From our Diocesan news release.
"The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Western New York is pleased to announced the names of four nominees for the 11th Bishop of WNY. They are:
- The Rev. Michael N. Ambler, Jr., 46, rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Bath, in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine;
- The Very Rev. Canon Michael A. Bamberger, 55, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre, California, in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles;
- The Rev. Dr. R. William Franklin, senior associate priest at St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia, PA, in the Episcopal Diocese of of Pennsylvania; and
- The Very Rev. Canon Barbara J. Price, rector of St. Peter's Church in Eggertsville, NY, in the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.
A brief summary of each candidate's credentials follows. More detailed information may be found on the diocesan transition pages of the diocesan website, which can be accessed directly via www.wnybishop.org.
Ambler, 46, was ordained to the priesthood in 2000 and has served as rector of Grace Church in Bath since 2002. He served as Assistant Rector at St. David's Episcopal Church in Kennebunk, ME from 2000-2002. From 1989-1997 he worked as an attorney with Pierce Atwood in Portland, Me. Ambler holds a B.A. from Princeton University, a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and an M.Div. from Episcopal Divinity School. He also holds a Certificate in Mediation from the University of Southern Maine.
In the Diocese of Maine, Ambler serves on the Standing Committee, the Mission Strategy Task Force and the Response Team, and as chief judge of the Diocesan Trial Court. He has also served as co-chair of the Committee on Holy Orders and was a deputy to General Convention in 2009.
Ambler and his wife Darreby have been married since 1985. They have three teenaged children.
Bamberger, 55, was ordained in 1981. He has served as rector of Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre since 1986. His previous posts include St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Needles, CA and Holy Spirit Mission in Bullhead City, AZ. He holds a B.A. from the University of California - Santa Barbara and an M.Div. from Nashotah House. He also attended language school in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to further his fluency in Spanish.
In the Diocese of Los Angeles, Bamberger serves as Dean of Deanery V, co-chair of the Commission on Ministry, diocesan lead trainer for Misconduct Prevention, and is a member of the Diocesan Benefits and Insurance Committee. He has also been a member of Diocesan Council. Bamberger is an honorary canon at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles and a reader for the General Ordination Examination for The Episcopal Church.
Bamberger is a member of the Sierra Madre Fire Department where he has served a battalion chief since 2004.
He and his wife Debra were married in 1979 and have two adult children.
Franklin, 63, was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 and since July 2010 has served as the senior associate priest at St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to this position, he served for five years in Rome, Italy, with the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. There he was associate priest at St. Paul's Within the Walls American Episcopal Church, associate director of the American Academy, and fellow and associate priest of the Anglican Centre. Prior to 2005, Franklin worked as a Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Angelicum University (2008-2010), Associate Rector for Christian Formation at Trinity Church in Boston, MA (2003-2005), Bishop's Scholar in Residence for the Diocese of New York (2002-2003), Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University (1998-2002), Named Dean Emeritus of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale (2002); SPRL Professor of History and World Mission at General Theological Seminary (1993-1998), and Michael Blecker Professor of the Humanities at St. John's University in Collegeville, MN (1974-1993).
In the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe he has served on the Council of Advice and as a member of the leadership team and Weaver for Transformed by Stories Christian Formation Program in the European Institute of Christian Studies.
Prior to his ordination, Franklin served in the Diocese of Minnesota as a member of the Standing Committee and as Chairman of the Board of the Episcopal House of Prayer Retreat Center. He also served on The Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Ministry Development, the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations, and was appointed a Consultant to the 1998 Lambeth Conference of Bishops by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
He has been married to his wife Carmela Vircillo since 1971. They have two children.
Price, 60, was ordained to the priesthood in 1997. She has served as rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Eggertsville, NY, since 2000 and vicar of Ephphatha Church of the Deaf, also in Eggertsville, since 2009. She served as director of the Bexley Institute and assistant professor of Pastoral Theology at Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, NY from 2000-2008. She was Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Western New
York from 1989-2000, Interim Vicar of Ephphatha Church of the Deaf in Buffalo, NY from 2001-2004. Price was interim Rector of Trinity Church in Lancaster, NY from 1998-1999, and Assisting Priest at St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo, NY from 1997-1998.
Price holds an RN degree from E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital School of Nursing (now ECMC), a B.S. in Health Care Administration from St. Joseph College, Windham, ME, and an M.Div. from Bexley Hall Seminary.
In the Diocese of Western New York she serves as Dean of the Eastern Erie Deanery, as a member of the Board of Examining Chaplains and the Diocesan Ethics Committee, as a co-teacher in the Diocesan Anglican Formation Program at Christ the King Seminary, and an instructor in the Bishop Brent School. She is also active in Cursillo.
For The Episcopal Church she serves as Chaplain to the House of Bishops Spouses, and has served as a member of the Bishop's Election Process Consultants Group in the Office of Pastoral Development. She served on the national staff and faculty of the Church Development Institute, the Church Deployment Board, and as a member of the Deployment Ministry Conference. She has served in various dioceses as a clergy and clergy/spouse retreat leader and as a consultant to the planning and vision process.
Price is chair of the Board of Directors for Journey's End Refugee Resettlement, Inc. in Buffalo and as Director of Morningstar Ministries and the WINGS Program of education and training for spiritual directors.
She and her husband Alfred were married in 1992. They have four adult children.
More information about each candidate may be found on the transition pages of the diocesan website, which can be be directly accessed via
www.wnybishop.org.
The election will be held Saturday, November 20 during a special convention to elect meeting of the diocese at St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo.
According to a statement issued by Ms. Catherine Way, chair of the Bishop Search Committee, the 18-month search process involved 29 candidates from across the United States, as well as two foreign countries.
"The committee believes that any one of the four nominees can serve capably and admirably as our next bishop," Way wrote in her statement.
The Rt. Rev. J. Michael Garrison, who was consecrated tenth bishop of the diocese in 1999, will retire in April 2011.
Diocesan clergy and laity may nominate additional candidates by petition until August 30, according to the Rev. Glenn Fuller, president of the diocesan Standing Committee. More information about the petition process may be found at www.wnybishopsearch.org.
Under the canons (III.11.4) of the Episcopal Church, a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election. The consecration date is planned for April 30, 2011.
The Diocese of Western New York encompasses the counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming and includes 60 organized congregations."
