The Nominating Committee for the election of a bishop diocesan for the Diocese of Massachusetts has published a diocesan profile and is, as of Dec. 5, accepting nominations (until Dec. 30, 2023) and applications (until Jan. 13, 2024).
"To our potential applicants, we are grateful for your prayerful consideration of answering God’s call to join us as bishop diocesan," the Nominating Committee says in the diocesan profile it has written to assist applicants in their discernment.
"May Christ’s presence be manifest in our journey ahead. May we open our hearts and selves to the movement of the Holy Spirit, already at work in and around us. May God be known and be made known in our prayers and discernment," the committee writes.
The profile is available at www.diomass.org/bishop-search/profile. Nomination and application instructions are contained within the profile.
The Nominating Committee extends its gratitude to members of the Diocese of Massachusetts who participated in the listening sessions and survey it conducted this fall, and invites all members of the diocese to two online education opportunities:
- Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.: Diocesan Profile Overview
- Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.: What is the Role of a Bishop?
Registration is required to receive the Zoom links. Please register here.
Questions may be directed to the Nominating Committee at co-chairs@mabishopsearch.org.
The current bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, announced on May 10, 2023, his call for the election of a bishop diocesan to succeed him and his plans to retire by the end of 2024.
The bishop diocesan election is scheduled to take place on May 18, 2024, and the ordination and consecration of the new bishop on Oct. 19, 2024.
For more information about the bishop search process please visit www.diomass.org/bishop-search.
Nominating Committee Prayer
Loving and Living God, as we seek a bishop for the Diocese of Massachusetts, we also seek you. Help us to listen deeply as you speak through the members of this committee; through the people of this diocese; through our parishes, missions, ministries and institutions; through our neighborhoods, towns and cities; through our past and our present; through word and sacrament.
When we are distracted by other voices, other tasks, other pressures, call us back to you. Give us courage, vision and an ability to see past the surface of things. May we be patient and compassionate, trusting always in your mercy and goodness to us and to all that you have made.
We pray this in the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, one God.
Amen.