A review of the history of the process can be found by reading Bishop Search Blog.
Members of the Search and Nomination Committee
Biographical Information
Sylvia Ho (chair) - Sylvia emigrated from Hong Kong at age 8 and grew up in New York City. She is a lawyer and entrepreneur, jewelry artist, painter, poet and an all-around curious person. Sylvia attends Old St. Andrews church in Bloomfield, one of the oldest mission parishes in the diocese, but with the motto "Old Church: New Attitudes". In addition to other volunteer activities, Sylvia served on the Connecticut Diocesan Standing Committee for 6 years where her favorite pastime was hearing inspiring stories about the call to the priesthood and the vocational deaconate. Sylvia lives in Simsbury with her husband, an attorney; a son (15), daughter (9) and two Labrador retrievers.
Katherine Adamson - Kate grew up outside of Chicago and is a life long Episcopalian. After working in finance in Boston, she married and moved to CT. 30 plus years ago. She has served in many volunteer capacities from cleaning toilets, to chairing meetings. She has served on several vestries, and as senior warden at two very different parishes. She has attended 3 General Conventions as a volunteer, and is polishing up the "mouse ears" for July 2009. She and her husband have a daughter (25) and a son (22) and four dogs, who keep them laughing!
The Rev. Emiliano Amat, Deacon- Emiliano, age 62, was born in Cuba and is married to Luz Consuelo from Bogotá, Columbia. He was ordained a deacon in 1984 in the Roman Catholic Church and served in a Collaborative Ministry Team in St. Rose Church, Meriden. In 1988 he received an MA in Pastoral Ministry and Spirituality from St. Joseph College, West Hartford. In October of 2006 he was received into the Episcopal Church as a Deacon by Bishop Smith. He is presently assigned to All Saints Episcopal Church in Meriden, CT. He works as an accountant for the State of Connecticut.
Amanda Devoe - Amanda presently resides in Hamden, CT and is a member of St. John's Church in North Haven. She does well in her high school courses and brings a fresh and youthful perspective to the committee meetings.
The Rev. Alex Dyer - Alex currently serves as the Associate Rector for Parish Life at Trinity on the Green in downtown New Haven and as Dean of the New Haven Deanery. Previously he worked at St. Luke in the Fields and at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City.
The Rev. Amy Egan, retired- Amy lives in Torrington with her husband, Kevin. She has three grown children, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. After getting her M.Div. from General Seminary in 1994, she was ordained in 1999. She moved to CT. in 2001, when she became rector of St. Andrew's Church in Marble Dale. Since her retirement in 2006, she has been a parishioner and choir member at Trinity Church, Torrington.
Thais Gordon -Thais attends St. Luke's & St. Paul's Church in Bridgeport, CT, and serves on ECW, Committee 1, and on the Diocesan Youth Committee. She is single and enjoys traveling. She is employed by a non-profit agency that assists persons with disabilities in obtaining employment.
The Rev. Ellen Kennedy - Ellen is presently the Vicar of Trinity Church, Trumbull, CT. Previously she served as the assistant priest at Calvary and St. George's Episcopal Churches in Bridgeport and was honored to assist them during their time of merger in 2005. While in Bridgeport she was the coordinator of Epiphany: Bridgeport, a faith based mentoring program for ex-offenders, and she continues to be involved in prison ministry. Ellen received her M.Div. at Andover Newton Theological School in 2001, is a registered nurse, a mother delighted to have two wonderful grown daughters, and loves gardening and quilting.
Thomas Peters -Thom is a private school teacher and administrator at Hopkins School in New Haven, CT. He is currently a delegate to the Waterbury Deanery and to Diocesan Convention, and he is active in the parish choir. He served as Senior Warden at his parish for five years after serving as the Head of the Search Committee for their rector. He is a life long Episcopalian, originally from Delaware where he picked up an affinity for the Baltimore Orioles. Somehow, he has been married to a Red Sox fan for 24 years, and he has two teenage children who are Yankee fans, and two old dogs who chew baseballs.
The Rev. Joan Phelps, retired-In a previous life, Joan was a physical education teacher and a recreational therapist for folks with developmental disabilities. Ordained in 1990 after attending GTS, she has served as the parish assistant priest in the Diocese of CT and as a rector in the Diocese of Western Mass. Now officially retired, she lives in Niantic and continues in ministry as a supply clergy, retreat leader, volunteer in different Diocesan and secular capacities, as well as Priest Associate at St. John's, Niantic, CT. Christ's presence in her life is felt in many ways, however, she especially is nourished by the Eucharist, friends, and wandering in the woods and at the beach.
Scarlett Pipkin - Scarlett grew up in North Carolina. She is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Bridgeport, CT. and previously served on the vestry for six years. She has been a volunteer for many missions, and presently serves as the treasurer for the Episcopal Church Women, Diocese of Connecticut. She is a retired public school educator and part time real estate property manager. Scarlett is a member of The Compassionate Friends and the mother of two sons.
Kim Polhemus - Kim is a life long Episcopalian currently serving a second term as Senior Warden at St. John's Church, New Milford. Her personal passion lies in her work with AWE (Anglican Woman's Empowerment). This group's mission is to bring 40-50 Anglican delegates each year from Provinces around the globe to maintain an effective Anglican presence at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This group strives to impact the fulfillment of MDG#3 the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Through this connection Kim created 'AWE-net' to enable the personal relationships of Anglican delegates to become the fabric of a worldwide support network. Kim and her husband have 4 sons ages 17-24.
The Rev. David Pople- David is the rector of St. Thomas' Church in Bethel, CT. since 1980. He is fully involved in the Danbury Deanery Council and clericus, and has served for a number of years as a Diocesan Spiritual Director for Connecticut Cursillo. He serves as an EMT on the town ambulance corps and is chaplain of the town Fire Dept. He has a special interest in how the Episcopal Church can carry out respectful dialogues with those of contrasting convictions, whether they be within or beyond the Anglican Communion.
Catherine Schrull - Cathy grew up attending St. Paul's in Darien, where she can remember the ground-breaking ceremony. As a member of St. Paul's, Brookfield, she has been a vestry member; youth group leader and choir member. She is currently a Danbury Deanery representative, and active with her husband Bill, in mission ministry with the Diocese of Western Tanganyika, Tanzania and worship leadership in the Faith Alive organization. They share their home with three loud and demanding oriental cats, their just-graduated-from-college daughter and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a sixth foreign exchange student.
The Rev. Rachel Thomas - Rachel has been the rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in East Haddam for over 13 years, which totally amazes her. Prior to this, she was a Missioner with the Middlesex Area Cluster Ministry, the first and oldest Regional Ministry in Connecticut. She obtained her Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary in 2006. She and her husband share a wonderful house with a two-year-old Brittany spaniel... though Eric's three grown children, spouses, and grandchild also drop in from time to time.
The Rev. Amy Welin - Amy Doyle Welin grew up in New Jersey. She has served as the priest in charge of Christ Church in Ansonia for two and a half years. The church serves a congregation that is bilingual and bi-cultural (English and Latin American). Amy's husband, Greg, is also a priest in the diocese. Her four children find it wryly amusing that they come home to visit two members of the clergy. For relaxation, Amy works in the garden and sits to read on the couch with the cats.
The Diocesan Profile captures the identity of the Diocese of Connecticut at this moment in history. In order to create the Diocesan Profile, the Search/Nominating Committee:
Throughout this creation process, the Search Nominating Committee met every two weeks, and with the help of our Chaplain Rebecca Scruton, engaged in regular periods of bible study and prayer in our meetings.
Before the Diocesan Profile was launched, the Search/Nominating Committee publicized the coming profile and urged members of the diocese to encourage those who might be called to send in applications.
On April 7, the committee's online advertisement on Episcopal Life Online went live and remained there until May 1. (link to Episcopal Life Online)
The Chair of the Search/Nominating Committee wrote letters with links to our Diocesan Profile to all deployment officers, members of the House of Bishops, and delegates to General Conventions for The Episcopal Church asking for their help in our search.
Members of the Search, Transition, Standing Committees also solicited names of priests who might be called by the Diocesan Profile.
The Search/Nominating Committee created six essay questions that would address the issues most important to the members of the diocese and the qualities that the diocese is searching for in our next Diocesan Bishop.
25 responded to the call for discernment. Each member of the committee read the documents that were sent to the committee, including each of the six responses to essay questions and prayerfully considered each applicant.
Committee members gathered in discernment at a retreat at Incarnation Center.
Committee members conduct telephone interviews.
After the telephone interviews, committee members gathered together again for bible study, to pray and discuss the candidates. We discerned the depth of the skills called by the Diocesan profile.
The candidates would also undergo the Oxford document process of background checks.
The team of three members of committee met with each of the candidates in their home locations to interview the candidates.
The committee in discernment to decide who to invite to Connecticut to meet the whole of the committee.
The finalists and spouses got on a plane and into cars and came to meet with the whole committee. A reception was held for the finalists at Old St. Andrews in Bloomfield after the celebration of the Eucharist by Bishop Smith. The finalists were able to spend some time with Bishop Smith, the Suffragan Bishops, our Canon to the Ordinary, Marge Roccoberton, and Canon for Finance, Jack Spaeth.
Over the two day visit to Connecticut, the committee would meet each finalist for an hour and a half to discuss his/her view of the future of the diocese under his/her leadership. Each finalist led the committee with an opening and closing prayer. They also spent social time with various members of the committee at shared meals.
The committee met on June 27 to discern who would be nominees. We began with the Eucharist and bible study and a review of the Diocesan Profile. The committee spent regular intervals in prayer and exercised the task of holy listening to each other as we discussed who would be a nominee to be our 15th Diocesan Bishop.
It is possible that the person you expected did not apply. It is not possible to know if a person applied unless you ask that person.
If the person did apply, it is possible that the person was not called by the Diocesan Profile. There are many extraordinarily gifted and talented priests who are called by God to other ministries at this time. Although some priests may be called to be being a bishop, it is possible that the priest may not be called to be Connecticut's Diocesan Bishop. This Diocesan Profile calls priests who possess a combination of qualities and experiences that are unique to this time and place.
To review the qualities of our next Diocesan Bishop see ctbishopsearch.com/qualities
Under the Standing Committee's charge to the Search/Nominating Committee regarding Bishop Suffragan candidates for Diocesan Bishops, Bishop Curry's nomination is the result of his own discernment.
In their Charge to the Search/Nominating Committee, the Standing Committee stated the process as follows:
"We fully discussed how a Connecticut Bishop Suffragan might be handled in this search process, should one or both decide to be considered as a candidate. We have determined that they must submit all paperwork as required by any other candidate, be fully vetted as any other candidate, be interviewed as any other candidate, and then named as a final candidate if they discern they are still called to be Diocesan Bishop."
Bishop Curry participated in the process as any other of candidate and submitted essays and other material. Members of the committee interviewed Bishop Curry and references.
Video: Qualities We Seek
Diocesan Profile
FAQs