Selecting a Slate

Our six final candidates have come and gone and the Search/Nomination Committee has selected the slate of candidates that we will be announcing on July 1^st. Our two and a half day long retreat ended with a closure activities and celebration party for the committee.

Wednesday night’s Eucharist and reception with the candidates, their spouses, the Diocese’s chancellor, cannons and current bishops started this phase of the process on the perfect note. This was the first time that that anyone outside of the committee learned who any of our candidates are. The reception time was put to good use by the candidates as they learned more about the diocese of Connecticut, and what it means to be Bishop in Connecticut from Bishop Smith and our suffrigans.

Thursday morning began with a group breakfast with the committee, the candidates and their spouses. The breakfast ended with a time of scripture and prayer, where we read, again, the passage from 2 Samuel, where Samuel searches for the next King of Israel from amongst Jesse’s sons and anoints David. Focusing on that passage, each of us offered up a one phrase prayer for the day.

The remainder of the day was spent by the committee meeting with each candidate for 90 minutes. We started each session by asking the candidate to pray, and then asked them how their individual discernment process had progressed. Each candidate was then asked a number of questions, some of which were asked of all of the candidates, and some of which were tailored specifically for that candidate based on what we had learned about them. We finished up by asking each of the candidates about their relationship with Jesus and then by joining hands and praying for the candidate. It was such a joy to hear how much each of these priests of the church love our Lord!

Friday afternoon, the committee’s final and most important task began: selecting our final slate. On this day we began with the Eucharist. We then prayerfully discussed each of our candidates. What were the “pros” of this candidate? What where the “cons”? Did we find anything in their reference checks? And as superficial as it sounds, how are their social skills? We prayerfully rated each candidate on a scale and added each candidate's ratings together. We prayed. We discussed the candidates again. We prayed again. We discussed again and prayed again. Finally we voted, placing our ballots in the chalice, and came to consensus on our slate.

We have an extremely gifted slate of candidates. Each and every one of them will make a marvelous Bishop for our diocese. I can’t wait until you get to meet them!

Right now we are completing the web-site that will introduce them to you. Check back, either here or at our the dioceses web-site ( http://ctdiocese.org ) on July 1^st for the link to our new web-site that will introduce you to our nominees!

Hospitality

From the very beginning of our process, one of the goals of the Search and Nomination committee has been to share the spirit of hospitality with our candidates. Now we get to directly demonstrate Connecticut hospitality to our candidates.

Late afternoon, Wednesday, June 23, our six candidates will gather with the Search and Nomination committee, our three bishops and several diocesan officials for a Eucharist and reception at a central Connecticut parish. Each candidate will have a host to ensure that they have a time during the reception to meet one-on-one with Bishop Smith, and an opportunity to meet Brad Babbitt, Chancellor, Jack Spaeth, Canon for Finance and Marge Roccoberton, Canon to the Ordinary.

Waiting for our candidates and their spouses at their hotel will be Diocese of Connecticut tote bags, containing, among other things, a selection of made-in-Connecticut products. It is at this hotel that the entire committee will be conducting our final interviews with each of the candidates on Thursday. These interviews can be expected to be blunt and rigorous, with the committee asking tough questions of the candidates, and the candidates asking tough questions in return. As prayer has played an integral part in all of the committee’s activities, we expect prayer to be an integral part of our interviews with each of our candidates.

While the candidates are busy with the committee, a non-committee host will act as tour guide to the spouses. And Thursday evening a group of two or three committee members will host each candidate and their spouse for dinner at one of the local restaurants.

Friday morning, we will bid our candidates goodbye. And then the committee’s final and most important task begins: discerning which of these candidates will be announced at nominees for election of the 15^th Bishop of Connecticut.

Six Invitations

Our visits to our remaining candidates completed, the committee met this last Saturday, June 13th, to discuss our visits to our remaining candidates.

As always we began with scripture and prayer. This week we began with a study of 1 Samuel 16:1,6 – 13, when Samuel was searching for the next King of Israel, anointing, at the direction of God, the “runt” of Jesse’s sons, David.
Although different aspects of this scripture struck the various members of the committee in different ways, all of us heard that we should trust God and be attentive to each other.

As we discussed our remaining candidates, the pros and cons and gifts and skills of each, it was clear that all of them are more than qualified to be our next Bishop. Taking regular breaks for prayer and doing a lot of “holy listening” to each other we talked about what each candidate would bring to us from their home setting, their personalities and how they will live among us as Bishop.

Now, as our mutual discernment process continues, we are inviting six candidates to come visit us.

Breaking Bread with Our 7 Candidates

First a word about the individuals that make up the Search and Nomination committee: Our names and parishes are listed on the diocesan web-site, but who exactly ARE these folks that are examining our potential candidates for the 15^th Bishop of Connecticut? The Standing Committee, in consultation with Bishop Smith, selected the members of our committee from representatives submitted by the Deaneries. We have five active priests, two retired priests and a vocational deacon. We have a high school student, two high school teachers, an IT Geek, a lawyer/entrepreneur, a state employee and some Moms/”full time volunteers”. We are men and women, Afro-American, Hispanic, Chinese and various flavors of white/Europeans in background. We live in cities, suburbs and rural areas. We come from rich and poor parishes and from parishes in between. We root for the Yankees or the Red Sox, but we all root for UCONN Women’s Basketball! Theologically we are liberal and conservative, and right in the middle. We are the diocese of Connecticut and we are united by the Holy Spirit in selecting the best possible candidates to be our next Bishop.

And, as we break into smaller groups for the current interview processes, we try to make each sub-group as diverse as possible.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog….

Having completed conference calls with our second round candidates, the Search and Nomination Committee met together May 23^rd to review the interview results. We had prepared for this meeting by listening to the recordings of our conversations with the candidates. We also had in hand the synopsis of each interview, as prepared by the “recording secretary” of each interviewing group.

As always, we began with scripture and prayer. Drawing upon our notes of the interviews, and referring back to our candidates’ applications, we prayerfully considered each of the candidates we had interviewed. As we discussed the candidates, we continued to go back to our profile: Can the candidate articulate a vision for the diocese’s future? Are they formed by scripture and prayer? How do they speak about nourishing the clergy, supporting lay ministry and helping us reconcile with one another? Do they have a diverse background of experiences to draw upon? We also asked ourselves what additional information we wanted to know about each individual.

Removing candidates from our “go-forward” list is getting more and more difficult, but at the end of the meeting, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we had discerned a list of candidates that we wanted to learn more about. Those candidates that we did not go forward with received a personal phone call from our Chair, Sylvia Ho, thanking them for their participation in our discernment process.

And now we are visiting our seven remaining candidates. Once again breaking up into teams of three, some visitations occurred this last weekend (May 30 and 31), with others occurring this coming weekend (June 6 and 7). Our visits consist of attending a Sunday service at our candidate’s parish and listening to them to preach. We are also interviewing five references, and conducting a further, in person, interview with the candidate that includes a list of standard questions that all of the candidates are being asked, as well as the individual questions that the committee wanted to ask each particular candidate. The questions, to both the candidates and the references, are designed to give us further insight into how the candidate matches up to our profile.

The most fun and relaxed part of each visit is sharing a meal with the candidate and, if they are married, their spouse. For everyone, this has proved to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the visits. Gathered around the table at a favorite restaurant, it is an informal time of fellowship and unstructured conversation. An opportunity to share stories and talk about mutual interests, and often discover mutual friends!

The committee will meet as a whole again on June 13^th. At that time, we will discuss our “on-site” experiences and discern which candidates will be invited to come and meet with the entire Search and Nomination committee (and a few selected others) for the final round of interviews.

As always, thank you for your prayers. Please keep them coming, especially for those members of our committee that will be traveling this weekend!