Candidate Being Nominated by Petition

I have learned that a local priest is being nominated by petition to be Bishop of Pittsburgh. Assuming that nothing damaging is uncovered by the background check—there is no reason to expect that any skeletons will be found in the closet—this person will become the fifth candidate in the April election.

I have been waiting to see if anyone would be nominated by petition, and I am saddened that someone has been. This will not be everyone’s reaction, of course, and there are those who will not be pleased by my sharing my opinion on this topic. I have written a post on my own blog about why I think an internal candidate should not be elected bishop, irrespective (mostly) of the particular attributes of the candidate being put forward. You can read my post here.