By JENNY BONE MILLER
Special to The Tennessean
Published: Sunday, 05/07/06
A search that took 18 months, 36 ballots and countless hours of prayer failed to produce a new bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.
A convention composed of 203 voting delegates could not reach a consensus Saturday on any of four candidates. The search process will begin again with a new slate of nominees.
It is unlikely that a successor for the retiring bishop, the Right Rev. Bertram Herlong, will be in place when he leaves in October, according to the Rev. Tom Hotchkiss, spokesman for the diocese.
The difficulty in electing a leader, some say, reflects deep national disagreements over the future direction of the church. Clergy members consecrated Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop, in 2003, bringing to light underlying doctrinal issues and polarizing the church.
"The atmosphere was one of mixed emotion and resigned disappointment," Hotchkiss said after Herlong's 4 p.m. announcement at Christ Church Cathedral here that there would be new candidates.
"When the clergy votes did not change substantially during the day, it looked like it was going to be difficult to elect a bishop," Hotchkiss said after being asked if the announcement was expected.
The Tennessee Episcopal Diocese requires a two-thirds consensus from two voting bodes — the church members and the clergy members — for one of the four possible candidates. Dioceses in most other states require only a simple majority.
Delegates couldn't pick a candidate during two previous conventions on March 18 and March 25. Organizers scheduled Saturday's election several weeks later, hoping the extra time might make a consensus easier.
By the 35th ballot Saturday, the last one posted on the diocese Web site, only two candidates were receiving more than five votes.
The Rev. James B. Magness of the Diocese of Kentucky had 41 of the needed 52 clergy votes, but only 41 of the needed 84 laity votes. Magness supported Robinson's consecration.
The Rev. Canon Neal Michell of the Diocese of Dallas had 83 laity votes, but only 33 from the clergy. He came within one vote of the required two-thirds laity majority.
Michell's diocese has allied itself with a network of U.S. Episcopalian churches opposed to the decision to consecrate Robinson, although Michell himself has not.
"This is happening in God's time and not our time," said Suzanne Cate, a voting delegate from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Murfreesboro. A clear majority of the church members, she said, is very evangelical and opposed to electing a bishop whose views might cause controversy.
"Perhaps God sees a need for us to spend more time talking to one another," she said. "If this is how that has to happen, that's our fault, not God's."
Herlong has not yet announced plans for a new election, but he is expected to reconstitute an election committee, Hotchkiss said, which will nominate another slate of candidates. The slate could include some of the previous candidates if they are willing.
Herlong will be 72 in October, and church policy requires that bishops retire at that age.
If there is no elected bishop at that time, a standing committee, a group of seven church and clergy members, will lead the church. The Rev. Gene Wise of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Murfreesboro is chairman of that committee. •
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