Diocese of Newark
The Search/Nominating Committee
for the 10th Bishop of Newark
News Reports
___________Bishop Nominating Committee Gets Input
by Bill McCollOctober 7, 2005 -- The Nominating Committee for the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Newark has been spending early fall gathering information from congregations, clergy and laity about the kinds of characteristics they feel are most important for the candidates to replace retiring bishop Jack Croneberger.
The first of these information-gathering events took place on September 26 at Grace Church in Madison, with all clergy members in the Diocese invited to give their input into the process. The 78 attendees watched a multimedia presentation and then were asked to give their thoughts.
"Everybody seemed to be easily engaged," said the Rev. David DeSmith of St. David's Church in Kinnelon, who is also a member of the Committee. "They came to give feedback and that process allowed them to do that. It was a good day."
DeSmith felt the presentation went a long way towards building confidence about what the Committee is doing.
"I came away with a feeling that this discernment process was in good hands," he said.
On October 2, congregations throughout the Diocese had their chance to provide guidance to the Committee by taking part in "Reflection Sunday: Our Experience of Bishops." An exercise was provided to be used as part of or in conjunction with the sermon, coffee hour, adult forum or other group gathering. Participants rated the most and least important characteristics of the next bishop, and also had a chance to reflect on their experiences with bishops.
The Committee said the purpose of the exercise was threefold: to increase awareness of the bishop's ministry, raise interest in the bishop selection process and provide ideas for the profile.
Because of scheduling conflicts, some parishes held their "Reflection Sunday" on other dates. Christ Church in Hackensack was among them, with the discussion led by Committee member Barbara Djimopoulos. Djimopoulos said she went into the session concerned that there might not be a great deal of interest, but her fears were allayed when more than a dozen church members appeared.
"I was happy they turned up," Djimopoulos said. "They weren't quite sure what was required, but once they warmed up, they were very enthusiastic."
Djimopoulos felt good about what was accomplished.
"If they didn't know before what was going on, they know now and are interested," she said.
The day after "Reflection Sunday," the first of four regional meetings for lay members to express their feelings was held at St. Dunstan's Church in Succasunna. In subsequent days, similar gatherings took place at Christ Church in East Orange, Christ Church in Hackensack and Calvary Church in Summit. All four sessions began with an introduction and 13-minute multi-media presentation. Then the participants broke up into smaller groups for discussion.
John Lees of St. Clement's in Hawthorne came to the gathering at Christ Church in Hackensack. He found the Committee members ready to listen.
"They were open to anything we had to say." he said.
Lees liked the idea of the regional input-gathering sessions.
"It brings people from all the parishes together and allows them to express their opinion," he noted.
And Lees came away with a positive feeling about the bishop search process.
"I'm optimistic," he said, "because the Lord is with us."
Heather Brown, a recent college graduate who attends St. Mark's in Teaneck, also was at the Hackensack meeting. She said she is glad the Committee is making a special effort to reach out for opinions from "20 somethings" and other younger people.
"We're the next generation, right?" she observed. "If you keep us informed and interested in what is going on, it'll build a strong foundation for the church."
She, too, was pleased with the session.
"I thought it was really interesting. It was a big learning experience," she said.
Armed with the data collected from all of these events, the Nominating Committee will be putting together a draft diocesan profile in time for yet another round of public meetings. Those are to be held November 14-17 at exactly the same sites, again beginning with refreshments at 6:30 pm and discussion between 7:00 and 9:00 pm.
After gathering all the input on the draft profile, the Committee will put together a final version which will be presented to the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council in early December.
The Nominating Committee will use the profile to help determine who should be the four to six bishop nominees to be voted on at a special diocesan convention next September. The new bishop will take over leadership of the Diocese at the annual convention in January, 2007.
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Bill McColl is Communications Chairman for the Nominating Committee and attends All Saints Church in Leonia
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Revised December 8, 2005
© 2005 Episcopal Diocese of Newark.