The Diocese of Eastern Michigan’s standing committee has invited the Rt. Rev. Catherine Waynick to stand for election as bishop provisional. Bishop Waynick served as a priest of the Diocese of Michigan before her election in Indianapolis.
The standing committee elaborates on the call:
In most cases, a bishop departs [a] diocese through retirement. This allows the diocese to have some lead time to go through the search process, nominate a slate of candidates, and vote to elect their next bishop before the exiting bishop departs. Because our bishop left for another position and not for retirement, we did not have that time. We do have the time and space to faithfully consider the issues and opportunities confronting our diocese — these are not limited to budget realities, decreasing and emerging populations, and cultural trends away from church-attendance and religious life. Like a congregation engaging an interim pastor, we hope, with a provisional bishop as a companion, to faithfully engage the entire diocese in this exciting conversation to discover where God is leading us in our life and ministry as the Episcopal Church in Eastern Michigan.
The Rt. Rev. Catherine (Cate) Waynick served as the Tenth Bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis for twenty years before her retirement in 2017. She began her ministry in the Diocese of Michigan serving churches in Bloomfield Hills and Pontiac before being elected bishop in 1997. Beyond her ministry in Indianapolis, Bishop Waynick served on several General Convention legislative committees, on the Abundance Committee of the Church Pension Fund, and on the task force to revise Title IV (Disciplinary Canons). She continues to serve as President of the Disciplinary Board for Bishops and as a Governor of the Anglican Centre in Rome. Bishop Waynick has been married for 49 years to Larry, and they have two grown children, Elizabeth (Mike) of Irvine, CA, and Steve (Tricia) of Canton, MI.
If elected at October’s Diocesan Convention, Bishop Waynick would begin her tenure with us immediately. She would serve on a half-time basis, alternating two weeks in the diocese and two weeks off. The agreement would last for one year with option to extend. She would perform all episcopal functions including ordinations and confirmations in addition to other traditional duties of a bishop including staff supervision, visitations, and more. Bishop Waynick would work closely with the Standing Committee as we begin our work with the people of this diocese to study our ministry in this place and to move forward into the next phase of diocesan episcopal authority.
