was elected on 4 May 2003 to be the eleventh Bishop of New Jersey.

About the Election of 3 May 2003
The Ballots and their tallies
About the Ordination and Consecration
Biographical Information
Questions asked by the Episcopal Election Committee:

• If you were making a car trip across the United States and could choose any three people from life, history, or fiction to accompany you, who would you choose and why?
• What book, movie, TV show, play, or art exhibit has moved you recently? Why?
• What miracle of Jesus would you have wanted to witness? Why?
• How might you, as bishop, bring theological clarity and understanding to what you consider to be a major issue facing the Episcopal Church today?

Thoughts about the diocese: Provided to the Episcopal Election Commmitee by Father Councell during the search process.

Ballots
Father Councell was elected on the third ballot, on Saturday, 3 May 2003 at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton, New Jersey. 242 clergy and 408 lay people were eligible to vote, with 122 votes necessary to elect in the clergy order and 205 in the lay order.

Father Councell received 137 clerical votes and 217 lay votes, at which time the election of the eleventh bishop was announced. The bells of Trinity Cathedral rang, a Te Deum was exuberantly sung (Hymn 366 in the Hymnal 1982), and incense scented the air.

We are delighted to welcome George Edward Councell and his wife, Ruth May Tietjen Councell, to the Diocese of New Jersey to be our next bishop.

Ordination and consecration
The ordination of Father Councell to the episcopate is set for 18 October at Trinity Cathedral, Trenton. The Most Reverend Frank Tracy Griswold, presiding bishop and primate, will be the chief consecrator. We'll provide more information about this joyful event at a later time.

Biographical about the Bishop-Elect

Born
Detroit, Michigan, 4 October 1949.

Education
1971, Bachelor of Arts, with honors, University of California at Riverside, Phi Beta Kappa; 1975, Master of Divinity, Episcopal Divinity School.

Ordained priest
December 1975, by the Right Reverend Robert Rusack, Bishop of Los Angeles.

Personal
Married Ruth May Tietjen, an artist and illustrator of children’s books, in May 1971. Their grown children are Sarah Councell, a student at Virginia Theological Seminary, and Martha Councell, a professional flutist in Texas.

Parishes or positions

Highlights of diocesan and national offices, community leadership

• Diocese of Chicago, Standing Committee, 2002-present
• Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, trustee, 1997-present
• Episcopal Charities and Community Services, Diocese of Chicago, trustee, 1996-2002; president of the board, 1999-2002
• Deputy, General Convention and chair of diocesan deputation, Diocese of Western Massachusetts, 1991 and 1994
• Secretary of Convention, Diocese of Western Massachusetts, 1988-93
• Executive Committee of the Alumni/Alumnae Association, Episcopal Divinity School, member, 1988-92
• Diocese of Los Angeles, Committee for the Future, chair, 1982-84
• Diocese of Los Angeles, Riverside Hospice, Board of Directors, chaplain and member, 1982-84
• Diocese of Los Angeles, Directors of the Corporation, 1979-82

Photo
A high-resolution (300dpi), black-and-white photograph of George Councell is available here. It's approximately 900 K and is 5 x 6 inches.

Sermons
A number of Father Councell's sermons are available on the web site of his parish, the Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, Illinois.

Questions asked by the Episcopal Election Committee

If you were making a car trip across the United States and could choose any three people from life, history, or fiction to accompany you, who would you choose and why?

I would choose the 17th-century priest and poet George Herbert; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; and guitarist / singer / songwriter Bonnie Raitt.

I was an English major in college. At the time that I studied George Herbert and the other metaphysical poets, I had drifted away from my up-bringing in the Episcopal Church. When I discovered that George Herbert was a priest of my own tradition, I returned to my Episcopal-Anglican heritage. His poem, Love III, changed my life and opened a door to help me discern my vocation.

Desmond Tutu is the Anglican prophet of our day. I am enthralled by his prophetic passion, his spiritual depth and his grace-filled life and playfulness. I yearn to grow up into his spiritual maturity and to emulate his joy and confidence in our Lord, in the reign of God and its peace, justice and reconciliation. It would a great blessing to view our nation with his vision, listening to and learning from his faith, hope and love.

I’ve long enjoyed Bonnie Raitt’s song-writing skills, her social conscience, her splendid blues guitar and her gift for celebrating life and love. She is someone who takes the injustices of our society seriously and commits herself, her talents, and her celebrity to address those concerns; without taking herself too seriously. I’m renewed by her music. I am inspired by the wisdom of this troubadour. She would add spice to our little band of clergy.

What book, movie, TV show, play, or art exhibit has moved you recently? Why?

I was deeply moved by Monsoon Wedding, last year’s film by director Mira Nair about a Punjabi family wedding. The film is set in lush, vivid, and colorful places. It tells the story of a family moving through Indian cultural and religious rituals toward a festive celebration of an arranged marriage. The film celebrates life; yet, it never loses sight of the fact that life is messy. For example, the two partners to this marriage don’t really know or love one another. One of them has an attachment to a previous relationship. We have to wait and watch and see if their potential marriage can survive their truth-telling. Another character — himself a Hindu — falls hopelessly in love with a servant woman of the Christian minority, who gives him a cup of cold water. Most significantly, there is a dark family secret that must be confronted if the festivities are to be genuine and not a sham.

I was moved to tears by the confrontation of the abuser and the transformation of the facial features of the actress who played the victim. At last, someone honored her testimony and acted to make the family a safe place. In the end, the wedding proves to be an authentic celebration, thanks to the courage of the father who places loyalty to his family ahead of material gain. I wanted to dance out of the theater in gratitude for this luminous, dancing celebration.

What miracle of Jesus would you have wanted to witness? Why?

The miracle of the healing of the daughter of a Canaanite woman, recorded in Matthew 15:21-28. But I confess that I’m even more interested in the witness of the mother and in how her tenacity prepared the way for that healing. There was so much that stood between Jesus and this woman. She was alone, with no man to speak up for her. She was a Gentile attempting to speak in public to a Jewish male — something that pious Jews did not do in Jesus’ day. And she was appealing on behalf of a child in a society where children were often discounted. Added to those obstacles were the silence of Jesus and the fact that his mission was only to “the lost sheep” of Israel.

But her faith changed that fact. She didn’t give up. Even when Jesus dismissed her and her people as “dogs,” she had an answer: “Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” Not even Jesus can resist this great faith — part wit, part persistence, part refusal to be shut out and to allow a child to fall beyond the reach of Jesus’ healing love. It is a healing miracle. But it is a miracle of a marginal, yet heroic, woman who challenged Jesus to enlarge the boundaries of his mission. I would like to have witnessed such faith. I would like to live with such faith today.

How might you, as bishop, bring theological clarity and understanding to what you consider to be a major issue facing the Episcopal Church today?

I believe that we need more theological clarity about the relationship between Christianity and other religions. I have struggled with the tension between the traditional teaching of the “scandal of particularity” and the increasing embrace of religious pluralism. Is it possible for a Christian community to witness faithfully to the unique and decisive revelation of God in Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world and still live in respectful and fruitful relationships with believers in other religious traditions? We must live and work and pray in a pluralist context — something ever more urgent in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001.

I would want to challenge each clerical and lay leader and every congregation to wrestle with the question of religious pluralism, beginning with open, honest, trusting relationships with their neighbors of other religions. In that context of mutually respectful relationships, I would encourage Christians to look for and celebrate the signs of grace in the lives of those who do not accept Jesus as Lord. I would want every Episcopal Church to cooper-ate with other religious folks in projects that are in line with our understanding of God’s purposes and priorities for human life, revealed in Jesus Christ. There is much that we could and should do together. In that context of shared commitments to the welfare of the world, we can witness to the Gospel while we also respect the dignity of those who do not accept it.

Thoughts about the diocese, provided to the Episcopal Election Committee

I’m drawn to the Diocese of New Jersey because of the voices and lives and communities reflected on the pages of your Profile. I like the plain speaking, the full disclosure, and the feistiness. You sound like real people who understand that God only has real people from which to make bishops.

You’re candid about your troubles and yet still enthusiastic about your strengths. You are ready: ready to grow; ready to rejoice; and ready to be loved and led by your next bishop.

I’d hope to foster a diocesan culture of encouragement for clergy and congregations to take risks and be creative about meeting the unchurched. I would hope that each congregation would welcome newcomers warmly, respectfully, and graciously.

I would offer a respectful yet clear challenge to each congregation to reflect on the servanthood of Christ and engage in discernment — supported by diocesan leadership, and using Bible study, prayer, imagination, and research into the local community — to determine how our Lord is calling a particular church to reach out. If we believe that we’re a servant church, we’ll want to discern who our God wants us to serve and to welcome into the local church. We’ll want to struggle with disturbing questions and not be content with business as usual.

I have a lot of love for small churches: as a young person, when I first sensed a call to priesthood in our mission church; as a newly ordained vicar of small churches; as a diocesan staff member and vestry consultant.

The task of leading the diocese to bring 164 congregations together — now that piques my interest. I’d have lots of energy for building bridges and seeking consensus and seeing what 164 churches can, by God’s grace, do together for Christ and for the world.

Beginning in my home parish, through seminary, and 27 years of ordained ministry, I’ve been blessed by the support of clergy mentors and colleagues. Their friendships and direction have sustained me. And I have experience working as an assistant to a bishop in the care and supervision of clergy.

More and more, through years of spiritual direction and regular practice of private confession, I’ve come to accept our Lord’s mercy, gentleness, and patience with me. Because of His grace, I think that I’m better able to listen and to pray, to live and work as a healer and reconciler in His church.

I’ve grown in my present ministry to become a stronger administrator. Good administration enables good pastoral care. I’ve been on different sides of discussions about diocesan finance and fairness, including recent service on a committee to offer guidelines to congregations of the Diocese of Chicago under our voluntary system of giving.

My life and faith have been immeasurably enriched by my sisters and brothers of other races and cultures. I was a member of a team of leaders of antiracism workshops in my former diocese. I’ve worked to strengthen my parish’s partnerships with a Native American church in Wyoming and a Hispanic congregation in a neighboring community.

My life is grounded in daily prayer. I regularly see a spiritual director, meet monthly with colleagues, take an annual silent retreat. I love my vocation and ministry and hope to continue to serve in good health.

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