In the spring of 2021, The Rt. Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida, alerted the Standing Committee of his plans to retire in July 2023 at age 72, as required by the canons of The Episcopal Church. By the time Brewer officially announced his pending retirement at the 2022 Diocesan Convention in late January, the Standing Committee had initiated the intense process of finding a new bishop. Today, that process is “looking good,” said The Rev. Tom Rutherford, rector of Church of the Messiah, Winter Garden, and president of the Standing Committee. “Everything’s still under control, on time and under budget.”
The Search Committee’s initial task, per its Charge from the Standing Committee (scroll down at these links to read the Charge in Spanish or English), was to “capture the hopes and dreams of the people in the diocese” as part of producing a diocesan profile to give potential candidates for bishop an overview of the diocese. In addition to its own regular meetings, the Search Committee held 13 discernment meetings throughout the diocese to gather information for this task.
In each of the five deaneries, two such meetings were held, one in the daytime and one at night, to accommodate a variety of schedules, with an additional one conducted in Spanish at St. John’s, Kissimmee. Further discernment meetings were held with the Diocesan Board and the diocesan staff. All in all, more than 350 people interacted with the Search Committee, both in person and online, to respond to four primary questions: “What are we good at? Where can we improve? What are our priorities for the next 10-20 years? What qualities do we seek in our next bishop?”
“Father Chris [Rodriguez, Search Committee chair] has done a masterful job of shepherding the Search Committee through the process of writing and producing the diocesan profile,” Rutherford said. “And the different web designers have done great work. It looks good, and the information is complete and very helpful.”
After approval from the Standing Committee, the diocesan profile was posted online (find it here in both Spanish and English), and nominations opened May 1. The Search Committee will receive nominations through May 31; potential candidates as well as those interested in nominating someone may email nominations@dcfsearch.org for an application packet with complete instructions. Per the Search Committee’s Charge, nominations must come from “a priest canonically resident in the Diocese of Central Florida and another communicant in good standing (lay or ordained) from the Diocese of Central Florida.”
As nominations arrive, the Search Committee will continue its work, interviewing and otherwise vetting potential candidates in preparation for returning a final slate of three to five to the Standing Committee by Sept. 30. Members have already spent time selecting the Transition Committee, which will take charge of the bishop search process once the official candidates are announced. Members of this committee will be announced later this summer.
Once the slate of candidates is in place, the Transition Committee will move forward with walkabouts, when potential bishops visit the diocese and interact with committee members and others as all continue to discern God’s will.
On Jan. 14, 2023, the diocese will hold a Special Electing Convention, where the new bishop will be elected by a majority of both lay and clergy electors (the delegates from the 2022 Diocesan Convention). The bishop-elect will attend the 2023 Diocesan Convention and be consecrated as bishop on June 10, 2023.
Rutherford sees great things ahead for the remainder of the bishop search process and for the Diocese of Central Florida.
“It’s a healthy diocese; it’s an exciting diocese; there’s lots of stuff happening,” he said. “We tend to get along with each other, we tend to love each other, and most of the time, we even like each other! When we disagree, we tend to do so without being disagreeable, which is what we hope Christians can do.”
“The Diocese of Central Florida is a great place,” Rutherford added. “And I can’t imagine that we’re not going to have a bunch of folks who would love to be our next bishop!”
For continuing news on the bishop search process, stay tuned to the Central Florida Episcopalian in both digital and print versions and to the bishop search website at dcfsearch.org (English) and dcfsearch.org/es/ (Spanish).