Bishop Suffragan Election: Update from the Standing Committee

Dear People of the Diocese of West Texas,

Greetings from your Standing Committee and Alleluia, the Lord is risen!

It is our hope that your Easter celebrations have been filled with, as Bishop Read wrote in his Easter letter, love, joy, peace, and shouts of Alleluia!

Since Council in February, your Standing Committee has begun setting the foundation for the process to answer Bishop Read’s call for a Bishop Suffragan to serve the Diocese of West Texas. As you may remember the words of our Standing Committee in 2022, this is a discernment process that ends in an election. Once again, we are not simply calling for the election of a Bishop, we are issuing the call for the next Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of West Texas.

So, what happens next? Your Standing Committee is calling you to pray. Start praying now.  

• Pray that God will lead and guide our diocese and we will hear God through our prayer and discernment.  
• Pray for your own discernment as you may recognize a call to discuss nomination with a priest you have known and loved.  
• Pray for those who discern a call to enter the nomination process and for their families.
• Pray for the churches that will offer up their clergy and support them through this process.  
• Pray for your Nominating Committee as we set out to do the work that has been given us to do.

I will introduce you to your Nominating Committee (reflected at the close of this email) so you can begin praying for us by name. The Nominating Committee is made up of the Standing Committee joined by an additional 3 clergy and 3 lay persons from around our diocese. Working together with our consultant, the Very Rev. Ron Clingenpeel, we will set out a calendar for the process and keep the Diocese informed of the progress.

Names of those discerning a call to this process will be received starting on May 28th and nominations will close on June 12th. 

The election will take place on Saturday, October 19 at Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi. Those eligible to vote in this election are the clergy and lay delegates that served at Council in February 2024. The election will take place in person and no absentee voting is permitted. Delegations will have the opportunity to replace a missing delegate with one of their elected alternates if necessary.

To keep you updated, the Nominating Committee will be sending regular communications throughout the election process. Please look out for these communications.

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God’s Peace be with you,

The Rev. Carrie Guerra
‍President of the Standing Committee

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A Prayer for the Election of a Bishop Suffragan

Almighty and everliving God, source of all wisdom and understanding, be present as we discern who you would call to serve as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of West Texas. Teach us in all things to seek first your honor and glory. Guide us to perceive what is your will, and grant us both the courage to pursue it and the grace to accomplish it; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Bishop Nominating Committee:

The Standing Committee Members

The Rev. Carrie Guerra, St. Francis, San Antonio & President
Dr. Liz Manning, Holy Spirit, Dripping Springs
Susan Alwais, St. George, San Antonio
The Rev. James Derkits, Trinity by the Sea, Port Aransas
Libby Templeton, St. Michael and All Angels, Blanco
The Rev. Jonathan Wickham, All Saint’s, Corpus Christi

The Assisting Members

Lorena Rojas, St. John’s, McAllen
The Rev. Mike Woods, St. Elizabeth, Buda
Lory Zimmerman, St. Philip’s, Uvalde
The Rev. Betsy Stephenson, Grace, Llano
Dorcas Sampson, Church of the Resurrection, Windcrest
The Rev. Michael Koehler, Trinity, Victoria