Preparing for the Candidate Visits
The presentation of the three candidates for VI Bishop of Arizona begins next week on Monday, September 24 in Prescott. A complete listing of visits can be found below and on the Bishop Search webpage. During the candidates’ visits across our diocese, there will be moderated question and answer forums covering these topic areas:
- Diocesan Life
- The Church and The World
- Personal Spiritual Life
Each visit will be three hours in length. We will gather as a large or plenary group for a brief introduction of the candidates followed by their responses to randomly drawn questions around “being a bishop.”
Next, the gathering breaks out into three separate rooms that will cover pre-selected questions in each of the categories listed above. The candidates will answer questions in each forum (room) for 30 minutes, then the candidates only will rotate to another forum after 30 minutes, visiting each room. A reception will be held after all three candidates have completed all three forums. This is our opportunity to come together and share in fellowship and to meet the candidates in person.
So, how do we hear the candidates’ responses to all the questions during the visit?
- Review the video that will be posted on the Bishop Search webpage. It will be available approximately one week after the visits conclude.
- Recruit multiple members of your parish to attend and assure all of your delegates to Convention attend. They will be casting the important votes and this is time they will encounter the candidates. Bring something to write with and record observations, impressions and highlight responses during the session. Make sure you have representatives in each room.
- Pray and discern. Tools are available on the diocesan Bishop Search webpage, such as this one.
- Plan to meet together AFTER next week but BEFORE CONVENTION and review the candidates’ resumes on the Bishop Search webpage, share your notes and observations during the forums, and discuss your experience around discovering the attributes of each candidate that would best serve our diocese. (The resumes are due to be posted at the end of this week).
We look forward to this unique opportunity, we encourage your active participation and welcome all of those who wish to share our life together, our diocese with these blessed travelers who have been called to join us.
