A Morning With The Suffragan Candidates

Six candidates for suffragan, or assisting, bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles were interviewed this morning at Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood by the Rev. Julian Bull, who chaired the search and nominating committee that selected the candidates. I served as a member of the committee. The candidates, from left to right:

• The Rev. Silvestre E. Romero, rector, St Philip's Church in San Jose, California (Diocese of El Camino Real);

• The Rev. Zelda M. Kennedy, senior associate for pastoral care and spiritual growth, All Saints Church in Pasadena, California;

• The Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool, canon to the bishops in the Baltimore-based Diocese of Maryland;

• The Rev. Irineo Martir Vasquez, vicar, St. George's Church in Hawthorne, California;

• The Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, rector, St. Clement's by-the-Sea Church in San Clemente, California; and

• The Rev. John L. Kirkley, rector, St. John the Evangelist Church in San Francisco (Diocese of California).

This video contains the full two-hour webcast. Question were submitted by those in the Campbell Hall audience as well as by e-mail. While questioners weren't identified, I'll cop to having posed this one, which was answered by Canon Mary and Fr. Silvestre: "Why is a church which proudly proclaims the equality of women on the defensive vs. Benedict XVI?"

Two suffragan bishops will be elected from among the six by our Diocese's annual convention Dec. 4-5 in Riverside.