State Episcopal bishop named to executive council
The leader of Oklahoma Episcopalians recently was elected to be part of a team representing the Episcopal Church USA on a prestigious council of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The Rt. Rev. Edward J. Konieczny, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, was elected by the Episcopal Church USA’s Executive Council to serve as its bishop member on the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).
According to a news release from the denomination’s public affairs office, the Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four instruments of communion in the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is one of the 39 province members. The Episcopal Church USA is the American arm of the Anglican Communion.
The news release said the role of the Anglican Consultative Council is to facilitate the cooperative work of the churches of the Anglican Communion.
In an interview on Wednesday, Konieczny described the ACC as the “only truly representative body of every province of the Anglican Communion.”
“I’m honored to have been elected to represent our Church in the larger Anglican Communion,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other 39 provinces. Hopefully, we can move forward and help change people’s lives for the better.”
The Episcopal Church USA’s public affairs office said the vote to add Konieczny to the ACC took place on Jan. 23. Konieczny already is a member of the denomination’s Executive Council.
Konieczny will serve a term of three meetings of the ACC, which is generally nine years. The triennial meetings require a twoweek commitment. He said he learned Wednesday that the next meeting for the ACC will be in Hong Kong in 2019. Konieczny will take the bishop position vacated by Bishop Ian Douglas, of Connecticut, whose term has expired.
The ACC includes clergy and lay people, along with bishops.
Finding ‘ways to bring unity’
Along those lines, Konieczny said it’s important to note that he will be serving on the special council as part of a team representing the Episcopal Church USA along with a clergy representative and a lay person.
The Rev. Gay Clark Jenning is the Episcopal Church USA’s clergy member on the ACC. She is from the Diocese of Ohio and is president of the Episcopal Church USA’s House of Deputies. Rosalie
Ballantine is the denomination’s lay person member on the ACC. She is from the Diocese of the Virgin Islands.
The bishop said he wants to do his part to bring the Anglican Communion together on issues of importance. “I think for me, I hope that I can bring something of substance to the conversation. My goal is to help find ways to bring unity in the midst of all our tension,” Konieczny said.
“Instead of focusing on the one or two things that cause us tension and dissension, we could focus on the things that bring us together, the things that better people’s lives,
things that bring justice where there is injustice and things that make a difference in the lives of people who are disenfranchised.”
Konieczny became bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma in 2007. The Oklahoma diocese celebrated his 10 years as bishop in at the diocese’s annual meeting in November 2017 in Tulsa.
He was ordained to the Episcopal Church diaconate and priesthood in 1994. Before entering full time ministry, he served as a police officer in Southern California for about 18 years.
In addition to Executive Council, he serves as a member of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice; is vice president of Province VII; and was the co-chair of the joint nominating committee for the election of
the Presiding Bishop. As a member of Bishops Against Gun Violence, in 2014, Konieczny hosted the Reclaiming the Gospel of Peace Conference in Oklahoma which attracted attendees from around the world. He is also a member of the Anglican Bishops in Dialogue which consists of a group of bishops from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Africa that have been meeting annually since Lambeth 2008 to promote stronger relationships across the Communion.
As for this group, Konieczny said they hope to eventually make a presentation to the worldwide Anglican Communion bishops about how their dialogue format can be used as a model for discussion. He said the dialogue group will meet in June in Ontario, Canada.