Meet six who could become the next Episcopal bishop of La.

• Advocate News Features staff
• Published: Oct 31, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Bishop Charles E. Jenkins retires at year’s end and Diocese of Louisiana delegates will meet Dec. 5 to pick his successor. The excerpts on this page came from longer biographies found online at http://www.edola.org. The diocese will introduce the candidates during receptions from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Episcopal High School, 3200 Woodland Ridge Blvd. Three candidates will attend each reception.

The Rev. Kurt Dunkle
Rector, Grace Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, Fla.
FAMILY: Wife, Cathleen; daughters Maddie, 15, and Caroline, 17.
HOMETOWN: St. Petersburg, Fla.
SEMINARY: General Theological Seminary.
PRE-COLLAR CAREER: Lawyer
YEARS AS PRIEST: 5.
A FAVORITE MOVIE: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
A RECENT READ: “A Failure of Nerve” by Edwin H. Friedman.
QUOTABLE: “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is how God came to us most accessibly and how I relate to him most often. Most of my prayers begin, ‘Dear Jesus ...’ That conversation occupies the first hour of every day and continues, on the best of days uninterrupted throughout.”

The Rev. Paul A. Elliott
Rector, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Stone Mountain, Ga.
FAMILY: Wife, Beverly.
HOMETOWN: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
SEMINARY: St. Francis Theological College, Brisbane.
PRE-COLLAR CAREER: Bank officer.
YEARS AS PRIEST: 22.
A FAVORITE MOVIE: “Life of Brian.”
A RECENT READ: “Martha Quest” by Doris Lessing.
QUOTABLE: “I know I need to tell God when I am upset, when I am confused and angry, when I am in pain. I know the grace of confession — my ‘tell all’ times to God. I know the healing power of compunction when I speak my truth (my story) in love.”

The Rev. Paul A. Johnson
Rector, Christ Church, Glen Allen, Va.
FAMILY: Wife, Bernadette; sons, Samuel, 18, Thomas, 16, and Peter, 14.
HOMETOWN: Hinsdale, Ill.
SEMINARY: Yale Divinity School.
PRE-COLLAR CAREER: High-school history teacher.
YEARS AS PRIEST: 18.
A FAVORITE MOVIE: “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
A RECENT READ: “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham.
QUOTABLE: “My relationship with God is based in a fundamental and on-going experience: Life is better when Jesus is in it. It’s not perfect, easier, or without pain. But it is better. Because of Christ, there is more love, and joy, and mercy, and hope, and peace, and responsibility in my life than there would be otherwise.”

The Rev. Ken Ritter
Rector, Trinity Church, Baton Rouge.
FAMILY: Wife, Julie; daughters, Adelaide, 15, and Elise, 13.
HOMETOWN: New Orleans.
SEMINARY: St. Joseph Seminary College and Notre Dame Graduate School of Theology.
PRE-COLLAR CAREER: Health-care executive and consultant.
YEARS AS PRIEST: Received as a priest from the Roman Catholic Church; an Episcopal priest for 5-1/2years.
A FAVORITE MOVIE: “Forrest Gump.”
A RECENT READ: “The Charlemagne Pursuit” by Steve Berry.
QUOTABLE: “I am most faithful to God when I walk in a way which acknowledges that I am dependent upon him and which allows his spirit to guide me in my faith, my ministry and my life. In this walk I continually pray, ‘not my will but thy will be done.’”


The Right Rev. Michael G. Smith
Bishop of the Diocese of North Dakota.
FAMILY: Wife, Lisa; children, Hannah, 27, Luke, 25, and Mary Beth, 22.
HOMETOWN: Purcell, Okla.
SEMINARY: Seabury-Western.
PRE-COLLAR CAREER: Professional lay minister as a musician, liturgist, Christian educator, outreach coordinator and campus minister.
YEARS AS PRIEST: 12 years before becoming a bishop five years ago.
A FAVORITE MOVIE: “Rudy.”
A RECENT READ: “The Associate” by John Grisham.
QUOTABLE: “I was challenged (as a Catholic teen) by Southern Baptist friends to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior in order to escape the pains of hellfire. . . I do admit to praying the ‘Sinner’s Prayer’ in private, just in case they were right. In hindsight, I have to give them credit for evangelizing me by introducing me to a personal relationship with Jesus and the Bible as God’s word-written.”

The Very Rev. Morris K. Thompson
Dean, Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Ky.
FAMILY: Wife, Rebecca; children, Virginia, 23, and Trey, 22.
HOMETOWN: Cleveland, Miss.
SEMINARY: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of the South and Lexington Theological Seminary
PRE-COLLAR CAREER: Two years in the Marine Corps.
YEARS AS PRIEST: 18.
A FAVORITE MOVIE: “Shawshank Redemption.”
A RECENT READ: “That Distant Land” by Wendell Berry.
QUOTABLE: “In all of my spiritual disciplines I measure my learning by one question, do I love more? If my spiritual practice becomes a goal in itself, that is, if checking prayer off my daily list of ‘to do’s’ is a goal, then I’m not loving more, just practicing a discipline. God calls us into relationships of joy, not duty.”