Two Bishop Candidates "from the floor" Unimpeded by Surprise Barriers

As if it wasn't difficult enough to gather the necessary endorsements from across Minnesota in less than two weeks, petitioning candidates faced a few surprise hurdles at the end of the process.


Mary Franson, who works at Episcopal Homes in St. Paul, was identified in the petitioning procedures adopted by Diocesan Convention last year as the point person for handling the endorsements submitted by petitioning candidates. As it turns out, Mary works only until noon each day, and does not work at all on Fridays. Last Friday, August 14, was the deadline for submitting endorsements.

As is only natural given the extremely small window of time allowed for the endorsements to be submitted, several endorsers had submitted their official endorsements through overnight mail and FED EX, due to be delivered to Episcopal Homes on Friday. Others intended to submit their endorsements in person. Surprise! No Mary Franson was on hand, and no one had been appointed to cover this matter so important to the life of the Diocese.

Candidate Doug Sparks called on Thursday afternoon to speak with Mary Franson, only to discover then that she would not be there to receive the deliveries the next day. After calling Dr. Scott Crow, the President of the Standing Committee, who was on vacation, the Rev. Sparks placed a call to Canon Karen Olson at the Episcopal Center. She was unaware that Mary Franson did not work on Fridays. Father Sparks then called the Rev. Devon Anderson, who serves as Vice-President of the Standing Committee. Rev. Anderson and Canon Olson together improvised a plan. While there were some issues about morning coverage at Episcopal Homes, Anderson went to Episcopal Homes in the afternoon so that any and all overnighted and hand-delivered materials could be received by her from 1:30 to 5 p.m.

Father Sparks reports that he delivered his petition packet to Rev. Anderson at Episcopal Homes in Saint Paul at about 3:45 p.m. Having driven from Rochester, Sparks reports that he "had a good conversation about all of this" with Rev. Anderson. Sparks obtained more than double the amount of necessary endorsements.

A second candidate by petition, the Rev. Doyle Turner, has not yet returned Anglicat's e-mail or phone messages. His wife Mary confirms that he is indeed seeking candidacy and that he submitted the necessary papers in person last Friday afternoon. Father Turner is a supply priest living in Waubun. He is a past Chairman of the White Earth Tribal Council and the founder of Peaceful Bay Enterprises.

Clearly, the rushed and chaotic process for candidates to be nominated "from the floor" has not served the Diocese well. And now the Diocese that speaks of openness and transparency refuses to officially release the names and information about candidates other than the three candidates nominated by the Search Committee until September 24, more than a month from now. All this makes for a very uneven playing field, and suggests that the petition candidates deserve the utmost consideration by delegates, given the current administration's desire to give the inside track to the Search Committee picks. Praise is due the Rev. Doug Sparks for discovering the procedural gaps and then working with Diocesan leadership, so that they were prompted to improvise the needed procedures. This bodes well for his candidacy.