A special announcement from the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas

April 7, 2021
Wednesday of Easter Week


Dear Companions in Christ:


Alleluia,  Christ is risen! May the joy and peace of the Resurrection of our Lord  and Savior Jesus Christ be with you this Easter and forever more.


I  want to begin this letter by giving thanks. I thank God for you the  good people of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, for your  faithfulness, for your love of Jesus, and for your bold sense of  adventure and willingness to “try things on” for the sake of the Gospel.  As we begin to emerge from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, I  trust that God’s providence and grace will continue to sustain us and  make us the church God needs to serve God’s mission now and into the  future. For you, and for God’s love and guidance, I am eternally  grateful. 


 I write today to inform you that I plan to retire in the fall of 2022 in the 13th year of service as your bishop. More specifically, God willing and the Church consenting, the 16th Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut will be ordained on October 8, 2022, at which point I will resign.


 My  reasons for retiring are twofold. First, by the fall of 2022 it will be  time for you to have a new bishop with fresh ideas and vision to lead  you forward in the 21st century  and who has other gifts and perspectives than I have. Second, while I  have loved every minute of being your Bishop Diocesan, the work of a  bishop is an arduous and nonstop vocation. I look forward to retiring  with energy and in good health both to serve God’s mission in new ways  and also to spend time with Kristin, our children, daughter-in-law and  grandchild.


Over  the next month the Standing Committee, Mission Council, and leadership  of our Regions will work together to establish a Bishop Transition  Committee as called for in Canon XVI of the canons of the Episcopal  Church in Connecticut. The Bishop Transition Committee will be  responsible for overseeing the transition process, including discerning  nominees for the election of the next Bishop Diocesan. To that end,  according to Canon III.11.2 of The Episcopal Church and with the advice  and consent of the Standing Committee, I now call for a special meeting  of the Convention of the Diocese to elect the I6th Bishop Diocesan on  May 21, 2022. I will continue to function actively as your Bishop  Diocesan and remain the Ecclesiastical Authority of the diocese until  the consecration of the next Bishop Diocesan in October 2022.


Serving  as your bishop has been the greatest blessing and honor of my ordained  ministry. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we have embraced the  challenges and opportunities of this new missional age. I am excited  about the work before us, and I very much look forward to our next year  and a half together in service to God’s mission of restoration and  reconciliation.


 “Glory  to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can  ask or imagine; Glory to God from generation to generation in the  Church, and in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:20,21


In the love of Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Ph.D.                                    
Bishop Diocesan