WEEEEE!
Five nominees for the 12th Bishop of Chicago were received from the Bishop Search Committee and announced Aug. 28, 2007 by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s governing body, the Standing Committee, subject to completion of background checks:
The Rev. Jane S. Gould, Priest-in-Charge / Rector, St. Stephen’s Memorial Episcopal Church, Lynn, Mass.
The Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee, Rector, St. Thomas Church, Medina, Wash.
The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean, Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio
The Rev. Margaret R. Rose, Director of Women's Ministries, The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Timothy B. Safford, Rector, Christ Church, Philadelphia

Additional candidates can be nominated through a petition process overseen by the Standing Committee. Information about that process is available online at http://www.bishopforchicago.org.

And there we are. Trust the Diocies that gave us +Frank Grizwald to now ratchet up the stress right befor the House of Bishops meeting. If the color above was unclear, the following will make it obvious:

August 28, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Integrity Responds to List of Candidates for Bishop of Chicago“The big news today is that discernment has trumped discrimination in the Diocese of Chicago,” said Integrity President Susan Russell. “The inclusion of the Very Rev. Tracey Lind on the list of five extraordinarily qualified candidates for Bishop of Chicago is a bold step forward and a sign of hope and encouragement not only to LGBT Episcopalians but to the whole church. Her experience and leadership make her an excellent candidate and Integrity applauds the Diocese of Chicago for not allowing the forces advocating bigotry over ability to dominate their nomination process.It is long past time for the Episcopal Church to acknowledge that B033 -- the 2006 resolution designed to prevent the election of a gay or lesbian bishop – has failed in its attempt to balance the unity of the Anglican Communion on the backs of the LGBT faithful. There is no turning back on the full inclusion of the baptized into the Body of Christ – only moving forward into God’s future as an Episcopal Church committed to mission and ministry, to unity in diversity.Integrity extends congratulations to all the candidates, any one of whom will make a fine bishop for the Episcopal Church. The Diocese of Chicago’s diverse list of qualified candidates is a sign of the end the ‘season of fasting’ at the expense of the vocations of gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church and the whole church should rejoice and be glad in that!”


What this means is that the HOB meeting in New Orleans will be even less fruitful as the tension will be made more and more palpable. This is only going to put everybody on the defensive, except for the network and So-called "Windsor bishops," this will put them on the attack. Once again, we have handed weapons to the enemy and God knows they are going to use them.
Before anyone gets all righteous and starts talking about “justice” and “doing the right thing” let me just say that there is doing the right thing, and doing it for the wrong reasons. I cannot help but think that this is a deliberate act of Boomer style defiance. Instead of pausing to think, they have handed righteous indignation to further cloud the meeting. This serves no matter what we may think of the Dean as a candidate, her going forward in the process is an irresponsible act that will make more trouble. We must thank Chicago for showing us how to do the right thing for the wrong reasons and at the wrong time.