"Nothing less than human civilization itself, nothing less than the very survival of this creation, this world itself, depends on our capacity and willingness to be truly inclusive and to affirm our diversity," the Presiding Bishop preached.

Michael Curry's quest to have a truly diverse and inclusive church is being played out in the House of Bishops, where he is the presiding officer and the first Black to hold that post. He followed Katharine Jefferts Schori who broke through the stained-glass ceiling as the first female presiding bishop not only in The Episcopal Church, but in all of Anglicanism. Bishop Curry can't make that claim. There are several Black primates scattered throughout the Anglican world, especially in the Global South. In fact, the second ranking bishop in all the Anglican Communion -- the Archbishop of York John Sentamu -- is a person of color.

Saturday (Dec. 14) the final TEC episcopal election of 2019 was held in the Diocese of Oklahoma where a -- now rare -- all male slate of candidates was offered. The winner was Fr. Poulson Reed, who is slated to become the VI Bishop of Oklahoma at the end of 2020 following a year of being the Bishop Coadjutor of Oklahoma. His consecration as coadjutor is slated for April.

Bishop-elect Reed is one of 20 new bishops either elected or consecrated in 2019. Three bishops are foreign: Cristobal Lozano (III Litoral Ecuador); Mark Edington (II Europe); and Lennon Change (VI Taiwan).

More than half of the new bishops are women. Twelve females have joined or will join the HOB, increasing the number of women elected to the House of Bishops to 39. The newly-consecrated lady bishops include: Cathleen Bascom (X Kansas); Jennifer Reddall (VI Arizona); Phoebe Roaf (IV West Tennessee); Kym Lucas (XI Colorado); Kathryn Ryan (Texas-suffragan); Susan Brown Snook (V San Diego); Megan Traquair (VIII Northern California); Shannon MacVean-Brown (XI Vermont); and Martha Stebbins (X Montana).

Women slated to join the HOB in 2020 are: Lucinda Ashby (IV El Camino Real); Bonnie Perry (XI Michigan); and Susan Haynes (XI Southern Virginia).

New Black bishops include: Phoebe Roaf (IV West Tennessee); Kym Lucas (XI Colorado); Shannon Mac Vean-Brown (XI Vermont); and Deon Johnson (XI Missouri).

One bishop and two bishops-elect are in same-sex attracted "committed" relationships: Thomas Brown (X Maine); Deon Johnson (XI Missouri); and Bonnie Perry (XI Michigan), bringing to five the number out and proud gays and lesbians who populate the HOB.

The remaining three bishops are white, male and in traditional one-man, one-women marriages with children. They are: Jonathan Folts (XI South Dakota); Frank Logue (XI Georgia); and Poulson Reed (VI Oklahoma). In addition, sitting Bishop Whayne Hougland (IX Western Michigan) was also elected as the II Provisional of Eastern Michigan, which he holds concurrently with his duties in the western part of the Wolverine State.

This latest crop of new HOB members does not include any Hispanics or transgendered bishops.

In January 2020, two dioceses are to be electing their next bishops. The Diocese of Alabama has a slate of two men and two women vying for the miter; while the Diocese of Minnesota has one male and one female priest running for bishop. In both dioceses there is a good chance its new bishop will be a woman.

TEC dioceses which have announced plans to elect new bishops in 2020 include: Chicago, Oregon, West Virginia and Wyoming. At this point no slate of candidates has been released. Looking further down in time, several other dioceses expecting to elect or consecrate new bishops in 2021 include: West Missouri, Springfield, West Virginia, Iowa and TEC Pittsburgh.

Bishops who retired in 2019 included: Wendell Gibbs (X Michigan); Thomas Ely (X Vermont); Don E. Jonson (III West Tennessee); Pierre Whalon (I Europe); Robert O'Neill (X Colorado); Kirk Smith (V Arizona); Michael Smith (XI North Dakota); Barry Beisner (VII Northern California); Stephen Lane (IX Maine); John Tarrant (X South Dakota); and William Franklin (Western New York). Meanwhile, retired Maryland Bishop Robert Ihloff steps back into his former diocese as assisting bishop. He is also one of several bishops serving in the Diocese of Virginia as bishop associate. Retired visiting bishops also serving in Virginia include Ted Gulick (Kentucky), James Mathes (San Diego) and David Jones (Virginia).

Other retired bishops who are helping out in various dioceses throughout the church include: Keith Whitmore (Eau Claire) as assisting in North Dakota; Jim Waggoner (Spokane) as assisting in Utah; William Franklin (Western New York), Geralyn Wolf (Rhode Island) and Daniel Allotey (Ghana, West Africa) as assisting in Long Island; William Persell (Chicago) and Arthur Williams (Ohio) assisting in Ohio; Mary Glasspool (Los Angeles) as assisting in New York; Don Wimberly (Texas) and Paul Lambert (Dallas) as assisting in Atlanta; Charles Keyser (Armed Services) and Dorsey Henderson (Upper South Carolina) as assisting in Florida; Michael Garrison (Western New York) and Barry Howe (West Missouri) as assisting in Southwest Florida; Rayford High (Texas) and Sam Hulsey (Northwest Texas) as assisting in TEC Fort Worth; Hector Monterroso (Costa Rica) as assisting in Texas; and James Magness (Armed Forces) as bishop pro tempore in Southern Virginia.

Other changes involving the women bishops in 2019 include: Susan Goff stepped up from Virginia's suffragan to the Bishop with Ecclesial Authority (bishop provisional) following the 2018 resignation and eventual 2019 retirement of Bishop Shannon Johnston. Katharine Jefferts Schori stepped down as transitional bishop in San Diego; Catherine Waynick stepped down as provisional bishop in Eastern Michigan; Chilton Knudsen moves from assistant in Maryland to assisting in Washington, DC; Jennifer Brooke-Davidson moves from suffragan in West Texas to assistant in Virginia; and deposed Maryland suffragan Heather Cook was released from prison after being incarcerated three years, six months, one week and three days for a 2014 fatal hit and run accident.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline. You can view more of her writings here: www.virtueonline.org