Episcopal church to tap suffragan bishop soon
Candidates gather here for 'walkabout'
Sunday, September 09, 2007
GREG GARRISON
News staff writer

These are volatile, contentious times in the Episcopal Church, enough to make the process of electing a bishop potentially fraught with political overtones.

The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama plans to elect a suffragan, or assistant, bishop this month. On Saturday, the candidates gathered at St. Luke's Episcopal Church for a "walkabout," a chance to meet Episcopalians from across the state.

The pressing issue seems to be the looming showdown between the U.S. Episcopal Church and Anglican archbishops in other parts of the world who want the U.S. church to renounce its acceptance of openly gay New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson. the rest