The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe plans to commission a search committee for its next bishop when the convocation meets Oct. 19-22.
The Rt. Rev. Pierre W. Whalon, Bishop in Charge of the Convocation since 2001, has announced his plans to retire in July 2019.
The convocation explains on a webpage devoted to the search:
The Episcopal Church is one of 38 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion and has episcopal jurisdictions in sixteen countries around the world.
The Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, a suffragan bishop to the Presiding Bishop, is based at The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. There are congregations in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria.
The Episcopal Church has been present in Europe since 1815. The Convocation was created by a Canon of General Convention in 1859, and Bishops in Charge were appointed by the Presiding Bishop. Some were diocesan Bishops or recently retired Bishops, who exercised oversight on a part-time basis. Bishops in Charge have been resident in Europe since 1960.
The first full-time resident Bishop in Charge was the Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn (1994-2002), and the first elected full-time Bishop in Charge is our present Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, who was elected in 2001.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
