wfn.org | [ENS] Virgin Islands elects Gumbs as bishop;

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

February 3, 2005 - Thursday Thesis: Newsmakers

Virgin Islands elects Gumbs as bishop

[ENS] The Rev. Edward Ambrose Gumbs, a native of the island of Anguilla
and
former U.S. Navy veteran, was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
the
Virgin Islands on Saturday, January 29, during a special convention at
All
Saints Cathedral, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Gumbs, 55, has been rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Charlotte
Amalie -- a town on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas -- since 1991,
and
chairman of the diocesan standing committee since 2003. He has a
bachelor's
in Social Sciences from the College of the Virgin Islands and a master's
in
Theology from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Elected on the third round of ballots, Gumbs was one of three candidates
originally announced by the diocesan nominating committee. The other two
were the Rev. Victoria Heard, missioner for church planting in the
Diocese
of Virginia; and the Rev. Michael Gordon Rowe, rector of St. Thomas'
Church
in Camden, Maine. Rowe withdrew his name in the run-up to the election.

The consecration is scheduled to take place on June 11, the feast of St.
Barnabas.

Gumbs is married to Phillis, and they have two daughters, Edlyn, 4, and
Deanalyn, 2.

The Diocese of the Virgin Islands is composed of 13 parishes over five
islands -- Saint John, St. Croix and St. Thomas (United States Virgin
Islands) Tortola and Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands).

- - - - -

Southern Ohio announces mominees for ninth bishop

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Southern Ohio has announced the
names of three nominees for the ninth bishop of Southern Ohio after an
extensive, year-long search by the nominating committee of the diocese.

The Very Rev. Stephen H. Bancroft, dean of the Cathedral Church of St.
Paul
in Detroit, Michigan; the Rev. Anne B. Bonnyman, rector of Trinity
Episcopal
Church in Wilmington, Delaware; and the Rev. Stephen Hoff Wendfeldt,
rector
of St. Peter's Church, Del Mar, California, were chosen from a field of
96
after nearly 400 initial inquiries were submitted to the Nominating
Committee.

Clergy and lay delegates will gather June 11 at Christ Church Cathedral
in
Cincinnati to elect a bishop to succeed Bishop Herbert Thompson Jr., who
will retire at the end of 2005. Thompson was elected bishop coadjutor of
the
diocese on June 11, 1988, and installed as Southern Ohio's eighth bishop
in
January, 1992.

"Our hopes and prayers have been that God would guide the minds of those
who
shall choose a bishop for our diocese," said Jon Boss, president of the
Standing Committee, which oversees the election of a new bishop. "It is
apparent from the experience and ministries each of the nominees could
bring
to us as the ninth bishop of our diocese that such prayerful discernment
truly has guided the Nominating Committee's selection of the three
nominees."

The petition process for any further nominees runs from February 1 - 28.
Petition nominees will be announced in mid-April following the
completion of
background checks. Nominee forums will be held May 24-28. This is an
opportunity for clergy and lay delegates to ask questions of the bishop
nominees and for everyone in the diocese to meet the nominees.
Consecration
of the next bishop will be held November 12 in Cincinnati.

The Diocese of Southern Ohio represents nearly 30,000 people in 40
counties.
In 2006, the diocese will host the Episcopal Church's 75th General
Convention as it meets in Columbus June 12-21.

Further information about the Diocese of Southern Ohio can be found
online
at: www.episcopal-dso.org.