee will receive names for consideration July 1-31, 2011.
• The Nominating Committee will present a slate of not fewer than four nor more than six nominees on February 3, 2012.
• The Transition Committee will host a series of walkabouts for the nominees March 19-24, 2012.
• The Diocese of Virginia will elect a new Bishop Suffragan on April 21, 2012.
• The consecration will occur on July 28, 2012.

Please visit www.thediocese.net/BishopSuffraganSearchProcess for more information and future updates. As always, please keep the Diocese and all those involved in the nominating process in your thoughts and prayers. 


Faithfully, 


The Members of the Nominating Committee

Survey by the Diocese of Virginia concerning the search for a new Bishop Suffragan

You may not have heard much about this yet, but the Diocese of Virginia is in the midst of a search for a new Bishop Suffragan, to replace The Right Rev. David Jones who is retiring. We will be electing the new bishop next April. For more information, please click HERE.

The bishop search committee has posted an on-line survey, and the information and link to it is below. If you are a resident of the Diocese of Virginia, please take the time to complete the survey:

Share your views with the Bishop Suffragan Nominating Committee by participating in this important diocesan survey.  

Welcome to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, where our mission is to worship our Lord and serve the world in unity and diversity. Our diocesan community strives to support and grow our priority ministries: youth & young adult formation; strengthening our congregations; multicultural & ethnic ministries; mission beyond ourselves; and evangelism & proclamation. I invite you to explore this Web site to learn more about our faith, our community of churches, our ministries and our staff.

--The Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, Bishop