Northwestern Pennsylvania diocese announces two candidates for ninth bishop
[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania Standing Committee announced May 15 that the diocese’s bishop search committee had released a slate of two candidates for the diocese’s ninth bishop.
The elected candidate will succeed Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, who resigned as Northwestern Pennsylvania’s bishop in 2024 after he was elected and confirmed as denominational leader of The Episcopal Church.
“Throughout this process the standing committee has had every confidence in the work of the search committee. We feel sure that each of these candidates would be an excellent bishop for the church and for this diocese,” the standing committee said in a message to the diocese.
The two candidates are:
- The Rev. Jenifer Chatfield, rector of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in San Marino, California.
- The Rev. Molly Payne-Hardin, rector of Trinity Church in Watertown, New York.
Additional nominations will be considered by petition through May 20. Events allowing Episcopalians to meet the candidates are scheduled for July 7-9. The bishop election is scheduled for Aug. 8 at a special electing convention in Erie, where the diocese is based. The consecration of the new bishop, pending majority consent of churchwide authorities, would take place Dec. 12.
The full announcement is available here.
