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North Dakota nominates one bishop candidate by petition
N.D. EPISCOPAL DIOCESE: Candidate for bishop draws opposition
Associated Press
FARGO - Voters in North Dakota's Episcopal Diocese will have six
candidates instead of five to choose from when they select a new bishop
next month.
Three clergy and three lay persons nominated the Rev. Henry Thompson III
of Coraopolis, Pa., through a petition process. He joins five others
picked by a selection committee.
None of those five candidates has directly expressed his views on the
recent confirmation of the openly gay New Hampshire bishop, the Rev.
Gene Robinson. Thompson disagrees with the confirmation of homosexual
clergy but said it is important to work together.
The search committee's lack of direct questions regarding homosexuality
angered some members of the diocese, who used the petition process to
nominate Thompson. Thompson had been rejected by the search committee.
"I think he's a very well-rounded candidate," said the Rev. John
Floberg, of Thompson. Floberg said he led the petition drive "to give
the diocese a broader range of candidates."
Donna Pettit, the search committee chairwoman, said she believes the
committee came up with a list of qualified candidates.
"I'm disappointed," she said. "The committee worked very hard."
North Dakota Bishop Andy Fairfield, who strongly opposed the election of
Robinson, retired in August.
The other five candidates to succeed him are the Rev. Christopher
Chornyak, of Ellsworth, Maine; the Rev. George Martin, of Edina, Minn.;
the Rev. Michael Smith, of White Earth, Minn.; the Rev. John Shepard of
Spokane, Wash.; and the Rev. Peter Stebinger, of Bethany, Conn.
The election of the next bishop for the North Dakota diocese will be
Feb. 7 at Fargo's Gethsemane Cathedral. One candidate must receive a
majority of votes, or the nomination and election process will start over.
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