The Committee to Elect a Bishop of the Diocese of New York announced the names of the five individuals it will formally nominate at the Convention to Elect a Bishop to be held at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City on Oct 29.

Diocesan Councils around the "Province" will be asked to participate at their fall meetings in a discussion about shared ministry in several areas identified by the Task Force: educational programs, congregational development, clergy conferences, youth ministry, administrative functions, and human resources to name a few.

From these and other discussions, the Task Force hopes to receive constructive ideas as it prepares its Report for the Provincial Synod in 2012.

One is a liberal Democrat with a growing restive public that now believes things are not getting better in America, the other is a socialist who finds his nation's leaders pushing a "Big Society" drive to empower communities that he rejects and sees as a cynical betrayal of the poor.

The Act, which becomes effective January 2012, guarantees the right to freedom of conscience and religion across a broad range, at both individual and community levels. It sees churches as having an outstandingly important role as bearers of a society's values, and as factors in creating communities.