Adapted from coverage by Scott Lenoir, Diocese of Mississippi
The Diocese of Mississippi elected a Jackson-area rector as its bishop coadjutor May 3. The Very Rev. Brian R. Seage, rector of St. Columb’s Church, Ridgeland, since 2005, was elected on the fifth ballot from a slate of five.
Seage, 50, held a majority in the lay order from the first ballot, and gained a slight majority in the clergy order by the third ballot.
The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray III, the diocese’s ninth bishop, intends to retire in February 2015.
Seage, 50, is an alumnus of Pepperdine University and Seminary of the Southwest. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1998. Seage’s wife, Kyle, is rector of St. Philip’s Church in Jackson.
The slate also included:
- The Very Rev. Michael J. Battle, vicar, St. Titus Church, Durham, North Carolina
- The Rev. Marian Dulaney Fortner, rector, Trinity Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi
- The Rev. R. Stan Runnels, rector, St. Paul’s Church and Day School, Kansas City
- The Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, rector, St. Thomas Church, Denver
Image: The Rev. Brian R. Seage and his wife, the Rev. Kyle Dice Seage, greet the diocesan convention after his election as bishop coadjutor. • Jim Carrington/Diocese of Mississippi photo
