Feast of Basil the Great, Bishop of Ceaserea, June 14, 2018
Bishop Search Update #7
The Search/Nomination Committee and the Transition Committee are providing updates on the Search Process through these regular emails.

See Bishop Search Website
See also the Convocation Website
From the Search and Nomination Committee:
During the last weekend in May, the Search and Nomination Committee met with seven candidates for the next Bishop in Charge at a delightful Lutheran retreat house in Pullach, Bavaria. We had selected the seven wonderful men and women from a large number of applicants and we believe they all possess the attributes and qualifications we are seeking in our next Bishop.
The entire weekend proved a blessing to all involved (Committee and candidates alike). This was so much so that the candidates both collectively and individually expressed their gratitude for the overall process and for the retreat, highlighting their delight in getting to know more details about the Convocation in general and, in particular, in engaging and interacting with individual Committee members.

We spent three days of intense and deeply personal, intimate small-group conversations with the candidates, in addition to full group discussions in which each of them had the chance to express their views. We shared worship together, praying for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our mutual discernment for the next Bishop, and seeking God’s will for each one of us. They told us their stories and listened to ours. We also shared our vulnerabilities and hopes, as well as our excitement and wonder at the challenges ahead. And lastly, meal times provided an excellent time to socialize together.

The next stage in the discernment process is for the Committee to meet in Paris in the middle of June to select three or four candidates whose names will be put forward to the Council of Advice. Subject to the Presiding Bishop's approval, this will be the group from which your clergy and Convention delegates will elect our next Bishop at Convention in Waterloo in October.

Prior to the election, the final group of candidates and their spouses will conduct walkabouts organized by the Transition Committee in late September, in Paris, Munich and Rome. 

Whether or not you are a delegate to Convention, you are strongly encouraged to attend one of the walkabouts . This will ensure that the largest number of people have the opportunity to see and hear the candidates in person and share their own impressions with the voting delegates.

The Committee thanks you for your prayers over the past months and asks you continue to hold us and the seven candidates in prayer as we undertake the difficult task of discerning who will go forward to the election at Convention.


The Bishop Search and Nomination Committee
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.



Note: The Bishop Search and Nomination Committee will meet in Paris, June 15-16, to discern those candidates who will go forward to the election at Convention. Please keep the Committee in your prayers.
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. 
Timetable of the Search for the Next
Bishop in Charge
October 2016 - Convocation Convention in Fürstenried Palace, Munich, Germany
  • Bishop Pierre W. Whalon announces his intention to resign as Bishop in Charge effective July 2019
  • Strategic planning process begun with small group activity at convention
  • Strategic Plan committee is appointed and commissioned

Winter and Spring 2016/2017
  • Strategic plan is developed with input from all significant groups in the convocation, the Presiding Bishop's office, and with full-communion partners in Europe

September 2017
  • Strategic plan is approved by the Council of Advice

October 2017 - Convocation Convention in Wiesbaden, Germany
  • Strategic Plan is presented to Convention
  • The Search and Nomination Committee and Transition Committee are commissioned

November 2017
  • In consultation with the Presiding Bishop's Office, a Search Consultant is engaged by the Council of Advice

December 2017
  • Search and Nomination Committee retreat with the Search Consultant in Paris, France, December 1-2
  • Input from congregations and parishioners is received by congregational forums and online surveys.

January 2018
  • Transition Committee retreat with the Search Consultant in Florence, January 12-13
  • Search Profile is written by Search and Nomination Committee and approved by Council of Advice at the January 26-27, 2018 meeting in Waterloo, Belgium.

Early February 2018
  • Publication of the Convocation Bishop Search Profile on the Bishop Search website (europebishopsearch.org) 
  • The Position is announced in various ecclesiastical venues
  • Applications for bishop are received

March 9, 2018 (extended from March 2)
  • Window for applications is closed

Spring 2018
  • Applications are vetted and a list of up to eight candidates is compiled

May 24-27, 2018
  • Discernment Retreat with up to eight candidates and the Search and Nomination Committee, close to Munich, Germany

June 30, 2018
  • Final shortlist is presented to the Council of Advice

July 1-20, 2018
  • Petition process open for additional candidates

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

September 27-30, 2018
  • Presentation of Bishop Candidates and spouses:
  • Thursday, September 27: Paris, France
  • Saturday, September 29: Munich, Germany
  • Sunday, September 30: Rome, Italy

  • 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 and announces the name of the Bishop-elect
  • The Bishop-elect begins her/his transition to assume office.

April 5, 2019
  • Worship Service and soirée honoring Bishop Pierre W. Whalon (Friday evening) at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Paris, France

April 6, 2019 - Ordination and Consecration of the new Bishop in Charge in the Cathedral in Paris, France
  • The festival liturgy will be celebrated in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris, France. The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, will preside (Saturday at 11:00 a.m.)
The Bishop Search Website
Check out the 

This website is the "go to" place for all information for the Bishop Search, Nomination, and the Transition processes. 

This site includes: 
  • The Convocation Profile, which was developed by the Bishop Search and Nomination Committee, both in an on-line and a downloadable form. 
  • When the list of candidates has been finalized, biographical and other information about the candidates will be posted. 
  • It will also include other information about the Convocation, which will assist persons who are interested in the bishop search process, including a description of the Convocation Parishes and Missions.
  • As of June 14, there have been over 26,120 visitors to the website.
  • The Bishop Search has engendered great interest in the Episcopal Church and elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.


Bishop Search Update E-Mails....

Search Update #1  - Nov. 12, 2017
Search Update #2  - Dec. 16, 2017
Search Update #3  - Jan. 23, 2018
Search Update #4  - Feb. 24, 2018
Search Update #5 - March 20, 2018
Search Update #6 - May 8, 2018
Bishop Search and Nomination Committee
Bishop Search and Nomination Committee
Left to Right:  Dr David Lee Williams, Christ Church, Clermont-Ferrand, France;  Mr David Case – Co-Chair , Church of the Ascension, Munich Germany;  Mrs Dagmar Hamberger , St Boniface, Augsburg, Germany;  The Rev. Mark Dunham – Co-Chair, Rector, St James, Florence, Italy;  The Rev. Austin Rios , Rector, St Paul’s-within-the-Walls, Rome, Italy;  The Very Rev. Lucinda Laird , Dean, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Paris France;  Mrs Helena Mbele-Mbong , Emmanuel, Geneva, Switzerland;  Mr John Adam , St Augustine, Wiesbaden Germany. 
Not Pictured:   The Rev, Richard Cole , Emmanuel, Geneva, Switzerland;  Mrs Carole Ducastel , All Saints, Waterloo, Belgium;  The Rev. Canon Michael Hunn , Episcopal Church Center, New York, USA;  Mrs Nancy Janin , Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Paris, France;  Ms Nancy Treuhold , Board of Foreign Parishes, New York, USA.
Transition Committee
Left to Right: Dottie Dunnam (Florence), Harriet Rivière (Paris), Ron Clingenpeel (consultant), Rob Warren (chaplain; Clermont-Ferrand), Christoph Herpel (Frankfurt), Anne Swardson, Co-Chair (Paris), Michael Rusk (Geneva), Andrea D'Agosto (Rome), Chris Easthill, Co-Chair (Wiesbaden), Janet Day-Strehlow (Munich), Steve Smith (Munich), Felicity Handford (Waterloo), Not Pictured: Alison Wale (Clermont-Ferrand)
Further information on the Membership and the Duties of the Search and the Transition Committees can be found here.
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 a 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 2019. This 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 
+33 (0) 1 53 23 84 06 | news@tec-europe.org | www.tec-europe.org