The Diocese of Western North Carolina has elected the Rev. Canon José Antonio McLoughlin as its seventh bishop.
The slate had four nominees, but one — the Rev. Hannah E. Atkins, rector of Trinity Church in Houston — withdrew before voting began.
McLoughlin led among lay delegates from the first ballot.
The Rev. Cynthia Banks, rector of St. Luke’s Church in Boone, North Carolina, and the one nominee from within the diocese — led among clergy for three ballots.
The Rev. Thomas Brown, rector of Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, Massachusetts, withdrew after the third ballot.
McLoughlin has served as canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Oklahoma since 2008. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida and Virginia Theological Seminary. He has worked as a deputy sheriff in Orange County, Florida, as a city police officer in Orlando, and for the U.S. Department of Justice.
McLoughlin was born in Puerto Rico and is fluent in Spanish. He and his wife, Laurel, are the parents of a son, Alexander, and a daughter, Alyson.
