Icon (Close Menu)

‘It’s Just Time’

https://www.facebook.com/dioala/videos/2294193680593238/?t=3658

The Rt. Rev. John McKee (Kee) Sloan, Bishop of Alabama since 2012, calls for the diocese to elect a bishop coadjutor:

The part of us that is always on the lookout for something juicy or scandalous will have to be disappointed this time: I have loved being your bishop, and I still do. I’m not mad at anybody, I haven’t lost my faith, I’m not quitting in a huff, and I’m not being run out of town. It’s just time. By the end of 2020, I will be 65 years old and will have been ordained for over 39 years, 13 as a bishop. By the end of 2020, I will have been married to Tina, my sweet and patient wife, for 33 years, and we want to have some time for travel and new adventures.

The world is changing quickly, and the Church will either change with it or become a museum. I find myself more and more thinking in terms of The Way We’ve Always Done It, and I have loved the Episcopal Church too much for too long to get in the way now. As I say in the address, “Change looked more fun when I was one of the young priests, leaning into the new Prayer Book, supporting the ordination of women.”

So I guess I’m a Lame Duck now, and there’s not much I can do about that. But it’s not time for goodbyes yet; I’m still the bishop for a while, and I really don’t want to spend the next 20 months saying goodbye every time I say hello. There will be time for goodbyes later, and we have a lot of work to do before then.

Bishop-Kee-Sloan-2019-02-09
Matt Townsend
Matt Townsend
Matthew Townsend is the former news editor of The Living Church and former editor of the Anglican Journal. He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Top headlines. Every Friday.

MOST READ

CLASSIFIEDS

Most Recent

Protestant and Catholic Newman

In this clearly written book, T.L. Holtzen explains why the complicated debates about the doctrine of justification before and after the Reformation still matter today.

S. African Priests Protest Rejection of Same-Sex Blessings

The Rev. Canon Chris Ahrends: “It’s time for a form of ‘civil disobedience’ within the church — call it ‘ecclesiastical disobedience’ — by clergy of conscience.”

St. David’s of Denton, Texas, Celebrates Larger Space

The Rev. Paul Nesta, rector: “We aren’t here today because a building was consecrated [in the 1950s]. We’re here because a people were consecrated and given good work to advance.”

Sydney Trims Marriage Ethic Pledge for School Leaders

The Diocese of Sydney’s synod has eliminated a controversial 2019 provision of its governance policy that required lay officials of diocesan-affiliated schools and aid agencies to profess their belief in a traditional ethic of sex and marriage.