News for Week Ending 3/19/2012

Archbishop of Canterbury announces retirement

On March 16, 2012, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced that he will leave his Canterbury post at the end of the year to take a senior position at Cambridge University. The announcement on the archbishop’s own Web site is accompanied by a list of some of his accomplishments. A story from Anglican Communion News Service includes an outline of the procedure by which the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be chosen. ACNS has also compiled a collection of tributes to the departing archbishop. Also notable is a rather negative view of the current Archbishop of Canterbury from the primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) posted on his church’s Web site.

N.H. nominees includes gay candidate

On March 15, 2012, the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire announced candidates to be its next bishop. Additional candidates may be nominated by petition until March 25. The New Hampshire election is scheduled to take place May 19.

The candidates are the Rev. Penelope Maud Bridges, the Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld and the Rev. William Warwick Rich. Candidate profiles are published here. Gene Robinson, the current bishop, is to retire in January 2013. His 2003 election caused a furor in the Anglican Communion because he was a gay man living with a male partner, whom he subsequently married. Candidate Rich is also a married gay man.

The Episcopal News Service reported the story March 15. Additional details were reported by the Concord Monitor on March 18.

Questions announced for walkabouts beginning March 20

On March 19, 2012, the Transition Committee announced the three questions that each of the five candidates to be the next Bishop of Pittsburgh will answer in two minutes in each of the walkabout plenary sessions. The questions deal with very small congregations, issues of sexuality, and experience with “the Triune God.” The Walkabouts, which give Pittsburgh Episcopalians an opportunity to meet and listen to the candidates, take place from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM on March 20–23. The questions and walkabout locations can be found here.