Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori recommends Bishop Ted Gulick to be provisional bishop for Fort Worth diocese

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori has recommended the Rt. Rev. Edwin F. "Ted" Gulick Jr., bishop of the Diocese of Kentucky, to be the provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. If elected by the special meeting of the convention of the Fort Worth diocese, Gulick will be installed during that meeting. Gulick will serve part time as he continues to serve as bishop of Diocese of Kentucky.

The special meeting of the convention in Fort Worth has been called for Saturday, Feb. 7, at Trinity Episcopal Church because the former bishop and some diocesan leaders have left the Episcopal Church and the diocese. Delegates also will fill other diocesan leadership vacancies, including members of the Standing Committee, deputies to General Convention and trustees of the Corporation for the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Because of previous commitments, Gulick plans only to serve as the provisional bishop of Fort Worth through the meeting of General Convention this summer. If so, another provisional bishop will be elected to serve until the diocese is ready to elect a bishop, most likely in one to two years.

The bishop received the approval of the Diocese of Kentucky’s Standing Committee to undertake the temporary dual appointment at a meeting on Jan. 21.

In a letter to Gulick and the Diocese of Kentucky’s Standing Committee, asking them to consider this “half-time appointment” to Fort Worth, Jefferts Schori noted that “an experienced bishop, with excellent pastoral and leadership skills, is needed to assist the leaders of that diocese in righting themselves, beginning and continuing the healing process, and setting a course for a renewed future. We believe that Bishop Gulick is the right person to begin this work.”

The special meeting of the Fort Worth convention will  be called to order by Jefferts Schori at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 7. A brief press conference with the presiding bishop and Gulick will follow the convention.

Gulick, 60, was ordained and consecrated as the seventh bishop  of the Diocese of Kentucky on April 17, 1994. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lynchburg College in 1970 and a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1973. He also holds honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Virginia Seminary and the University of the South and received an honorary doctorate degree from Bellarmine University in 2008. He is married to Barbara Lichtfuss, who teaches middle school students at the Anchorage Public School. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.