Joyous bells tolled the news Saturday as members of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah elected the Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish as their new spiritual leader.
But the decision will resound across the state and the country.Bishop-elect Irish will be the third woman serving at the highest class of bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States - and the only woman bishop outside of Washington, D.C. She also is a native Utahn and former Mormon, the daughter of the late philanthropist O.C. Tanner.
More important, according to Utah members of her church, is the depth of her spirituality and her leadership capabilities.
"To say it's momentous is an understatement," said the Rev. Canon Susan Armer, canon pastor of St. Mark's Church. "I'm very proud to be a part of a diocese that has the ability to go into the future with such optimism. I think she will be extremely good for the Episcopal Church in Utah and the Episcopal Church in the West."
Bishop-elect Irish, who will become Utah's 10th Episcopal leader, was elated with the news. She will serve as coadjutor with the Right Rev. George E. Bates until he retires next summer.
"I'm thrilled and honored and feel very privileged to be called to this assignment," Bishop-elect Irish said. "It is one of the things I never expected in my life, yet in the past year there has been a sense of rightness about it that has increased as I've gotten to know the people in the diocese."
By Saturday, Bishop-elect Irish said she "really wanted it to happen" and felt vulnerable that it might not come to pass. The new bishop-elect came to Utah last week to celebrate her mother Grace's 89th birthday and attend a meeting of the O.C. Tanner Co. board, which she leads.
She spent Saturday surrounded by family, awaiting the outcome of the special convention, which began at 9 a.m. Bishop-elect Irish emerged as the favored of the five candidates in the first round of balloting by the 192 delegates. The delegates included 135 lay church members and 57 clergy.
To win election, a candidate needed at least 68 of the lay votes and 30 clerical votes. Bishop-elect Irish received the majority of clerical votes in the third round and then a majority of both groups in the fourth balloting. The decision was announced shortly after 2 p.m.
As the results were announced, some church members gathered in a waiting room outside the cathedral shrieked with joy, applauding the decision.
"I think it took a lot of courage for the delegates to choose her in what is considered a very conservative state," said Leta Stever, a member of St. Mark's. Stever hailed the new bishop's experience and administrative capabilities as well as her knowledge of the state.
Bishop Bates said the "strong decision and early decision" indicated delegates had a strong meeting of minds. Bishop-elect Irish received 73 lay votes and 33 clerical votes.
Some delegates obviously cast votes for other candidates but said after the election they welcomed the chance to work with the new bishop.
"Most people I talked to felt any of the five could have been elected," said the Rev. Alan Tull, rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Provo. "The judgment was she has the right package Utah was looking for."
Stewart M. Hanson, diocesan chancellor, said Irish's selection was an indication of the inclusivity the Episcopal Church is known for.
Gov. Mike Leavitt congratulated both Bishop-elect Irish and the Episcopal Church on its new direction.
"This is an important day for the Episcopalian community and for the larger community because strong religious leaders are an integral part of a healthy society," Leavitt said. "We welcome Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish back to Utah and look forward to her leadership of Utah's 6,000 Episcopalians."
The election must still be approved by the House of Bishops, which includes all the Episcopal Church's bishops, and the church's standing committees. The new bishop will be consecrated and seated next summer.
Bishop-elect Irish currently is a staff associate for spiritual development at Washington National Cathedral, is on the staff at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and the College of Preachers. She has held other church positions in Michigan and Virginia.
Bishop-elect Irish, who is not married, has four children from a former marriage. She grew up in Utah as a Latter-day Saint, but later left the faith. She graduated from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1983.
"I had a wonderful childhood and will be eternally grateful to the LDS Church for that," Bishop-elect Irish said. "I have no negative feelings of any kind toward that community. My primary role here is as an Episcopal bishop. Those are the people I will be serving in a direct way."
But she reserved comment about her Mormon roots for another time, adding only that she has a great affection and respect for the LDS Church.
"I have a little jumpstart on familiarity and affection I feel for this place and the people here," Bishop-elect Irish said. She said she often traveled around Utah with her father and feels at home throughout the state.
"I feel very strongly a sense of Dad's presence and support in this," she said. "He was a real fan of mine and supported me in everything I did in my life and I have no reason to think he wouldn't be thrilled about this."
Bishop-elect Irish said she knows her elevation as a bishop in the Episcopal Church will be regarded as a curiosity.
"Nobody expected it to pop up in Utah," she said, particularly friends in Washington, D.C., whose views of the state are rather staid and outdated.
"It's going to be an adventure. My hope is we go beyond the things that are sort of distinctive and tantalizing to talk about and get down to the real task of being Christians in this mortal world."