What? No token bald guy?

Am I the only one who did a double-take on seeing that +David Anderson (CANA) had been nominated to run for Bishop in the TEC diocese of New Jersey?

No 2., That was my initial chuckle as well.

No bald guy, but there is a partnered lesbian on the ballot.

The Rev. Joan Beilstein’s clergy profile in the nominations report hints at what is made clear in her bio on her parish’s web site: http://www.ascensionsilverspring.org/staff

And see also this Washington Post opinion piece in which she holds forth on “marriage equality,” discussing her own relationship with her “spouse.”

It seems we have arrived at the moment when the nomination of a partnered homosexual candidate for bishop is no longer newsworthy.

Archer, that’s what I was wondering. And no goatee either. And they left off the woman with the patrician hairdo too, though maybe the lesbian is trying to cover that slot (unsuccessfully).

I did notice the complete lack in that official list of persons of reference to any spouse or kids or partners pretty much across the board. Reading through the personal blurbs, there seems to be this very odd fixation with liturgy. No real discussion of leadership types or vision statements particularly. This was just a very odd press release.

Well, it’s striking that the candidates with at best two exceptions come from stable suburban parishes, whereas most parishes in the diocese are in small towns (and all the shore parishes are in this diocese, with one summer chapel utterly wiped away, another probably badly damaged if not destroyed, and the parish in Bay Head without its building), one gets the impression that implementing the upcoming marital changes are all the search committee seems to have thought about. I do see that the parish in Seattle has shot up since the candidate from there took over, so if I thought she were orthodox I’d strongly lean towards going with here. But somehow I don’t think basic theological questions were on the questionnaire.