Search Committee Reflection

With the holidays approaching, it is more important now than ever to be in tune with our
community and the people surrounding us. To be a human is to have relationships with those
humans around us, and that is ever present in a spiritual context within a diocese such as our
own.
On Saturday December 6th, the new bishop search committee held our first full-group in person
meeting that we have had since convention. The entire profile and transition teams met to discuss
our overall progress and to come together with ideas to help form the profile as we work on it. It
was a nice meeting to get everyone together and to be reminded of why exactly we are doing this
work– for our community. The diocese is truly and fully held together by each person in it, and
in order to get good work done and to find the best candidate for this bishop position, we have to
get together and look out for each other always.
During our meeting, we looked at specific information we have learned from various
listening sessions throughout the diocese, both with individuals and our group sessions. This data
allows for us to fully see and understand what everyone outside of the search committee feels is
important so that it is truly a group decision that everyone in the diocese can truly feel
comfortable with and proud of.
As we approach the end of the year, the profile team specifically has an influx of work to
complete to prepare for the publication of our search profile. While this is a daunting task, us in
the profile committee are fully ready to create and provide exactly what is necessary to make this
profile great. Our next few weeks will be full of reading data, writing, and editing to complete
this profile and to be as successful as possible. There is plenty of data and responses that we have
that will help us succeed in this process, even if it means that we have a lot of reading to do.
Holding faith in each other is one of the most important things for us to remember to do
throughout this search process. It is a vulnerable time in the diocese with major changes on the
horizon, but vulnerability leaves space for growth and that is exactly what we as a diocese are
doing. As we learn more about ourselves, each other, and other dioceses in similar places to us,
we are able to grow and adjust who we are and what we do. This time of growth is extremely
important for us, and once this process is completed, we will be able to look back and feel proud
of all of the work we have put in to make our community even stronger. Trusting in God to lead
us in the proper direction and trusting in ourselves to follow are truly two of the most important
practices at this time. Allowing space for growth, change, and the vulnerability that follows is
second. Our community is always there for each other, and while change is inevitable, the love
we have for each other and for this diocese will never change.
Abrielle Monaghan