Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe elected new Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church

[Freshly-touched grass]

I didn't see this posted anywhere. Admittedly, I'm not on the up-and-up when it comes to Episcopal Church politics, but Michael Curry will be passing the baton on November 1st. May God bless him in his retirement, and may God be with the Church's new Bishop-elect.

The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, was elected and confirmed the 28th presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church on June 26 for a nine-year term beginning Nov. 1.

Rowe was chosen from among five nominees on the first ballot, with 89 votes out of 158 votes cast; 82 votes were needed to elect. Following his election by the House of Bishops, the House of Deputies confirmed the election, with 778 votes for, 43 votes against.

[...]

Rowe, 49, was ordained bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania in 2007 and became bishop provisional of Western New York in 2019. From 2014 to 2018, he served as bishop provisional of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem.

Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rowe earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Grove City College, a master of divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in organizational learning and leadership from Gannon University.

Rowe was the youngest Episcopal priest in the U.S. when he was ordained in 2000 at age 24, and he was the youngest member of the House of Bishops when he was ordained and consecrated at age 32.

Episcopal Church - Public Affairs

Perhaps LabourJersey or someone more in the know about Rowe can shed some light on this news.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I seem to remember having heard somewhere that Rowe, in addition to still being quite young, is also a little bit more conservative than one expects from an ECUSA Presiding Bishop these days, although he'd still be on the far "progressive" edge of the Catholic or Evangelical Overton window. Perhaps I'm mistaken, though.

[LabourJersey]

I'm not too familiar with Bishop Rowe, but I sincerely wish him the best/send him my prayers as he gets prepared to lead this Church.

It's not an easy task at all, especially in a time like this when sunday turnout is declining and the Church is still reckoning with the schisms of the 2000s and 2010s.

[Freshly-touched grass]

I seem to remember having heard somewhere that Rowe, in addition to still being quite young, is also a little bit more conservative than one expects from an ECUSA Presiding Bishop these days, although he'd still be on the far "progressive" edge of the Catholic or Evangelical Overton window. Perhaps I'm mistaken, though.

I don't know what he believes, but much like the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presiding Bishop is a first-among-equals position and no one really cares about his or her opinion most of the time. If by "conservative" you mean more theologically orthodox, then I would even say that's what the Church needs right now. The wishy-washy nature of many mainline Protestant churches plays a big role in the Church's decline compared to other denominations which are better at retaining members.

I personally am glad that the priest for my own church doesn't stray from The Message. I think that many churches struggle in that their teachings can already be found in a TED Talk video or something else related to social justice. I'm definitely not opposed to sermons about social justice, but the church should offer a compelling reason to attract potential members that's more than a regurgitated "hip" version of Christianity. The only way to do that is to have a firmly grounded theology with the Bible as its foundation.

Moreover, the social conservatives already have their own schismatic sect in the ACNA - which was established in reaction to the ECUSA's progressive bent and ordination of Gene Robinson. The ECUSA will never be like them.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm familiar with how this works, yeah--remember that I was Episcopalian for quite some time. What I mean by "conservative" is "theologically more orthodox than usual and a bit less given to NGO-ish left-liberal culture-war interventions," and I agree with you that that would be good for Episcopalianism. Only a very specific "kind of" person, especially younger person, currently sees any reason to go to an Episcopalian worship service when they could go to a DSA meeting or a protest instead.