Oasis California News Blog: Three of four Episcopal nominees backed Gay NH bishop

NEW YORK --The Episcopal Church named four nominees to be its new leader Wednesday, three of whom approved the consecration of denomination's first openly gay bishop.

The group also includes Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Las Vegas, the first woman nominated to be the church's head, or presiding bishop.

The other nominees:

--Bishop J. Neil Alexander of Atlanta;

--Bishop Edwin F. Gulick Jr. of Louisville, Ky;

--Bishop Henry N. Parsley Jr. of Birmingham, Ala.

The new presiding bishop, who succeeds the retiring Frank Griswold, will be elected June 19 during the church's General Convention for a term extending to 2015.

Parsley is the only nominee who voted against approval of V. Gene Robinson to be the New Hampshire bishop at the church's 2003 General Convention. Robinson's consecration later that year provoked ongoing protest from the denomination's conservative wing and among Anglicans internationally.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the international Anglican Communion and its presiding bishop is part of its body of 38 "primates." Anglican leaders and churches overseas, particularly in Africa, broke ties with the American church over Robinson's elevation and denounced Griswold for leading Robinson's consecration ceremony.

Additional nominees can be proposed until April 1, but it's expected the nation's bishops will choose among names proposed by the official nominating committee. The winner of the bishops' balloting must then be confirmed by clergy and lay delegates.

The nominating committee, elected at the 2003 convention, consisted of nine bishops, nine priests and nine lay parishioners, with two youth appointees. It was co-chaired by Bishop Peter James Lee of Richmond, Va., and New York City laywoman Diane Pollard.

The panel finalized its slate at a Jan. 20-22 meeting in Delray Beach, Fla.

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