Frazer has served as rector of the Church of the Ascension since 2018 and has held numerous diocesan leadership roles, including president of the Standing Committee, dean of the Montgomery Convocation and deputy to General Convention. Lawson has served as dean and rector of St. John’s Cathedral since 2017 and previously served parishes in Memphis, Tennessee, and Decatur, Alabama, and has longstanding ties to the Diocese of Alabama and Camp McDowell.

A meeting with both candidates will be held Jan. 3 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook. The electing convention will take place Jan. 24 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham.

More information is available at www.dioala.org.

The candidates are:

• The Rev. Paul Canady, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern, North Carolina, in the Diocese of East Carolina.
• The Rev. Karin MacPhail, rector of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Roanoke, Virginia, in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
• The Very Rev. Becky McDaniel, rector of Westover Episcopal Church, Charles City, Virginia, in the Diocese of Virginia.
• The Very Rev. Grant Stokes, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Portsmouth, Virginia, in the Diocese of Southern Virginia.

In its announcement, the committee said it had accepted the candidates recommended by the Search Committee, which it noted had “spent the last several months hard at work identifying and discerning … candidates to serve as our next bishop.”

The committee also announced three meet-and-greet opportunities for people of the diocese to engage with the candidates. Those will take place Jan. 6-8, 2026, in Lexington, Lynchburg and Marion. More information is on the diocesan website.

The committee also announced the start of the petition process by which additional nominees may be added to the final slate. The deadline to submit petition materials is Dec. 5.

The bishop election will take place during the diocese’s annual convention, set for Jan. 30-31, 2026.

The next bishop will succeed the Rt. Rev. Mark Bourlakas, who had led the Roanoke-based diocese since 2013 and who resigned in June to become an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Virginia.

The Rev. Sarah Fisher, rector of St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church in Marietta, Georgia, was elected ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina on Nov. 15. Photo: Diocese of East Carolina

[Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina] The Rev. Sarah Fisher, rector of St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church in Marietta, Georgia, was elected ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina on Nov. 15 during a meeting of the diocesan convention in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Fisher, 54, was elected on the third ballot by 36 votes in the clergy order and 70 votes in the lay order. The election required a simple majority from both orders on the same ballot, in accordance with the constitution of the diocese.

Before becoming rector of St. Catherine’s, she was associate rector of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Dunwoody, Georgia. She was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 in the Diocese of Atlanta and holds degrees from the General Theological Seminary and Agnes Scott College.

Further information about Fisher, including her answers to essay questions for the bishop search, can be found here.

Other nominees on the ballot were the Rev. Brian Cannaday, rector of St. Christopher Episcopal Church in League City, Texas, and the Rev. Caleb Lee, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. Lee withdrew his name from consideration after the second ballot.

The bishop-elect will succeed Bishop Rob Skirving, who will retire in 2026 after 11 years in office.

Pending the canonically required consent of a majority of the Episcopal Church’s diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction, Fisher will be ordained and consecrated as bishop diocesan on May 23, 2026, at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern, North Carolina.

The Diocese of East Carolina consists of 67 parishes and two college campus ministries and covers the area from I-95 to the coast in the state of North Carolina. The diocese serves several military bases, a large Latino community and parishes of all sizes across five deaneries.

The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Connecticut, was elected the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts on Nov. 15. Photo: Diocese of Western Massachusetts

[Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts] The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Connecticut, was elected the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts on Nov. 15.

Howell was elected on the first ballot during the election. She received 62 votes of 99 cast in the lay order and 46 of 76 cast in the clergy order.

The election took place during the annual diocesan convention held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“We are in this together,” Howell said via Zoom to the delegates of the convention. “I am blessed and humbled to have been elected to serve as your 10th bishop. Thanks be to God and thanks be to you for placing your sacred trust in me through your prayerful votes. I look forward to working with Bishop Fisher, the standing committee and the transition team to embrace the next steps before the consecration in April. I am excited to lead you as your new bishop. My commitment to God and to you, my new Western Mass family, is that as we begin this mutual ministry, I will honor the deep spiritual grounding and the commitment to social justice that have shaped your past episcopates. In this new season, we will work together to reimagine and implement systems and processes that help us become nimbler in God’s mission, and we are going to have fun while we are at it! I look forward to what God has in store for us. Dios les bendiga!”

Howell has been dean of Christ Church Cathedral since 2016. Before that call, she served the cathedral for two years as vicar. She holds a theological degree from Centros de Estudios Teológicos in the Dominican Republic, and is a licensed clinical psychologist trained at Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, also in the Dominican Republic.

Howell will succeed Bishop Doug Fisher, 70, who announced in September 2024 that he would retire in April 2026. Fisher was consecrated the ninth bishop on Dec. 1, 2012.

“We had three truly outstanding candidates on this slate. Bishop-elect Howell has deep faith and calls forth gifts in those around her,” Fisher said. “Both of these things are indispensable in the ministry of bishop. I look forward to working with her and supporting a smooth transition of leadership.”

Other nominees were the Rev. Susan B. Fortunato, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the Very Rev. Marcus George Halley, chaplain to the college and dean of spiritual and religious life at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Pending the canonically required consent of a majority of The Episcopal Church’s diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction, Howell will be ordained and consecrated bishop on April 25, 2026. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is scheduled to officiate.

The diocese invites prayers as it begins a season of transition and for Howell, her husband Daniel, and their three sons.

Western Massachusetts, established as a diocese in 1901, has 50-plus congregations and community-based ministries that span from the Berkshires through the Connecticut River Valley to Worcester County. There are over 10,000 baptized Episcopalians in Western Massachusetts.

The Rev. Antonio Gallardo, rector of St. Luke’s / San Lucas Church in Long Beach, was elected eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on Nov. 8. Photo: Diocese of Los Angeles

[Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles] The Rev. Antonio Gallardo, rector of St. Luke’s / San Lucas Church in Long Beach, was elected eighth bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles on Nov. 8 by Diocesan Convention, meeting in Riverside, California.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Gallardo, 58, was elected on the eighth ballot by 134 votes in the clergy order and 187 votes in the lay order. The election required a two-thirds majority from both orders on the same ballot, in accordance with the diocese’s constitution.

“I am grateful for your trust in electing me as your next bishop,” Gallardo told delegates, who welcomed him to the convention podium with a standing ovation. “I promise to do my very best to be a faithful pastor, and a wise steward of the resources that God has given us…. I have heard your desires to be united with a common purpose, to share the good news in Christ with many more people, to be an element of resistance and a source of hope in the country and the world that we live in, and to find ways to finance the great work we do, among other things.”

Rector of St. Luke’s / San Lucas, Long Beach, since 2023, Gallardo is the first Latino to be elected bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He was previously vicar of St. Luke’s of the Mountains, La Crescenta, and served on the clergy staff of All Saints, Pasadena. Ordained to the priesthood in 2019 in the Diocese of Los Angeles, he holds a doctorate in business and economics from Lehigh University, as well as degrees from Venezuela’s Universidad Experimental Politécnica and Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado, Claremont School of Theology and Bloy House Episcopal Theological School.

Further biographical information about Gallardo, with statements of his vision for mission, is here.

Other nominees on the ballot were the Rev. Monica Burns Mainwaring, rector of St. Martin in the Fields, Atlanta, Georgia, and the Rev. Melissa McCarthy, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Los Angeles. McCarthy withdrew her name from consideration after the fourth ballot.

The bishop-elect will succeed Bishop John Harvey Taylor, who will retire in 2026 after nine years in office.

Pending the canonically required consent of a majority of the Episcopal Church’s diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction, Gallardo will be ordained and consecrated as bishop diocesan on July 11, 2026, at All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is scheduled to officiate.

Established in 1896, the Diocese of Los Angeles encompasses some 40,000 Episcopalians in 133 neighborhood congregations and mission centers, some 29 schools and five other specialized service institutions located in six California counties. Los Angeles historically is one of the most populous and culturally diverse dioceses of The Episcopal Church.

The Very Rev. Shay Craig was elected bishop of the Diocese of North Dakota on Oct. 25, 2025. Photo: Diocese of North Dakota

Craig, who also serves as a member of Executive Council, will succeed Bishop Provisional Brian Thom, who has served in the role since 2024. Bishop Michael G. Smith resigned from the diocese in 2019 and went on to serve as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Dallas.  

The other nominees were:

• The Rev. Lecia Diaz Brannon, director of alumni relations for the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas;
• The Rev. Brandt Montgomery, chaplain of Saint James School in Hagerstown, Maryland, and vicar of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Boonsboro, Maryland;
• The Rev. Benjamin Thomas, executive manager of Becketwood, a 55-plus senior housing cooperative in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in the San Francisco, California, area, Craig earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While an active member of Christ Church in Winnetka, Illinois, where she served on the vestry and taught Sunday School, she felt a call to ordained ministry, according to her biography on the Diocese of North Dakota’s website.

After earning a Master of Theological Studies in Hebrew Bible from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Craig worked as the Diocese of Chicago’s development officer until she was ordained a priest in 2018. Soon after, she moved to Kansas.

In addition to dean, Craig has served as the Diocese of Western Kansas’s canon for congregational development and vitality and as standing committee chair.

Craig has focused much of her ordained career on rural ministry and serving small churches in remote areas with limited resources. She co-hosts monthly Zoom meetings for small and rural churches in Province VII.

A mother of four children, she is married to John Houston, an assistant general counsel member for the Kansas Supreme Court Office of Judicial Administration.

Upon completion of The Episcopal Church’s consent process, Craig is scheduled to be ordained and consecrated on March 14, 2026, by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe.

As bishop, Craig will lead 18 congregations across North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota.

Central Pennsylvania Bishop Audrey Scanlan on Oct. 18, 2025, was elected the first bishop of the new Diocese of the Susquehanna, which will be created Jan. 1, 2026, by the reunification of the dioceses of Central Pennsylvania and Bethlehem.

[Episcopal News Service] On Oct. 18 Central Pennsylvania Bishop Audrey Scanlan was elected the first bishop of the new Diocese of the Susquehanna, which will come into existence on Jan. 1, 2026, through the reunion of the current dioceses of Bethlehem and Central Pennsylvania. The name of the new diocese is taken from the Susquehanna River, which runs through the center of Pennsylvania.

Her unanimous election in a vote by orders of both dioceses took place during a joint convention that met Oct. 18-19 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Immediately afterward, she appointed Bethlehem Bishop Kevin Nichols as assistant bishop of the new diocese. Scanlan has been bishop of Central Pennsylvania since 2015, and Nichols has served as the bishop of Bethlehem since 2018.

The two dioceses voted to reunify during conventions in October 2024, following a two-year discernment process.

Reunification is the canonical term for joining two dioceses that previously had been part of the same diocese. Each was part of the original Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, which was created in 1871 from the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Bethlehem was formed from that in 1904.

In voting to reunify, the dioceses agreed that both Scanlan and Nichols would serve the new diocese starting in 2026. In June 2025, it was announced that Scanlan would be presented as the diocese’s first bishop, with Nichols as assistant bishop.

The announcement further noted that Scanlan plans to retire in October 2027, and Nichols then will be presented for election as the diocese’s provisional bishop. Because he plans to retire in February 2030, he would serve during a search for a new diocesan bishop, which is planned for some time in 2029.

After the election, Scanlan said that while she will be serving the Diocese of the Susquehanna as its diocesan bishop, “Kevin and I are going to work this together,” calling the two of them “bishops with training wheels as we lead this new diocese.” She said that together they “are going to do our best to make this transition smooth.”

She also said that while she may be the new diocese’s first bishop, that title really should belong to the person who will be elected diocesan bishop in 2029.

Delegates to the joint convention also adopted a constitution, canons and budget for the new diocese.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

The Rev. Gregory Kimura was elected sixth bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin on Oct. 18, 2025.

[Diocese of San Joaquin] The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin elected the Rev. Gregory Kimura as its sixth bishop during an Oct. 18 special electing convention.

Kimura was elected on the second round of balloting with 58.6% of clergy votes and 65.7% of lay votes. A majority of both clergy and lay votes in the same round was needed for election.

Kimura, who serves as the rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church in South Pasadena in the Diocese of Los Angeles, will succeed the Rt. Rev. David Rice. He will be consecrated and seated by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on April 18.

In a livestreamed message expressing his gratitude following the vote, Kimura said he was “humbled to the very core” by his election.

“God has planted something very special in the rich and fertile soil of the Diocese of San Joaquin,” he said. “God has great plans ahead for us – growing, blooming, flowering.”

Kimura is a fourth-generation Japanese American and Alaskan and third-generation Episcopalian who got his start serving in the Diocese of Alaska at age 25. In addition to his work in the Alaskan diocese, he has served as vice dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and as rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ojai, where he started a Spanish-language Mass that grew to be the largest of three Sunday services.

Kimura also has worked in the nonprofit world, previously serving as president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based Japanese American National Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate. He also has been a university chaplain, sheriff’s chaplain, religion professor and department chair at Alaska Pacific University.

The diocesan nominating committee facilitated time for congregations and clergy to engage with laity and clergy, allowing for a Spirit-filled discernment process, leading to an “effortless election process,” said the Rev. Suzy Ward, president of diocese’s standing committee.

“The diocese is looking forward to the eventual ordination and consecration of the Rev. Greg Kimura in the spring of 2026,” Ward said. “Then we can say that our work has come to an end, but our new bishop’s work will just be beginning.”

Kimura was elected from a slate of four nominees. The others were:

• The Rev. Anna Carmichael – canon to the ordinary, Diocese of San Joaquin;
• The Rev. Robert Keim – rector of St. Barnabas, Arroyo Grande, Diocese of El Camino Real;
• The Rev. Shawn Wamsley – canon to the ordinary, Diocese of Pennsylvania.

The Diocese of San Joaquin has 18 active congregations, offering vibrant ministries that address the unique needs of their respective communities. These include feeding ministries, services for the unhoused, and outreach to Latinos and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In addition, the diocese has commissions with lay and ordained members that focus on migrant justice, racial justice and creation care.

Rice has served as bishop diocesan since 2017, after serving as provisional bishop starting in 2014. He had previously served as the diocesan bishop in the Diocese of Waiapu in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

“It has been my absolute honor and pleasure to serve the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin these 12 years. And I look forward to watching from afar [New Zealand], to see how this wonderful faith community called EDSJ moves into the next season of faithful service under the Episcopal leadership of the Rev. Dr. Greg Kimura,” Rice said.

The diocese has worked hard to heal and rebuild since 2007, when former Bishop John David Schofield led many congregations out of The Episcopal Church. Those who remained have moved out of isolation into re-engagement with the wider church under the leadership of Rice and former provisional bishops the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb and Rt. Rev. Chet Talton.

The Jacksonville-based Diocese of Florida announced recently that Central Florida Bishop Justin Holcomb and Southwest Florida Bishop Douglas Scharf have agreed to serve as assisting bishops and “will primarily serve in important advisory roles as we continue our bishop search and election process.”

The new assistance from Holcomb and Scharf follows the service of two other bishops, former Georgia Bishop Scott Benhase and former New Jersey Bishop Chip Stokes. Benhase will end his work in the Diocese of Florida on Sept. 30. Stokes will continue to provide “sacramental support” through Florida parish visitations and ordinations. The diocese also has been working with former El Camino Real Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves on a diocesan trust-building and healing process.

The Diocese of Florida has been without a diocesan bishop since the October 2023 retirement of Bishop John Howard. In March 2025, the standing committee announced it had initiated a series of steps that would allow for a bishop election in 2026 and a consecration in early 2027.

The candidates are:

• The Rev. Susan B. Fortunato, rector, Christ Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie, New York;
• The Very Rev. Marcus George Halley, college chaplain and dean of spiritual and religious life at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut;
• The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, Connecticut.

The people of the diocese will have the opportunity to meet and hear from the candidates at events held Nov. 4-6 throughout the diocese. More information on these “meet-and-greet” gatherings will be available on the diocesan website. The annual and electing convention of the diocese will take place Nov. 14-15 at the University of Massachusetts Campus Center in Amherst.

Concurrent with this announcement, the Standing Committee opened a petition process whereby additional candidates may be added to the slate. The petition process runs from Sept. 29 until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 6.

The Standing Committee expressed every confidence in the work of the Search Committee and extended heartfelt thanks to the Rev. Heather Blais, chair.

“This dedicated team of clergy and laypeople thoroughly reviewed a large number of applications, engaged in interviews and gathered with finalists for a Spirit-led and intensive discernment retreat weekend,” wrote the Rev. Nathaniel Anderson, the committee’s president. “All this hard work and holy listening has yielded an impressive slate of faithful, talented clerics who have discerned a call to Episcopal ministry as our next bishop.

“We feel confident that each of these candidates would make an outstanding bishop in Christ’s church. We ask that you continue to join us in prayer as we discern together who God is calling to lead us and to serve among us at this time and in this place.”

Blais said: “We have experienced the Holy Spirit moving in and through the people of our diocese, our churches, and the candidates who so generously gave of their time, energy, and spirit in faithful response to God’s call. This process has been life-giving, and we are eager for our diocese to get to know these candidates, each of whom is a person of great joy, hope, and courage; ready to help us adapt and grow as the Jesus Movement here in Western Massachusetts.”