Loading...The Rev. Dr. James "Jay" Magness, the former canon to the ordinary in our diocese, was elected the sixth bishop suffragan for federal ministries today (Wednesday, March 24) during the House of Bishops' spring meeting in Texas. One of eight nominees, he received 64 votes (54 are needed), the Episcopal News Service reported.
His election is pending the required consents from a majority of the church's diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction, according to the Episcopal News Service story. The consecration is scheduled for June 19 at Washington National Cathedral, with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori presiding.
Magness was the Diocese of Kentucky's chief administrative and deployment officer for nearly four years, joining the diocesan staff in January 2004 after his retirement as a captain in the U.S. Navy, where he served as fleet chaplain for the U.S. Atlantic fleet and command chaplain for the U.S. Joint Forces Command. He returned to Virginia in November 2007 to accept a call as interim rector of Galilee Episcopal Church, a parish with more than 2,000 members at Virginia Beach. Last fall, Magness became the canon for mission and diocesan administration with the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia.
