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Historic Episcopal vote

The Diocese of Southwest Florida elects a new leader for its 33,000 members in record time.

By SHERRI DAY
Published December 10, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - In a historic half-hour vote, members of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida elected a bishop coadjutor Saturday. The bishop-elect will lead the diocese once Bishop John B. Lipscomb, head of the 33,000-member diocese, retires.

Voters selected the Rev. Dabney T. Smith, the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans, on the first ballot at St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral. Smith, who will eventually become the diocese's fifth bishop, said he plans to move to the bay area in February to assume his post as Lipscomb's assistant.

"I have a wonderful mixture of feelings of being stunned and honored and humbled and delighted and a little bit scared and hopeful," Smith, 53, said in an interview. "I'm just so pleased and excited about the prospects of becoming part of the life of the Diocese of Southwest Florida."

Smith's selection ends a two-year process for the diocese, which began looking for Lipscomb's successor shortly after October 2004 when the bishop called for an election. Plans to elect a bishop coadjutor were waylaid last year after the Episcopal House of Bishops placed a moratorium on consecrating new bishops. The move was designed to quiet concerns stemming from the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Once the bishops lifted their moratorium earlier this year, the diocese resumed its search.

About 300 voting delegates participated in Saturday's election. Smith, who emerged from a field of six candidates, needed a simple majority from both the clergy and lay delegates to win. He captured 133 parishioners' votes and got 50 votes from clergy, soundly trouncing his opponents.

Lipscomb called the delegates to order shortly after the first ballots were counted. He informed a stunned audience that they had elected a new leader on their first try. Lipscomb was elected on the fourth ballot in 1995, diocesan spokesman Jim DeLa said. It took five ballots to elect his predecessor.

There were audible gasps throughout the church, and well before Smith's name was announced, the audience erupted in a standing ovation. After Lipscomb revealed the bishop-elect's identity, many in the crowd broke into shouts and wild applause.

"This is confirmation for me," said Candy Stott, a member of the election nominating committee from Christ Episcopal Church in Bradenton. "One ballot? It's amazing."

Lucas Fleming, a St. Petersburg lawyer who also served on the nominating committee, agreed.

"I'm really kind of elated right now," said Fleming, a member of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg. "It's a very uplifting feeling."

Some attendees saw the speedy election as providential.

"This is God's will for this diocese," said Joan Kline, a member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Clearwater. "It's his will."

A third-generation Episcopal priest, Smith moved with his family to Florida when he was a toddler. He grew up in the Daytona Beach area and graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa in 1980.

Smith worked in public relations before accepting his call to the priesthood. He was ordained in 1987. His ministerial ties to Florida include serving as associate rector at Grace Episcopal Church in Port Orange and as the rector at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Melbourne.

Since January 2005, Smith has been rector at Trinity in New Orleans. There, he worked on Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts.

The Florida nomination marks Smith's third run for the office of bishop. His prior candidacies, in Colorado and Western Louisiana, ended unsuccessfully.

Winning in Florida, Smith said, is especially sweet.

"Florida is my home state, and I just love it there," he said. "I'm just really grateful to be able to serve the Lord in that environment with such wonderful people and great mission opportunities."

Before dismissing the delegates Saturday, Lipscomb said he approved of the selection process of his eventual successor.

"This is an incredible sign of the spirit of unity that is in the diocese, and that I hope will continue," said Lipscomb, who plans to retire by 2010. "You have elected a good shepherd who will care for this diocese and guide it into the future."

Sherri Day can be reached at 813-226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 10, 2006, 00:50:01]