New Bishops Prepare for General Convention

June 1, 2009

Thirty-seven bishops, including five Canadians, one from Scotland, and one from Ireland, recently joined six episcopal faculty members and 10 guest instructors in North Carolina for a College for Bishops’ residency program.

The three-year Living Our Vows program is designed to support the spiritual health and personal development of new bishops. A series of three residential retreats is complemented by peer coaching with an experienced bishop, according to a news release.

The bishops, grouped in three classes according to the date of their consecration, attended sessions May 18-22 in media training and a “holistic approach to communications strategies” for the July General Convention. David Booth Beers, chancellor to the Presiding Bishop, led a study of the polity of The Episcopal Church, and Sally Johnson, chancellor for the president of the House of Deputies, focused on proposed revisions to the church’s disciplinary canons.

“The episcopacy is a unique and demanding vocation with a steep learning curve,” said the Rev. Margaret Ann Faeth, associate professor at Virginia Theological Seminary and one of the retreat speakers. “Over the past two years, I have been impressed with the commitment of the new bishops and their eagerness and receptivity to the program.” the rest