El Camino Real Elects Bishop

The Venerable Mary Gray-Reeves is elected on the second ballot.

After serving for ten years in parochial ministry, Mary Gray-Reeves has been the Archdeacon for Deployment of Southeast Florida since 2005.

From Bishop-elect Gray-Reeves' remarks:

...It is often said that the church must change in order to keep up, or catch up, as the case may be. I believe that the church must embrace a lifestyle of change. Jesus modeled agility and sensitivity in his life with the Spirit and the community around him. We must discover ways of being that allow us to be more responsive and flexible as we hold fast to the essentials of our faith. We are called to live daily in the Grace that is gifted to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Spirit “which blows where it chooses” (John 3:8). We must respond to the Spirit’s movement just as Jesus did in his earthly ministry, so that the fruit of transformation may be made known. Lives, whole communities, depend on it. I believe that Anglicanism continues to offer a rich heritage in its expression of the Christian faith, blessing us with great opportunities for exploration within the bounds of our common life...

I served for many years in ECR. They live in the shadow of two very large dioceses; California to the North and Los Angleles to the South. Their two previous bishops left under less than ideal circumstances. It is a difficult time to be a Bishop, but it will be especially challenging in this diocese.

My congratulations (and condolences!) to the Bishop-elect. May we hold her up in our prayers.

J.

UPDATE: Episcopal Life is now offering more information on this election.