Joel Connelly: Cohabitation, church style :: seattlepi.com blog

Quoting:

On Sunday afternoon, the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton was installed as the rector (pastor) at St. Stephen. The parish is made up of those in the Oak Harbor area who stayed loyal to the Episcopal Church after fellow parisoners at St. Stephen's decided to pull out of the church and place themselves under the "alternative oversight" of an Anglican bishop in Recife, Brazil.

About 250 people showed up, including 35 members of the clergy and two Episcopal bishops: It was a welcome display of support for the loyalists, who found themselves largely abandoned by the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia after their brethren decamped late in 2003.
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Diocesan Bishop Vincent Warner and St. Stephen's negotiated a "covenant agreement" last year, under which the Anglican congregation will continue as the building's dominant user until the year 2014. The Episcopal loyalists at St. Stephen were told to accept it or face withdrawal of financial support from the diocese.

Taber-Hamilton had to celebrate Christmas Eve eucharist at St. Augustine's-in-the-Woods Episcopal Church more than 25 miles away in Freeland. She had to press to use the church's main sanctuary for Sunday afternoon's installation service.
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The Diocese of Virginia has sued to regain control of the property of Truro, The Falls Church and other congregations that have decamped. The Diocese of Olympia took a different approach.
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Warner thanked St. Charles for giving him a staff that could be folded to fit in the small trunk of the bishop's Corvette.

The loyalists in Oak Harbor were, by contrast, cast to the wind. "My husband and I sought refuge in the Methodist Church," said Shirley Viall, a former senior warden (lay leader) at St. Stephen's. The Vialls eventually joined the congregation at St. Augustine's-in-the-Woods.

A nucleus of parishoners contined to meet in each other's homes. They found allies in the clergy: Bishop Hampton; the Rev. Charles Forbes, who started the congregation in the 1950's; and Taber-Hamilton, whose husband is rector at the church in Freeland.

The loyalists were finally able to get a meeting with Bishop Warner last spring. It turned out to be a bizarre affair, with Warner singing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and "It's a Wonderful World" to the group....

My emphasis.

Very nice piece, Joel. One quibble: it's V. Gene, not V. Eugene.

Nominees for bishop named :: Seattle PI blog

Link. Extracts:

The Rt. Rev. Nedi Rivera, Bishop Suffragan of Olympia, is the best known name on the list, along with the Rev. Jeff Lee, successful rector (pastor) of the large St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina since 2000. The other nominees are Rev. Richard Burnett, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio; the Rev. Dr. Gregory Rickel, rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas; and the Rev. Angela Shepherd, rector of St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Annapolis, Maryland.
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The Diocese of Olympia has seen its troubles in recent years. More than 30 parishes have failed to meet their diocesan assessments. A pair of conservative congregations left the Episcopal Church after the installation in 2003 of a non-celibate gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire. The diocese has stagnated in membership over the last 30 years, even as more than 1.5 million people have moved into Western Washington.

Outgoing Bishop Vincent Warner has raised eyebrows on several occasions. The bishop announced his divorce at the 2002 diocesan convention. Warner later delivered sermons criticizing his flock for the lack of compassion shown to his ex-wife, who became a Methodist. He broke into song, in an apparent attempt to channel Johnny Cash, at last year's Christmas Eve services at St. Mark's Cathedral.
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The list of finalists includes three white men, and two minority women. Rivera is the first Hispanic woman bishop in the Episcopal Church. Shepherd is African-American.

None of the finalists is gay or lesbian. Two of the nominees - Rivera and Shepherd - have been divorced.
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In picking a successor to Bishop Warner, the local diocese may be in for a barn burner of an election. All five nominees come from the progressive wing of the church, but have different backgrounds and qualifications.