L.A. Episcopal Diocese elects first woman bishop in its history

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles elected the first woman bishop in its 114-year history today but had yet to decide whether to select an openly gay priest for a second bishop opening.

Clergy and lay leaders, meeting in Riverside for their annual convention, chose the Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, a local favorite from Orange County known for her financial expertise and ability to build up congregations.

Bruce, rector of St. Clement’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in San Clemente, edged out five other candidates, including two openly gay priests, for the first "suffragan" bishop post. Suffragan bishops assist a diocese’s primary bishop.

"All my life I have known that I have been called to serve God in Christ in God’s church," Bruce wrote in her biography on the diocese’s website.

Bruce, who was elected on the convention’s third ballot, received a majority of votes from both clergy and lay delegates. She appeared to benefit from a strong Orange County showing, but delegates said she was elected because she was the most qualified candidate.

"She’s a known quantity," said the Rev. Warren Nyback, a retired diocesan priest and convention delegate. "It’s an indication that the diocese is getting tired of male bishops. There’s been a yearning for a long time, especially among women clergy."

Bruce -- and the successful candidate for the second open position -- must be confirmed by a majority of the national church’s bishops and of diocesan "standing committees," which include clergy and lay representatives. Voting for the second position was beginning this afternoon; it was not clear when it would be completed.

If either of the gay candidates is elected, it would mark the first election of an openly gay Episcopal bishop since the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson was chosen bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Robinson’s election threw the Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion into an uproar, leading to decisions by some conservative parishes and dioceses to leave the national church and resulting in a de facto ban on the election of additional gay bishops. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism.

But the U.S. church reversed course at its national convention in Anaheim in July, voting to open the top echelons of the church to gays and lesbians. The Los Angeles diocese is the first to test that policy.

Home to 70,000 Episcopalians across six counties, the diocese is widely viewed as one of the most liberal in the U.S. church of 2.1 million members.

Bruce, a onetime bank executive, has spent her 12 years as a priest in Orange County. She was the associate rector of Church of the Messiah in Santa Ana for three years before assuming her current post at St. Clement’s in 2000.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, she once thought that she would become a nun but instead chose marriage and family, she wrote in her biography.

Beside Bruce, the other candidates include the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool of Baltimore and the Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco, the Rev. Zelda M. Kennedy of All Saints in Pasadena; the Rev. Irineo Martir Vasquez of St. George’s in Hawthorne; and the Rev. Silvestre E. Romero of St. Philip’s in San Jose. Glasspool and Kirkley are openly gay.

Glasspool received the second-highest number of votes in the balloting and is considered a favorite for the second position. Kirkley, the other gay candidate, finished toward the bottom.

Duke Helfand and Larry B. Stammer, reporting from Riverside

Comments

[richard]

This is the most sinful thing in the church history if they elect a gay bishop. What is this world coming to. If they do elect a gay bishop, it will put a dent in arresting a child molester to no end. They are condoneing sodomy when the bible says sodomy and homosexuallity is a sin. You just open the door to more child molestation. I hope the law officers who arrest the people who is a molester, tells them you be out in a few months to do it agian thanks to the church.

[Linda Ascenzi]

I am so happy for Bishop Bruce, another former Catholic like me, who wanted to be a nun, but instead decided to enter the Episcopal church. Unlike me she went on to become a priest and now a Bishop. I am so very happy and proud of you Bishop Bruce. You are welcomed by so many of your Episcopal friends, with open arms. God bless you!

[pasadena jag]

The Episcopal Church is now the second career choice for women. The Rev. Ms. Bruce was ordained in 1998. Eleven years later she's a bishop. She use to be working at Wells Fargo. Talk about politically correct fast tract for women - the Episcopal Church is the place. Too bad there aren't growing numbers in the pews to cater to the needs of a church with so many bishops. Barely 20,000 people go to the Episcopal Church each Sunday. Its a dying institution and like all of Christianity and their churches - should be taxed for this claptrap.

[Dr. Peter Evans]

Way to go Episcopal Church!
Now let's see a lot of concrete ation with the ordination of openly Gay males.

Rsepetfully

Dr. Peter

[Konstantin]

How is that surprising?
I bet they will soon elect lesbian bishop who has sexual with her daughter, who changed her sex to become bishop's son.
In other words, this is not surprising... especially since it is in los angeles (san francisco need to keep up the race).

[Konstantin]

The Episcopal Diocese always has been synonymous with that "christian" denomination that brings embarrassment to the Christian name.

"Silvestre E. Romero of St. Philip’s in San Jose. Glasspool and Kirkley are openly gay. "

Sure enough.!!! Next wave of "christian" leaders should be pedophiles/involved in incest, or else there is no progress in liberation of sexual minorities.
You see, you can't emphasize homosexuality and hypocritically reject rights to other sexual orientations/lifestyles.
Let's celebrate diversity in the 'body of Christ" with a lesbian "minister" who is married to her son (who is actually her daughter who changed gender).

Congratulations America!!!

[David Justin Lynch]

YES!!! This is great news! And her first parish visitation should be to Blessed Sacrament in Placentia to educate the congregation that women can pontificate as well as practice law, perform surgery, do accounting, teach college, and every other job that requires a brain.

[Paul Starks]

The Episcopal is a completely apostate church so it doesn't make any difference who they choose as a "bishop" in a "church" that has ignored scripture which is the word of God.

[Truth Be Told]

What's the point?

There were three parishioners for the single service held at our local Episcopal church last week, the first week of Advent. Down from a typical three or four hundred for each of the three Sunday services a generation ago.

The ordination of gays and women in the Episcopal church has been an EPIC FAILURE. Other denominations may want to take note of what's happened. Perhaps some governments as well.

[hosemonkey]

The Episcopal church is imploding because of their election of women and sodomites to their "episcopacy." It has caused dissention and schism to their denomination and is not blessed by God. They will fail and disappear because of their sinful disobedience.

[Big Earl XXX]

I don't get it. If the Bible teaches that engaging in homosexual behavior is a sin, and it appears that it does, then (1) why would this woman want to be identified with a religious system which presents her as "living in her sin"? and (2) why would Episcopalians negate what their Holy Book teaches about homosexual unions.

It seems like hypocrisy of the highest scale in this person and upon her denomination (or at least this local diocese). I think it would be one thing to have a homosexual bent, but to openly practice and engage in lesbian sexual acts on Saturday night, and then get up and be one of your church's leaders seems somehow wrong.

Maybe they should get a different book? I don't know.

[Mary Waterton]

The Bible says that homosexuality is the bottom rung on God's depravity scale ... down there with incest, pedophilia, beastiality. So much so that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah as a warning to future generations. Does the Episcopal Church think that God won't destroy them because they have a cross perched atop the roof???