Adapted from Nina Nicholson’s report for the Diocese of Newark:
The Diocese of Newark elected the Rev. Carlye J. Hughes as its 11th bishop during a special convention at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown. Hughes was elected on the first ballot.
The first woman and first African-American to be elected bishop in the Diocese of Newark, Hughes, 59, is rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Worth and was one of three nominees.
In order to be elected, a candidate needed to receive a simple majority of votes from both the clergy and the lay delegates, voting separately as orders in the same balloting round. Hughes was elected on the first ballot, receiving 62 of 116 clergy votes and 141 of 241 lay votes.
The other two nominees were:
- The Rev. Lisa W. Hunt, rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Houston
- The Rev. Canon Scott G. Slater, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Maryland
Hughes was ordained a priest in 2005 after graduating from Virginia Theological Seminary, and has served as rector of Trinity Church since 2012.
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth reports:
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth’s Executive Council was meeting while the election was going on, with several members eyes keeping one eye on the live stream of the electing convention. As soon as it became clear that an announcement was coming, the meeting paused so that everyone could watch and listen while the election was announced. As soon as it was clear that Hughes had been elected, the room erupted in cheering and applause. The group stood and sang the Doxology, and Bishop Scott Mayer offered a prayer.
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.
