Boy, I’m out of it.  I didn’t realize that +Peter Beckwith had already retired, Feb. 1st.  Election is scheduled for September 17-18th.

Bishop Beckwith was a faithful and honorable Christian leader, but you have to wonder if any strong conservative, if elected, would gain the necessary consents these days in TEC.  Alas, I doubt it.

With only 38 congregations, only 18 of which are parishes and 20 are missions, you also have to wonder if they wouldn’t be much better off leaving TEC and joining with Quincy to form a more viable diocese.

David Handy+

I believe I read that Bishop Beckwith declined to have a retirement gala. If true, I can’t question that decision. Springfield had a miserable time duing 2002 through 2008 with Members down 18.9 percent, ASA down 27.6 pecent, and Plate & Pledge (inflation adjusted) down 15.6 percent. Using these dat I ranked it at 86 of 95 dioceses considered. For Aging, there were 62 Infant Baptisms and 112 Burials in 2008.  And for Money, 28 of its 38 churches had Plate & Pledge in 2008 of less than $150K. This means that each “rich” church has about 3 “poor” churches to help. And for church size, 28 of the 38 churches had ASA of 70 or less with 10 of the 28 with ASA of 20 or less. These stats do not describe a diocese with a bright future nor one which would welcome a bitter struggle over the election AND cofirmation of a new bishop.  Statmann

David,
If I remember correctly, +Peter was going to stick around a little longer originally, but then accelerated his actual retirement for some reason.  Could have been health.  In any case, your point re: succession is still valid.  I happen to believe that a conservative bishop could be elected and would get the appropriate consents.
I guess we’ll see.
Even though it would make sense, as they could overcome differences in churchmanship, but I doubt there would be a merging of Springfield and Quincy.  They are now, in general, just too disparate in biblical theological persuasion.