The standing committee of the Diocese of Colorado has voted ‘no’ on bishop-elect Kevin Thew Forrester, according to a diocesan employee.

The tally:

YES: 25
NO: 53
PENDING OR UNREVEALED: 323

To receive consent, Rev. Thew Forrester must get ‘yes’ votes from 31 of the remaining 323 standing committees. Some of these remaining standing committees are in dioceses where the bishop has already voted no. Roughly 8 others are located in Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean. Some of these standing committees typically don’t vote on consent matters. And some U.S.-based standing committees may abstain — and abstentions are counted as no votes.

On the home page of its new website, IAmEpiscopalian.com, the Episcopal Church states “our governance is transparent.”

And in many dioceses there is a commitment to transparent governance. But in a handful of dioceses, the democratically-elected governing councils — known as standing committees — have decided to conceal a key vote from the people of their own diocese.

The standing committee of Lexington isn’t telling the people in the pews how they voted on the bishop-elect of Northern Michigan. In South Dakota, Episcopalians who sought information about their own standing committee’s vote have been rebuffed.

In Southern Virginia, where a large parish urged its standing committee to vote a particular way, the outcome of the vote has also been withheld from rank and file Episcopalians.

One state over, the standing committee of Western North Carolina is keeping Carolinians in the dark about this decision.

Most dioceses, 77 by my count, have already revealed their votes. Most of the remaining 33 dioceses are still in the discernment process. Many of them have already committed to announce the results of their votes once the votes take place.

If these votes were taking place at General Convention, they would take place in public and they’d be broadcast to the entire world. There would be no secrecy and no mystery.

How does the decision to withhold the results of the vote from the people of a diocese square with the church’s publicly stated commitment to “transparent governance.”

And why is it in a diocese’s best interests to prevent its own members from knowing how they have voted?

If you’ve got an explanation for why a standing committee would withhold its decision from the Episcopalians who live and worship in the diocese, please post it below.

While I have been tracking the standing committee votes, Texas writer Mary Ann Mueller has been keeping close tabs on the bishops’ votes, successfully contacting Episcopal church leaders from Paris to Puerto Rico.

She and conservative blogger David Virtue are reporting tonight (May 28, 2009) that a majority of Bishops with jurisdiction have decided to withhold consent from Northern Michigan bishop-elect Kevin G. Thew Forrester. Their diocese by diocese tally is available online.

The Right Rev. Francisco J. Duque Gomez, Bishop of Colombia and the Standing Committee of Colombia have decided to withhold consent to the election of Northern Michigan bishop-elect Kevin G. Thew Forrester.

In an e-mail, Bishop Duque said the Colombian Episcopalians prayed a lot before reaching their decision, and said concerns about Thew Forrester’s theology and his changes to the Common Prayer had been raised at a House of Bishops meeting earlier this year.

Explaining his vote, he said: “I hope that we can continue to sustain the fundamenatal principles of our Christianity without mixing in [non-Christian teachings] that will mix us up…,” Rev. Duque wrote in Spanish.*

The current Standing Committee tally:
YES to the Bishop-elect of Northern Michigan: 25
NO to the Bishop-elect of Northern Michigan: 52
PENDING or UNKNOWN: 33

Thew Forrester must receive 31 of the remaining 33 standing committee votes in order to gain consent.
(more…)

The standing committee of the Diocese of Los Angeles has decided to withhold consent to the election of the bishop-elect of Northern Michigan. In addition, Bishop J. Jon Bruno has decided to withhold consent, according to Canon Robert Williams. Here is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s updated tally:

Standing Committees GIVING CONSENT: 25
Standing Committees WITHHOLDING CONSENT: 51
UNKNOWN OR PENDING: 345
TOTAL: 1101

To be approved, bishop-elect Kevin G. Thew Forrester must receive 31 of the remaining 34 standing committee votes.

“On May 26, 2009, at its meeting, the Council of Advice of the Convocation of Churches in Europe voted unanimously not to give consent to the bishop-elect of the Diocese of Northern Michigan,” the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Europe, the Right Rev. Pierre Whalon, confirms today (May 28, 2009) via e-mail.

Likewise, the standing committee of the Diocese of Puerto Rico has voted to withhold consent, according to the Right Rev. David A. Alvarez, Bishop of Puerto Rico. In an e-mail, Bishop Alvarez said he also has decided to withhold consent.

The standing committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania also voted to withhold consent, a committee member confirms.

Meanwhile, Diocese of Eastern Michigan Standing Committee member Jack Carlsen reports, via e-mail, that his bishop and his standing committee have voted to give consent.

The current standing committee totals:
YES: 25
NO: 50

The bishop-elect must receive 31 of the remaining standing committee 35 votes in order to join the House of Bishops.

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Vermont voted to give consent to the election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester at its April 21 meeting, according to committee president the Rev. Anita Schell-Lambert.

Schell-Lambert said she was impressed with Thew Forrester’s “writing, teaching and ministry” and with his track record in Northern Michigan and Oregon.

“He’s a deeply spiritual Christian man,” she said.

To become a bishop, Thew Forrester needs “yes” votes from 56 of 110 standing committees. The updated tally:

YES: 24
NO: 47
PENDING: 32
NO COMMENT: 7

The standing committees of the Diocese of Hawaii and the Diocese of Quincy voted Saturday to withhold consent to the election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop of Northern Michigan.

The updated tally:

YES: 23
NO: 47

To become a bishop, Thew Forrester will need to receive support from 33 of the remaining 40 standing committees.

Again.

This time, the paper suggests that conservative Christianity and “style, culture and nightlife” are mutually exclusive.

The paper has apologized…

The Diocese of New Jersey voted to withhold consent to the election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop of Northern Michigan, according to Canon Cynthia McFarland, the diocesan director of communications.

The updated tally:

YES: 23
NO: 45

I’ve heard from another source in the diocese that the bishop of New Jersey also has reservations about Thew Forrester’s election, but this far, his decision hasn’t been announced.

Or perhaps they’re merely great devil worshippers.

Reuters has the details.

The consent forms will go in the mail on Tuesday, reports Maine Standing Committee president Brenda Hamilton. The current tally:

YES: 23
NO: 44

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Ohio (which includes Cleveland and the northern parts of the state) voted to withhold consent to the election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop of northern Michigan, a standing committee member confirmed this afternoon [May 22, 2009].

Also, the Diocese of Northern Michigan has indicated on its own website that the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania has also withheld consent.

The updated tally, with Ohio and Northwestern Pennsylvania added:

YES: 22
NO: 44

The Standing Committee of Central Florida voted unanimously on Thursday, May 21, to withhold consent to the election of Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop of Michigan, according to standing committee president Al Jenkins.

Currently, the vote is running nearly two to one against Thew Forrester. But with dozens of votes still outstanding, it’s still too early to say how the vote will turn out nationally, Jenkins said.

The current standing committee count:

YES: 22
NO: 42

To become a bishop, Thew Forrester must receive at least 34 of the remaining 46 standing committee votes.

The Rev. Patricia Templeton of the Standing Committee of Atlanta reports that the governing council gave consent this week to the election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop of Northern Michigan. The latest tally:

YES to Thew Forrester:
22

NO:
41