ebar.com | The Bay Area Reporter Online

An openly gay man and lesbian woman are among the five candidates vying to become California’s eighth Episcopal bishop. The church announced the list of potential candidates on Monday, February 20.

Both Chicago’s Bonnie Perry and Seattle’s Robert V. Taylor are talented financial administrators with strong experience in congregational renewal and mission outreach. They preside over vibrant, growing churches and both earned their Masters of Divinity Degrees from New York’s progressive Union Theological Seminary. Each is in a long-term partnership.

I’ve met Bonnie Perry several times at events here in the Diocese of Chicago – she’s an amazing woman whose personal “mana” (spiritual power) radiates from her.

She would make a GREAT bishop. A truly great one. I hope that the diocese of California gets through their process gracefully; I know there’s a lot of conflict there.

Bonnie is the kind of person that when you meet her, you realize that a person’s sexual orientation is no more remarkable than hair color or shoe size. It’s just what they are, and no very big deal.

She would be a great choice to unite a troubled diocese. Also, she might help out another former Chicagoan who’s now a bishop, +James Mathes of the diocese of San Diego.