The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop formally presented five nominees during a 30-minute joint session on June 25, the eve of the election.
The morning session did not include a question and answer time with the nominated bishops — J. Scott Barker of Nebraska, DeDe Duncan-Probe of Central New York, Daniel Gutiérrez of Pennsylvania, Sean Rowe of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, and Robert Wright of Atlanta.
The presentation focused instead on the steps committee members took to nominate the bishops. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry served as moderator.
The committee’s co-chairs, Bishop Mark Lattime of Alaska and Canon Steve Nishibayashi of Los Angeles, detailed the multiyear tasks they faced.
“The process was over three years that has seemed short and long at the same time; how we got to this day, and ultimately submitting the names of the nominees to stand for election tomorrow,” said Nishibayashi, a pediatrics specialist in Los Angeles.
Lattime said the 20 committee members included bishops, priests, deacons, and laity, and two members between ages 16 and 21. “They come from Central Equator to Alaska, and 16 other dioceses, seminarians to retirees,” Lattime said.
Steps for the committee included Kaleidoscope anti-bias training, and seeking wisdom from Curry, former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, current and former staff, committee members, and church leaders.
“We became a community of discernment,” Lattime said. “We were a community that was beyond ourselves. We needed to be in discernment with the whole church.”
After it released the profile on May 23, the committee began accepting nominations, which required essays, references, and videos. The committee oversaw the customary background and security checks, and drug and psychological tests.
The committee announced Barker, Gutiérrez, Rowe, and Wright as nominees on April 2. It announced Duncan-Probe as a nominee by petition two weeks later.
The House of Bishops will elect the 28th Presiding Bishop in the afternoon of June 26, and then the House of Deputies holds a ratification vote.
