Bakers of the Diocese of California are welcome to donate cookies to share at the reception following the ordination of Austin Keith Rios as the IX Bishop of California on Saturday, May 4, 2024.
Please review the instructions for bringing cookies.
Please feel free to direct any questions to diocal.transition@gmail.com
The Rev. Austin Keith Rios will be ordained and consecrated Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of California at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 4 at Grace Cathedral.
Please share this invitation (English, Spanish) with anyone who may want to attend in-person or via livestream.
Registration to attend the Ordination & Consecration of Bishop-elect Austin Keith Rios on May 4 is now open!
Please note that registration is required for each individual attendee, including children. There is no provision to register a party of more than one person. Additionally, you must register each individual under their own nameand cannot reserve more than one seat under the same name.
DioCal Clergy, you should have received a separate invitation from diocal.transition@gmail.com.
Everyone, all registration questions should be directed to diocal.transition@gmail.com.
Cookie bakers of the Diocese of California are welcome to donate desserts to share at the reception following the ordination of Austin Keith Rios as the IX Bishop of California on Saturday, May 4, 2024.
Please review the instructions for bringing a dessert.
Please feel free to direct any questions to diocal.transition@gmail.com
Standing Committee 2023-2024
The Rev. Dr. Mauricio Wilson
President, Class of 2024
Sean McConnell
Vice-President, Class of 2025
The Rev. Jane Stratford
Secretary, Class of 2026
Robyn Amos
Lay Order, Class of 2024
The Ven. Carolyn Bolton
Clergy Order, Class of 2025
Warren Wong
Lay Order, Class of 2026
Gretchen Lintner
Lay Order, Class of 2027
The Rev. Audrey Miskelley
Clergy Order, Class of 2027
November 13, 2023
To our siblings in Christ in the Diocese of California:
We would like to thank everyone who came to the Meet & Greets to hear from the slate of nominees for the ninth Bishop of California. Hearing directly from the nominees is essential in discerning who will be our next bishop. Doing so prayerfully, in a posture of openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, draws on the best traditions of what our Presiding Bishop calls “the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.”
In this spiritual process that is grounded in our relationship with Christ, we are accountable to God and to one another. We all want a fair election characterized by trust and integrity, so we ask every clergy and lay delegate to continue to pray, listen, and learn. In the context of your congregation, pray with one another, listen to one another, and engage with all of the materials submitted by the nominees and found at diocalbishopsearch.org.
It is the Standing Committee’s ministry to help shepherd the diocese through this process and ensure its integrity. We are aware that surveys and other tools have been developed to assist in this discernment. While we understand the desire to create tools for the community’s use, the Standing Committee has not approved any of these, nor were we notified in advance of their inclusion in this discernment process. Though there is no canonical prohibition for the use of such instruments of information gathering, we do caution that if they are to be used, it is done in such a way that maintains the sense of equity and Spirit-led discernment. In particular, there should be no sense of bias toward any of our nominees or exclusion of any constituency of our faith communities.
We, the members of the Standing Committee, invite you to rely on the tools of local, spiritual discernment, namely prayer and conversation. Know that we are praying for you as we continue to pray that God will guide us through the power of the Holy Spirit to elect the ninth bishop of California.
In the name of the one who redeems us all.
The Standing Committee of the Diocese of California
The Bishop Search & Transition process in the Diocese of California has reached another milestone with the conclusion of the nomination by petition period. According to the Standing Committee, no petitions were received. As a result, the three nominees included in the preliminary slate advanced to the final slate. These are the Rev. Canon Augusta Anne Anderson; the Rev. Phil Brochard; and the Rev. Austin Keith Rios.
With this step, the Bishop Search and Transition website now makes available a summary of experience, as well as materials the nominees submitted with their original application including their resumes and their responses to essay questions. This is in addition to the slate information on the Bishop Search & Transition website.
This information invites a time of discernment about the nominees and about the call for the 9th Bishop of the Diocese of California. The Standing Committee and the co-chairs of the Bishop Search & Transition Committee request prayer and mutual listening during this important and reflective season. Prayers are especially requested for Bishop Marc Handley Andrus and Dr. Sheila Andrus as they walk with the diocese through a time of personal and common transition.
As the Bishop Search & Transition process continues, the nomination by petition period is underway. In this ten-day petition period, anyone who meets the canonical requirements may petition to be added to the slate for the Ninth Bishop of the Diocese of California, in accordance with the rules and materials posted on the Bishop Search and Transition website. The petition period concludes on Monday, October 2, 2023 at 11:59 p.m.
As set forth in the petition process, lay delegates who endorse a petition candidate must be voting delegates to the Special Electing Convention to be held on December 2.
The final slate, as approved by the Standing Committee, will be announced on October 27, 2023.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2023
Contact: Stephanie Martin Taylor
Canon for Communications
Diocese of California
stephaniem@diocal.org
(San Francisco, California) The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of California announces that, after receiving the recommendations of the Bishop Search & Transition Committee, it has approved a preliminary slate for the 9th Bishop of the Diocese of California.
More information about the finalists is available on the Bishop Search & Transition website, including photographs and video messages.
According to its President Warren Wong, “the Standing Committee was honored to accept the preliminary Slate of Nominees from the Bishop Search and Transition Committee. We commend the committee members for prayerfully screening, vetting, and developing an inclusive pool of finalists, all of whom we feel are called to this Episcopate. The Diocese now enters a time of discernment when the clergy, lay leaders, and diocesan community will call a new shepherd to be bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of California at the Electing Convention on December 2, 2023.”
A ten-day petition period has begun effective today, during which time anyone may submit the names of additional nominees according to the rules and materials posted on the Bishop & Transition website. The nomination by petition will conclude on October 2, 2023.
The publication of a preliminary slate is a major milestone in the Bishop Search and Transition process that began following the announcement that Bishop Marc Handley Andrus, who has served the Diocese of California since 2006, will retire in July of 2024. Formed in October 2022, the Bishop Search and Transition committee submitted the proposed preliminary slate to the Standing Committee for approval.
On October 27, the Standing Committee will announce the final slate. The people of the Diocese of California will then have an opportunity to meet the finalists at a series of Meet & Greet events November 2–5 at various locations in the diocese, to be announced publicly in October. A special electing convention is scheduled for December 2, 2023 to elect the bishop coadjutor who, subject to obtaining consent from the wider church, will become the 9th bishop of California when the Rt. Rev. Dr. Marc Handley Andrus retires as bishop diocesan in July 2024. A service of ordination and consecration will take place at Grace Cathedral on May 4, 2024.
The people in the Diocese of California appreciate prayer for discernment and for support in the care of Bishop Andrus and Dr. Sheila Andrus for the remainder of the bishop search and transition process.
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