Gay Episcopal priest a finalist for Utah bishop
- www.desertnews.com April 10th, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY — Four finalists are in the running to be the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, including an openly gay priest.
That candidate, the Rev. Michael L. Barlowe of California, married his partner, the Rev. Paul Burrows, in San Francisco in 2008, just before the Proposition 8 vote banning gay marriage.
The other three finalists are the Rev. Juan A. Quevedo-Bosch of New York, the Rev. Mary C. Sulerud of Washington, D.C., and the Rev. Scott B. Hayashi of Chicago.
“We felt that any one of them would help us draw together as a church family,” said Ric Tanner, president of the Utah church’s Standing Committee, which advises the bishop.
The four finalists, winnowed from a list of 48 applicants, will visit parishes across the state during the first week of May.
Delegates from each parish will elect retiring Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish’s successor May 22 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Salt Lake City.
If Barlowe is elected, Utah would become only the third Episcopal diocese with an openly gay bishop.
“There are a lot of theological issues that divide our churches and (homosexuality) is certainly one of them,” Tanner told the Salt Lake Tribune. “Perhaps the best way to work toward understanding is to be engaged in conversation with views different from our own. That’s true of both groups.”
But Barlowe’s sexuality may not matter to the 6,000 members of Utah’s Episcopal Church, which is on record supporting the ordination of gay and lesbian priests in committed relationships, Tanner said.
At the denomination’s triennial meeting in Los Angeles last summer, the diocese sided with the majority in making the office of bishop open to all ordained persons, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation.
