By Kirk Petersen
Daniel P. Richards was consecrated the IX Bishop of Upper South Carolina on February 26 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina.
Richards was ordained in 1996 as a Southern Baptist minister, according to his biography on the diocesan website, but was confirmed as an Episcopalian the following year. He then attended Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 2003.
“I am excited that you all have broad theological diversity and love each other. The Episcopal Church needs to be a whole church,” Richards said, according to the Episcopal News Service. “We need traditional teaching, faith and practice even as we reach out to our neighbors in ways that stretch us. We need to pass on the faith that was given to us, and we need to be willing to pass it on to anyone who will follow Jesus.”
The diocese includes 62 churches in the western half of South Carolina, with Columbia as the see city.
Dallas
A former diocesan bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada has been received as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, after receiving consent from a majority of standing committees and bishops diocesan.
In 2019, TLC reported that the Rt. Rev. Fraser Wynn Lawton was resigning as Bishop of Athabasca to become rector of St. Dunstan’s Church in Mineola, a rural parish in the Diocese of Dallas, and would serve also as an assisting bishop. As a result of the consents his title has been upgraded to assistant bishop, a change that may seem linguistically insignificant, but actually means he is now officially an Episcopal bishop, with a vote in the House of Bishops.
He continues as rector of St. Dunstan’s while supporting Bishop of Dallas George R. Sumner, along with Assistant Bishop Michael Smith, the retired Bishop of North Dakota.
Sumner is a member of The Living Church Foundation, which publishes TLC. Lawton, Smith and Sumner all are members of Communion Partners, a group that advocates for the traditional teachings of the church.
Ecuador Central
Bishop-elect Juan Carlos Quiñonez has received the required majority of consents from standing committees and bishops diocesan, clearing the way for his consecration as Bishop of Ecuador Central on May 17. Quiñonez was elected November 6 and will be the first Afro-Ecuadorian to hold the position.
Ecuador Central, based in the capital of Quito, is one of two Episcopal dioceses in the country, and has 21 churches, according to the Episcopal Asset Map, with 716 members. The other is Ecuador Litoral, based in Guayaquil and encompassing the coastal region, which has 17 churches and 7,900 members.
Central Florida
The Rt. Rev. Greg Brewer has announced his intentions to retire as the IV Bishop of Central Florida in 2023, and has called for the election of a successor. Brewer made the announcement at the annual diocesan convention on January 29.
A search committee has been formed, working toward an electing convention on January 14, 2023. Brewer will hand his crozier to the new bishop on June 10, 2023, less than a month before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 72.
Separately, the Rt. Rev. William Hopkins Folwell, the II Bishop of Central Florida, passed away on February 7 at the age of 97. Folwell served as bishop diocesan from 1970 to1989.
West Texas
The Rt. Rev. John Herbert MacNaughton, VII Bishop of West Texas, died peacefully February 28 with his family gathered around him in a San Antonio hospital. He was 92, and suffered a stroke two weeks before. MacNaughton served as bishop diocesan from 1986 to 1995.
