Five Diocese of New Westminster priests have thrown their hats in the ring in the attempt to win more pointy headgear as bishop of the nearby Diocese of Kootenay.
The New Westminster candidates outnumber the four from Kootenay. Another six candidates come from five other western dioceses.
The election takes place in the diocesan cathedral, St. Michael and All Angels, Kelowna, on May 28. Eligible to vote in the electoral synod are 34 clergy and 97 lay members. The diocese extends from Princeton east to the Alberta border, and as far northwest as Sorrento.
The New Westminster priests contending for the post are the Revs. Paul H. Borthistle (Synod Office), Kevin Dixon (St. Mary's Kerrisdale), Catherine Hall (St. John's, Port Moody), Dr. Richard Leggett (Vancouver School of theology), and the Ven. Andrew Patrick Pike (St. Anne's, Richmond).
The Kootenay priests contending are the Rev. Canons Edward James Celiz and Michael Karabelas, the Ven. David Irving, and the Rev. Simon Shenstone.
Others in the race are the Ven. Helena-Rose Houldcroft and the Rev. Cheryl Elaine Kristolaitis Toth (both of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle), the Very Rev. Susan Charbonneau (Saskatoon), the Very Rev. Marcus Wellington Germaine (Moosonee), the Rev. Canon Susanne M. House (British Columbia - Vancouver Island) and the Ven. John E. Privett (Edmonton)
The election follows the retirement last year of Archbishop David Crawley. Following the consecration of the Kootenay bishop on September 17, the provincial synod's executive council will meet November 4 to elect a new archbishop from amongst the six BC and Yukon bishops.