The Third Sunday of Advent: December 17, 2017
Bishop Search Update #2
The Search/Nomination Committee and the Transition Committee will be giving regular updates on the Search Process through regular emails.

See also the Convocation Website
Prayer for the Convocation
O God, we pray for the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe as we discern and elect a Bishop to serve your people, build up your Church and proclaim boldly the Gospel to the world. Send us, we pray, an Apostle who is a wise counsellor, a merciful pastor, filled with your joy and grace. May your servant have the abundant gifts needed to lead your flock and the strength and courage to administer them. And may we renew and rededicate our lives to your will and service. All this we pray in the Name of our Great High Priest and Servant of the servants of God, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 
Bishop Search and Nomination Committee Report December 2017
The Bishop Search and Nomination Committee met in person for the first time in Paris on December 1 and 2. All committee members, except the Presiding Bishop’s representative, the Rev Canon Michael Hunn, were in attendance as well as the committee’s Chaplain, the Rev Robert Warren, and the Search Consultant, the Very Rev Ron Clingenpeel.

In addition to getting to know each other personally, after mostly electronic meetings, the committee worked on establishing the guiding principles for the search discussing in depth issues of confidentiality and responsiveness to candidates, and refining the steps and timing of the search with the assistance of the consultant who has worked on scores of transitions. The committee discussed the various channels of communication that it hopes to establish with parishioners and with candidates and how best to work with the Convocation office, while guarding confidentiality. 

Due to financial and time constraints the committee will return to its electronic meetings, with subcommittees working mostly by email. One further in-person meeting has been budgeted for when the committee reaches the stage of selecting semi-finalists.

The committee members expressed their appreciation for the confidence their churches, missions and the Council of Advice had placed in them for the identifying candidates to serve as the next Bishop-in-Charge and asked for the prayers of all as they seek to discern God’s will in this endeavor. 

Bishop Search and Nomination Committee
December 15, 2017
Information on the Search/Nomination Committee and the Transition Committee Membership and Committee Duties can be found here .
Timetable of the Search for the Next
Bishop in Charge
October 2017 - Convocation Convention in Wiesbaden, Germany
  • Strategic Plan was presented to Convention
  • The Search/Nomination Committee and Transition Committee were commissioned

November 2017
  • Search/Nomination and Transition Committees organize themselves.
  • In consultation with the Presiding Bishop's Office, a Search Consultant is engaged by the Council of Advice

Winter 2017/18
  • Meeting of Search/Nomination and Transition Committees and Search Consultant, in Paris, December 1-2.
  • Input from congregations and parishioners is received by congregational forums and online surveys.
  • Search Profile is written by Search/Nomination Committee and approved by Council of Advice
  • The Position is announced in various church venues

Spring 2018
  • Nominations for Bishop are received
  • Nominees are vetted and a shortlist of candidates is compiled

 June 30, 2018
  • List of Candidates from Search/Nomination Committee is made public
  • Three week window is made available for additional nominations to be made, according to a nomination protocol. 

August 15, 2018
  • Final list of Candidates is made public

September 27-30, 2018
  • Presentation of Bishop Candidates in Paris, Munich, and Rome for Candidates and Spouses

October 19, 2018 -  Election Convocation Convention in Waterloo Belgium
  • Election of the Bishop in Charge and regular convention business 

Following the Election
  • The Standing Committees of all the Episcopal dioceses and all diocesan bishops are asked to approve the election. This process can take several months.
  • The Presiding Bishop, deo volente, receives notice that consents have been received from a majority of bishops and standing committees of the Episcopal Church.
  • The bishop-elect begins her/his transition to assume office.

April 6, 2019
  • Ordination and Consecration of the new Bishop in Charge at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, will preside.
Committee Chairs
Search and Nomination Committee elect Co-Chairs
Mr. David Case , is a long-time parishioner at Church of the Ascension in Munich, Germany, and has served in many capacities in the Convocation for many years. He is currently chair of the Committee on Mission Congregations. Mr. Case maintains full time work in the insurance/financial services sector. He is also first lay deputy from the Convocation to the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Austin TX in July 2018
The Rev. Canon Mark Dunnam is Rector of St. James in Florence, Italy. He has served in many capacities in the Convocation and is currently on the board of the European Institute of Christian Studies (EICS). Fr. Dunnam worked for many years as Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast under three successive bishops. He is very familiar with the inner workings of the Episcopal Church.
Transition Committee elects Co-Chairs
Ms. Anne Swardson is a longtime parishioner of the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris France. Ms. Swardson is currently serving in her second term on the Council of Advice,and is assistant treasurer of the Convocation. She serves on the vestry and finance committee at the Cathedral, and maintains a full time job as a journalist. She is also a lay deputy to 79th General Convention of Episcopal Church in Austin TX in July 2018.
The Rev. Christopher Easthill is Rector of the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury in Wiesbaden Germany. Fr. Easthill has served the Convocation in many capacities over many years, both as a layperson the parish in Munich, and now as a priest. He was recently elected to the Council of Advice, is on the Committee for Mission Congregations, and is first alternate clerical deputy to the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Austin TX in July 2018.
Further information on the Membership and the Duties of these two Committees can be found here.
Assisting with the Search Process
Our Search Consultant

"The Council of Advice is pleased to announce that The Very Rev Ronald Clingenpeel will be our consultant for the Search & Nomination and Transition process. Ron has great experience with many dioceses, including some places that are not the normal -- which is certainly the case with the Convocation. We look forward to working with him."

The Rev Sunny Hallanan+, Rector, All Saints' Episcopal Church, Waterloo and President, Council of Advice

Fr. Clingenpeel met with the Search/Nomination and Transition Committees at their meeting December 1-2 in Paris.
Representing the Presiding Bishop's Office

The Rev Canon Michael Hunn is on the staff of the Presiding Bishop and serves as Canon for Ministry Within the Episcopal Church. Canon Hunn serves as a member of the Search and Nomination Committee and represents the Presiding Bishop in the search process.

Canon Hunn was also our keynote speaker at the recent Convocation Convention in Wiesbaden, October 19-22, and has worked closely with the Council of Advice in the transition process.
Representing the Board of Foreign Parishes

Ms. Nancy Treuhold represents the Board of Foreign Parishes on the Search and Transition Committee. Ms. Treuhold is a former parishioner of the American Cathedral in Paris and makes her home in New York. She and the other members of the Board provide invaluable support and selfless dedication to the work and ministry of the Convocation.

The Board of Foreign Parishes , a Church-related corporation in the State of New York. Together with its associated boards, it holds title to some of the Convocation's parish properties, manages several endowment funds for these parishes, and also the endowments funds for the Convocation, chiefly the Nice Fund and the Rowthorn Fund. The Board of Foreign Parishes has nurtured and secured the mission of the Episcopal Church in Europe for close to 135 years, and has been a support through times of war and deprivation, as well as peace and prosperity throughout this many years.
The Episcopal Church in Europe
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is one of four Anglican jurisdictions in continental Europe. The other Anglican jurisdictions in Europe are: the Lusitanian Church of Portugal , the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain , and the Church of England's Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. The Convocation is the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church,  the Most Rev. Michael B. Curry . The Episcopal Church is one of 39 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church is present in 16 countries around the world. 

The Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, a suffragan bishop to the Presiding Bishop, is based at The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. There are congregations in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. The Convocation functions both as a European Church with a legal corporate structure based in France, as well as being a diocesan-like jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church has been present in Europe since 1815. The Convocation was created by a Canon of General Convention in 1859, and Bishops in Charge were appointed by the Presiding Bishop. Some were diocesan Bishops or recently retired Bishops, who exercised oversight on a part-time basis. Bishops in Charge have been resident in Europe since 1960.

The first full-time resident Bishop in Charge was the Rt. Rev. Edmond Browning (1971-1974). The first Bishop in Charge to be elected by the Convocation itself and the first to be ordained and consecrated in Europe is our present Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, who was elected in 2001 and consecrated in St. Paul's Within the Walls Episcopal Church in Rome on November 18, 2001.

Bishop Whalon announced his intention to resign as Bishop in Charge effective July 31, 2019. This has initiated a Search Process for our second elected Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe | 23 avenue George V, 75008 Paris, France 
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