wfn.org | Bishop Donovan to be interim Anglican UN Observer

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99-189

Bishop Herbert Donovan to be interim Anglican UN Observer

     (ACNS) Bishop Herbert A. Donovan, Jr., has been appointed to 
serve as the Anglican Observer at the United Nations on an 
interim basis.

     The appointment, announced Dec. 7 by the secretary general 
of the Anglican Communion, the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, was 
made in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
members of the UN Observer's Advisory Council in New York. 
Donovan will take up the post early in 2000. He is encouraging 
people throughout the Anglican Communion who have concerns that 
need to be shared with the United Nations to be in touch with him 
at his office at the Episcopal Church Center, which is located 
one block from UN headquarters.

     Donovan is no stranger to the life and work of the Anglican 
Communion. In an interview with ACNS he said that one of his 
"greatest experiences in the Church" was when all the bishops of 
the African continent made a pastoral visit to Trinity Church, 
Wall Street, New York, during his time at that parish. The 
bishop, who is the son of missionary parents, also spoke of his 
1988 experience of the Lambeth Conference as a high point during 
his episcopate.

     Mary Donovan, his wife, is an author, teacher and much-
respected lay leader in the Episcopal Church.

     After his 1993 retirement as Bishop of Arkansas, Donovan was 
vicar of Trinity Church in Manhattan and then interim Bishop of 
Chicago. He recently provided episcopal assistance to the Diocese 
of New Jersey. He is currently serving as coordinator of the 
College of Bishops, which meets annually at the General 
Theological Seminary in New York. He was Secretary of the House 
of Bishops of the Episcopal Church for 12 years.