{"id":1462,"date":"2009-06-05T17:07:45","date_gmt":"2009-06-05T17:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2009\/06\/episcopal-buddhist-bishop-appe.php"},"modified":"2009-06-05T17:07:45","modified_gmt":"2009-06-05T17:07:45","slug":"episcopal-buddhist-bishop-appe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/06\/episcopal-buddhist-bishop-appe","title":{"rendered":"Episcopal ‘Buddhist Bishop’ Appears Headed for Defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RNS) The election of an Episcopal bishop in Michigan who has practiced Buddhist meditation and changed traditional church prayers appears headed for defeat, according to an unofficial tally kept by a newspaper reporter.
\nThe Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester was elected bishop of the sparsely populated Diocese of Northern Michigan in February. Under Episcopal Church rules, a majority of bishops and 111 regional standing committees must vote to ratify his election before it is valid.
\nOn Friday (June 5), the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which has kept an unofficial running tally of the voting, reported that 56 standing committees — a majority — have voted to withhold their “consents.”
\nThe official tally will not be known until at least late July, when all of the ballots are due.
\nLinda Piper, president of the Diocese of Northern Michigan’s standing committee, which keeps the official tally, would not confirm the report. But, she said, “Do I think this is probably the way it’s going to go? Unfortunately, I would not be surprised.”
\nPiper acknowledged it would be an “uphill climb,” for Thew Forrester to get the consents he needs.
\nThew Forrester said, “My understanding is that the standing committees and diocesan bishops have 120 days to give consent, which means the process continues to unfold until the third week of July.
\nAlong with the Diocese of Northern Michigan, I recognize the integrity and wisdom of the consent process and wait until its conclusion.”
\nThew Forrester is rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette, Mich. Soon after his election by the diocese, conservative church bloggers from across the country discovered that he practices Zen meditation and received “lay ordination” from a Buddhist community.
\nDeeper digging found that he has eschewed the Book of Common Prayer
\n— the anchor of Anglican doctrine and liturgy — and written his own rites for baptisms. A number of Episcopal bishops have judged him insufficiently orthodox to join their ranks.
\nBy Daniel Burke
\nCopyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RNS) The election of an Episcopal bishop in Michigan who has practiced Buddhist meditation and changed traditional church prayers appears headed for defeat, according to an unofficial tally kept by a newspaper reporter. The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester was elected bishop of the sparsely populated Diocese of Northern Michigan in February. Under Episcopal Church rules,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEpiscopal 'Buddhist Bishop' Appears Headed for Defeat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/06\/episcopal-buddhist-bishop-appe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Episcopal 'Buddhist Bishop' Appears Headed for Defeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(RNS) The election of an Episcopal bishop in Michigan who has practiced Buddhist meditation and changed traditional church prayers appears headed for defeat, according to an unofficial tally kept by a newspaper reporter. 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Under Episcopal Church rules,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/06\/episcopal-buddhist-bishop-appe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-05T17:07:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nsymmonds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Episcopal 'Buddhist Bishop' Appears Headed for Defeat","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/06\/episcopal-buddhist-bishop-appe","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Episcopal 'Buddhist Bishop' Appears Headed for Defeat","og_description":"(RNS) The election of an Episcopal bishop in Michigan who has practiced Buddhist meditation and changed traditional church prayers appears headed for defeat, according to an unofficial tally kept by a newspaper reporter. 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