Albany Bishop Candidates’ Tour
The Albany Bishop Candidates’ Tour (the “ABC Tour”) will happen August 13-17.
The tour has two purposes. First, it allows candidates to see more of our vast diocese first-hand and to meet some of our people in person, as an aid to their discernment. Second, as an aid to our own discernment, it gives us a chance to interact with and observe them directly.
We wish this tour could be longer, but all of the candidates, and their spouses, are taking a week away from other pressing responsibilities. Some are travelling a great distance to be with us. The Tour is designed to optimize the use of our time together in a way that is fair to all of the candidates.
The stops on the tour include:
A separate session on the morning of Monday, August 14, will be open to priests and deacons only. A separate notice will be sent regarding this event.
The Format
Each Tour stop will include informal time with the candidates and a structured question-and-answer period.
Time and resource constraints make an open-mic or town hall meeting impossible. Questions must be submitted in advance (see below). Each candidate will have an opportunity to respond to each question. Some questions will be posed at all tour stops; others may be specific.
How can I attend?
To attend any of the tour stop events in person, you must register. Use the on-line registration form. (Please note that on-line registration is closed. You are welcome to register at the door of your selected Tour stop)
Attendance is free of charge. Most of the venues should accommodate as many as wish to attend. Should it prove necessary, however, priority will be given to certified lay deputies to Convention, certified alternate lay deputies, and canonically resident priests and deacons. To ensure that as many as possible can attend, please register for only one venue.
What if I cannot make it to an in-person tour stop?
Don’t despair! You still have access to all of the information. You can join most of the events through a live stream on our YouTube channel. Most events will also be recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel after processing.
How do I submit questions for the candidates?
Lay Deputies and resident clergy can submit questions using this form. Multiple questions are allowed; please use a separate form for each.
Others should discuss their questions with their parish’s lay deputies or clergy, who may choose to pose the question themselves.
Questions should be
- applicable to all candidates;
- pertinent to the discernment process; and
- of general interest.
Questions will be reviewed, consolidated to minimize duplication, and edited for length or detail. Not all questions can be addressed on the Tour. Others will be shared with candidates with a view to publishing written replies if possible.
There will be an opportunity to ask questions from the floor at the ABC Tour Events.
Media
To facilitate contact between attendees and the candidates, the tour will not accommodate media access. Lay Canon George Marshall has been designated the point of contact for public information.
Prayer
“I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior” (I Timothy 2:1‑3).
The discernment of a Diocesan Bishop is not a bureaucratic or political process, but a solemn spiritual undertaking. To approach it with a right spirit, much prayer is needed, both by those who are directly participating, and on their behalf by everyone. Please help cover this stage in our discernment — the ABC Tour — in prayer, interceding with thanksgiving for the candidates, their spouses and families, for the tour team, hosts, all of the infrastructure involved, roads and drivers, all of it. We would like to see 24-hour-a-day prayer organized for this event around the diocese.
We are asking everyone — individuals, parishes, Daughters of the King — to set aside at least one hour of additional, dedicated prayer time specifically for the ABC tour while it is in progress.
Questions
If you don’t see the answer to your question here, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. If it’s still not there, contact us here.