Big challenges ahead for new boss of Olympia Episcopal diocese

Posted by Kendall Harmon

It is likely to be a grand show.

More than 2,000 people, including a procession of 200 local clergy, are expected at Meydenbauer Center to attend the ordination and consecration of the Rev. Gregory Rickel as the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.

Rickel, 44, who was most recently rector of a church in Austin, Texas, succeeds Bishop Vincent Warner, who is retiring after 18 years as head of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington.

"This whole thing is nothing you train for or plan for — you can't," Rickel said in an interview earlier this month. "This mantle — it's daunting."

Indeed, beyond the grandeur of the ordination ceremony, there are big challenges ahead for Rickel.

He faces declining membership numbers, a region that is known for being "unchurched," and some ongoing debates over biblical interpretation on issues such as homosexuality that have led to two congregations pulling out of the diocese.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops

4 Comments
Posted September 15, 2007 at 7:50 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. steveatmi5 wrote:

“Rickel says he is comfortable continuing Bishop Warner’s stance of letting individual priests decide whether to perform blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions.”

He will continue TEC’s widespread rebeliion against the dotrine and practice of Anglicans worldwide, in other words.

September 15, 8:23 am | [comment link]
2. cssadmirer wrote:

Has anyone compiled a reliable list of all the dioceses which are legitimizing same sex unions in TEC?

September 15, 8:40 am | [comment link]
3. Virgil in Tacoma wrote:

Personally, I don’t see a “non-progressive” bishop at the helm in the diocese of Olympia.  He or she just wouldn’t fit. I think our new bishop will be quite balanced though.  I wish him well.

September 15, 1:14 pm | [comment link]
4. Revamundo wrote:

I was present when Greg was ordained as priest and I knew then that he would be made a Bishop at some point. I got to watch the webcast of the ordination/consecration today and it was without a doubt the most meaningful (and beautiful) service I’ve ever seen. I got teary-eyed when the Native Americans were drumming and singing and dancing and then smudged his crozier. I was deeply moved by the prayers in English, Cantonese, Spanish and the Native American language. Well done Diocese of Olympia. I know you will be richly blessed by his tenure as your bishop. Oh, and he knows how to grow the church! At his last two parishes there was around 40% growth.

September 15, 9:37 pm | [comment link]
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