Northern Michigan Bishop-elect Fails to Gain Consents

July 27, 2009

The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, bishop-elect of the Diocese of Northern Michigan, has not received sufficient consents from the standing committees or bishops of The Episcopal Church.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori informed Linda Piper, president of the diocese’s standing committee, of the insufficient consents in a letter released Monday afternoon by the church’s Office of Public Affairs.

The Presiding Bishop’s letter said that Fr. Thew Forrester, who was elected on Feb. 21, had not received sufficient consents from a majority of the church’s standing committees within a 120-day deadline set by church law.

The letter did not address consents among the bishops. “My understanding is that he did not receive sufficient consents among the bishops either,” Neva Rae Fox, the church’s public affairs officer, told The Living Church.

Ms. Fox said the Presiding Bishop’s office will not release specific consent tallies among either standing committees or bishops. the rest