Adapted from the Diocese of Los Angeles
The Diocese of Los Angeles has named five nominees — including one gay priest, two women who are priests in the diocese, and a native of Costa Rica — in its search for a bishop coadjutor.
The diocese’s convention will elect the bishop, who will succeed the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, when it meets Dec. 2-3 in Ontario, California. The new bishop is expected to succeed Bruno in the early summer of 2017.
The nominees are:
- The Rev. Paul Fromberg, 55, rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco, has served in ministry in Texas and California (Bay Area) with outreach, cathedral, youth and liturgical specializations. Fromberg discussed his life as a gay priest with the Houston Chronicle in 2004.
- The Rev. Rachel Anne Nyback, 46, rector of St. Cross, Hermosa Beach, who has served in ministry in Southern California and Washington. D.C.. after teaching in Kuwait.
- The Rev. Anna Olson, 45, rector of St. Mary’s, Los Angeles, who has served in ministry in Southern California, including as Los Angeles director of the nonprofit Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice.
- The Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, 63, Bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, who has served in ministry in Europe, Florida, and Pennsylvania with experience in international, interfaith, and financial initiatives.
- The Rev. Mauricio Wilson, 50, rector of St. Paul’s, Oakland, who has served in ministry in Costa Rica, New York, and California following his career as a banker-auditor beginning with Coopers & Lybrand.
“I give thanks for the members and work of the search committee, and for all the people who have offered themselves as candidates,” said Bruno, who was elected bishop coadjutor in 1999.
“We are blessed to have a slate of talented, experienced, soulful candidates, any one of whom could lead this diocese forward, each of whom wishes only to serve Christ and the church as called,” said the Rev. Canon Julian Bull, search committee chair and head of Campbell Hall Episcopal school in North Hollywood. “We ask for your continuing prayers for the candidates and their families, and for our diocese as we move towards convention.”
The search committee will receive nominees by petition through Sept. 12.
A series of four regional forums, offering opportunities for all in the diocese to meet and confer with the candidates, is set for Oct. 7-9 in Laguna Hills, North Hollywood, Ventura, and Redlands. A detailed schedule is here.
Detailed biographical information and candidates’ replies to questions submitted by the search committee will be published in future editions of the diocesan magazine, The Episcopal News, and posted to the bishop-search website.
