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Email to FriendIDAHO: Brian Thom consecrated fifteenth bishop
Presiding Bishop: Idaho 'not alone in this ministry'
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called the joyous celebration "a reunion for members of the Canterbury House community" where she and Thom were classmates while attending Oregon State University in the 1980s.
She said that the presence of about a dozen bishops "from across The Episcopal Church to join in laying hands on Brian says something very important about our interconnections. Idaho is not alone in this ministry, and Brian will not be alone as he becomes your chief shepherd."
Jefferts Schori returned to the theme of church interconnections as she paid tribute to retiring Bishop Harry Bainbridge III who "represents an abundant legacy coming from West Virginia.
"In recent years there have been at least five active bishops whose ministry also has roots in that place -- Bishops Brookhart of Montana and Waggoner of Spokane among them. You called a bishop from West Virginia because of some similarities in perspective -- a mostly rural environment, an economy often based on resource extraction, and hardy people frequently living in difficult circumstances. The kind of servant leadership that's been formed in West Virginia has been embraced across this church."
Bainbridge is moving to West Virginia and will continue working with the Episcopal Public Policy Network, Thom said. He was consecrated in 1998. Recently he has undergone chemotherapy for lung cancer.
Old connections, new beginnings
"The consecration was wonderful, especially the gift of having the Presiding Bishop here for her first official trip to Idaho," Thom said on October 13, his first day in the office. "Everyone is very eager for new relationships and continuing ones, because I've been in the diocese 17 years already."
His experience in the diocese will pave the way for new ministry, he believes, adding that he received a number of honorary gifts from congregations—"both serious and whimsical, acknowledging the office and the kind of work that will be happening."
Among those gifts were a desk organizer, a handcrafted stole, a serving tray, a bag of grass seeds to symbolize new growth, and, from a congregation that is providing space for a heliport for a local hospital, a toy helicopter.
"I know all the clergy," Thom said. "We are excited about what we can do because we don't have to spend two years getting to know each other.
"We are very eager to continue building this relationship," he said. "We are starting in a different place.
A native of Portland, Thom was elected in June and has served congregations in Portland and in Palm Desert, California. He served as rector of the Church of the Ascension in Twin Falls, Idaho, for the past 17 years.
He holds a bachelor's degree in forest management from Oregon State University and a master's degree in divinity from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
The Diocese of Idaho represents 29 congregations and about 6,800 Episcopalians.
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