South Carolina Diocese Announces List of Candidates for New Bishop – Episcopal News Service

[Diocese of South Carolina] The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina announced on January 30 the list of candidates who will stand for election as the 15^º Bishop of South Carolina during an Extraordinary Convention Meeting to be held for the purpose of the election on May 1.

Candidates are (listed in alphabetical order):

• Rev. Geoffrey M. St. John Hoare, rector, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC
• Rev. Kevin Allen Johnson, rector, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Texas.
• Rev. Terence Alexander Lee, rector, São Filipe Episcopal Church, New York.
• Ven. Calhoun Walpole, archdeacon, Diocese of South Carolina; vicar and subdian, Grace Church Cathedral, Charleston, South Carolina.
• Rev. Ruth M. Woodliff-Stanley, canon for strategic change, Dioceses of Northwest Pennsylvania and Western New York; senior vice president for strategic change, Episcopal Church Building Fund.

Information about candidates, including brief biographical information, essays and curricula, can be found on the search site for the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina at this link.

In a letter to the Diocese of South Carolina, the chairman of the Standing Committee, Rev. Caleb J. Lee, said of the search: “The past year has been very challenging, in more ways than one. For all these reasons, our incredibly talented Search Committee has been constant in prayerful discernment. They selected, from a large and exceptionally qualified group of candidates, the names presented to you to run for election. The Standing Committee is grateful for the sacred work that is underway and we are very confident in the process that has brought us to this point. “

The Standing Committee also announced the opening of the petition process, which allows additional nominees to be added to the list. More details about the process, including requirements for nominees from the petition, can be found on the bishop’s research website at this link. The petition process will be closed on Monday, February 8, 2021, at 5 pm EST.

Members of the diocese will have the opportunity to learn more about the candidates during the candidate talks that will take place from April 12 to 14. The final decision as to whether these events will be offered in person or virtually has not yet been decided. More information will be announced shortly on the bishop’s search site at www.scbishopsearch.org.

The Standing Committee convened an Extraordinary Convention Meeting to be held for the purpose of electing the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. This special convention will take place at 9 am on May 1 at Grace Church Cathedral. If the Convention cannot meet in person, the diocese will create a virtual platform.

The Diocese of South Carolina announced the start of a process that would lead to the election and consecration of the 15th bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina on January 23, 2020. The process was briefly halted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was resumed in August 2020.