Bishop Ted Gulick of Kentucky surprised participants at a meeting of the diocese's trustees and council this month by announcing his intention to resign within two years and calling for the election of his successor.
 
A native of Washington, D.C., Bishop Gulick, 60, became Bishop of Kentucky in 1994. He said he and his wife, Barbara, want to return to Virginia, where he began his ministry and where his grandchildren and elderly parents still reside.
 
“It became clear that the tug towards Virginia and a more participatory role as grandparents have proved irresistible,” he said as quoted by Episcopal News, the diocesan newspaper. “I don’t have the nature to be a very good lame duck, so my approach is to be the bishop for the next two years, but to put this process carefully and intentionally in place.”
 
Bishop Gulick was a candidate for Presiding Bishop in 2006. Each summer, he has moved his office to the diocesan camp, which has enabled him to participate in camping sessions and get to know the young people of the diocese. He also has been active in ecumenical relations, having served two terms on the Standing Committee on Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, co-chaired the Anglican Roman Catholic Dialogue (ARC-USA) and as one of The Episcopal Church’s representatives on the Consultation on Church Union from 1995 to 2000. In 2001, he was appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey to serve on the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM).
 
The search for a new Bishop of Kentucky will begin Oct. 29, when the standing committee meets with Bishop Clay Matthews, executive director of the Presiding Bishop’s Office of Pastoral Development.
 
Steve Waring
 
The Living Church magazine Online Edition lets you read your copy the day it’s printed, and for just $24.50 for one year! Click here for complete details.