Every year the diocese has a convention to discuss the basic business of the shared life of the 80 parishes in the northern half of Ohio. Every parish gets to send voting representatives, and this year it was Barb Traven, Hilary Finnegan, and me. Much of the convention, as you would expect, is the basic stuff of voting on budgets, approving nominees for committees, and so forth. Not exciting, but needs to be done.
This was the first year for our new bishop, Anne Jolly. I really liked the previous bishop, Mark Hollingsworth, but it was time for him to retire. He was the only Episcopal bishop I had ever known, so he was at the top of my “best bishop” list. I got to know him personally on a couple of Bishop’s Bike Rides (those were his idea) and I really appreciated the vision he had for Bellwether Farm. I wasn’t all that thrilled at the idea of a new bishop, no matter who filled the post.
I think bishop Jolly will turn out to be a very good choice, however. The centerpiece of the convention was her “Episcopal Address,” which was full of hope and very upbeat. She has a vision for us to be the community of Christ, and her message was full of hope.
It doesn’t hurt, either, that she actually rode the Bishop’s Bike Ride last summer, all the way from Bellwether to Elyria and back, her first time on a bike in several years. I think we got a winner.
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