For the first time, a woman could lead the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee

For the first time, the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee is slated to have a woman serve as its bishop.

Three candidates have been named as options to succeed the Rt. Rev. Don Johnson, who plans to resign next year.

They are the Rev. Marian Dulaney Fortner, rector of a church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; the Rev. Sarah D. Hollar, rector of a church in Huntersville, North Carolina; and the Rev. Phoebe A. Roaf, rector of a church in Richmond, Virginia.

The Rev. Gary Meade, president of the standing committee that oversees the process of selecting a new bishop, said there was no goal to have three women candidates, but that he is “delighted” it ended up that way.

“Male and female, black and white, gay and straight, healthy or ill, rich or poor, we are all God’s children,” Meade said. “This is just a recognition that the Episcopal Church honors that. We honor the full diversity of God’s people and we see that reflected more and more in our leadership.”

One of the candidates, Roaf, is also African-American. If she were elected, she would become the first African-American to lead the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee.

The diocese has only had three bishops since it became its own diocese in the 1980s when it separated from the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.

Johnson has led the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee since 2001.

Meade said the three candidates to replace Johnson have “exceptional backgrounds not just in ministry, but in life.”

It is possible that another candidate could be added through a petition process.

Fortner is in her tenth year as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hattiesburg, according to an online biography. She previously practiced law in Mississippi. She and her husband have one daughter and a grandson.

“I sense in you a movement toward a common purpose of drawing others to the love of God in Christ through communal worship and prayer, service to others, and work toward a more just world,” Fortner said in a letter posted online to the Diocese of West Tennessee.  

Hollar leads St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Huntersville. She describes herself in an online biography as a “follower of new church initiatives and keeper of most essential traditions.” She and her husband have four adult children.

“I want you to know that I love serving God’s church,” Hollar wrote in her letter. “I love preaching and teaching and being with the people of God in the holy moments of their lives.”

Roaf is rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Richmond. She has previously worked as a public policy analyst and a commercial real estate attorney. She also grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, not far from Memphis.

“I sense tremendous potential in the Diocese of West Tennessee as you honor the fundamental aspects of our Episcopal identity and incorporate new approaches to ministry,” she wrote. “I would welcome the opportunity to collaboratively discern God’s vision for how the diocese can address issues that impact our lives today.”

The three candidates will come to West Tennessee in October to meet with members of the diocesan convention and clergy. There will be an election held in November, in which one nominee must receive the majority of a vote by the clergy and a majority of the vote by the laity.

After the diocese selects a bishop, the wider Episcopal Church will have to give its consent before the bishop can be consecrated.

The Rev. Sandy Webb, who chairs the transition committee, said the Episcopal Church has been doing important work to determine that leadership might look “different” since it began ordaining women in 1976.

That work is starting to “bear fruit,” including in the diverse slate of candidates for bishop, Webb said.

“It says the Holy Spirit may be doing a new thing in our midst, that the future of the church may look different than the past of the church," Webb said.