posted by GeoT

Clergy and lay leaders, meeting in Riverside for their annual convention, chose the Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, a local favorite from Orange County known for her financial expertise and ability to build up congregations.

Bruce, rector of St. Clement’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in San Clemente, edged out five other candidates, including two openly gay priests, for the first “suffragan” bishop post. Suffragan bishops assist a diocese’s primary bishop.

“All my life I have known that I have been called to serve God in Christ in God’s church,” Bruce wrote in her biography on the diocese’s website.

Bruce, who was elected on the convention’s third ballot, received a majority of votes from both clergy and lay delegates. She appeared to benefit from a strong Orange County showing, but delegates said she was elected because she was the most qualified candidate.

“She’s a known quantity,” said the Rev. Warren Nyback, a retired diocesan priest and convention delegate. “It’s an indication that the diocese is getting tired of male bishops. There’s been a yearning for a long time, especially among women clergy.”

Bruce — and the successful candidate for the second open position — must be confirmed by a majority of the national church’s bishops and of diocesan “standing committees,” which include clergy and lay representatives. Voting for the second position was beginning this afternoon; it was not clear when it would be completed.

If either of the gay candidates is elected, it would mark the first election of an openly gay Episcopal bishop since the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson was chosen bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

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