The nominees for Florida bishop are, from left, the Rev. J. Randolph (Randy) Alexander Jr., the Rev. Dorian Del Priore and the Very Rev. Thomas Clayton (Tom) Purdy. Photos: Diocese of Florida
[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Florida on July 8 announced a slate of three nominees for its next bishop, marking a significant step toward ending the Jacksonville-based diocese’s yearslong leadership transition.
The diocese has been without a bishop diocesan since former Bishop John Howard retired in October 2023. The three nominees to succeed Howard all are priests from other dioceses. They are the following:
- The Rev. J. Randolph (Randy) Alexander Jr., rector of Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill in Alexandria, Virginia.
- The Rev. Dorian Del Priore, rector of Holy Cross Church in Simpsonville, South Carolina.
- The Very Rev. Thomas Clayton (Tom) Purdy, rector of Christ Church in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
“After a comprehensive national search and a prayerful time of discernment, we are excited and grateful to share three nominees for election as the ninth Bishop of Florida,” Florida’s standing committee said in its announcement. It will consider additional nominees by petition through July 15.
“Please join us in praying for guidance and grace for our nominees, wisdom for our voting delegates, and unity and strength for the Diocese of Florida,” the standing committee said.
The electing convention is scheduled for Sept. 11, and the diocese hopes to consecrate its new bishop in early 2027. Additional information on the bishop search and the nominees is available on the diocese’s website.
Tensions flared publicly within the diocese when it previously tried twice to elect Howard’s successor in 2022. The diocese was blocked from consecrating its bishop-elect over churchwide concerns about the election and Howard’s leadership.
After Howard’s retirement, he faced two disciplinary complaints under the church’s Title IV canons governing clergy conduct; one accused him of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and the other of financial improprieties. In September 2025, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, with the backing of the Disciplinary Board for Bishops, chose to resolve those complaints against Howard with a negotiated accord that did not require Howard to admit wrongdoing or submit to any disciplinary action.
During the diocese’s prolonged leadership transition, clergy, lay leaders and other members of the diocese across the theological spectrum have participated in a facilitated process of healing to address underlying conflicts. The standing committee has said healing and reconciliation would remain “one of our top priorities” as the diocese moves toward a new bishop election this September.
“This moment has been long prepared for, prayed over and shaped by the faithful labor of many across our diocese, and I could not be more encouraged by the caliber of the persons discerned to us by the search committee,” the Rev. Justin Yawn, president of the standing committee, said in a written statement that accompanied the slate announcement.
“I want to name something equally important,” Yawn said. “The work of these past several years has not merely been logistical or procedural. It has been, at its heart, the work of healing, of rebuilding trust, of listening carefully to one another, and of recovering a shared sense of who we are called to be as the Body of Christ in this region.”
– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.