San Joaquin Priest Elected Bishop of South Carolina
09/16/2006

The Rev. Mark J. Lawrence was elected on the first ballot as the next Bishop of South Carolina during a special convention Sept. 16 at St. Philip’s, Charleston.

Fr. Lawrence, rector of St. Paul’s in Bakersfield, Calif., since 1997, was elected with 42.5 lay votes and 72 clergy votes, according to unofficial results published on the internet by the Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, canon theologian and communications coordinator for the diocese.

An election required 29 votes in the lay order and 54 in the clergy order. The other two nominees were: the Rev. Canon Ellis Brust, chief operating officer for the American Anglican Council; and the Rev. Stephen Wood, rector, St. Andrew’s, Mount Pleasant, S.C. the rest