Ben.Steelman@StarNewsOnline.com
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Episcopalians in eastern North Carolina will soon be choosing a new bishop.

The Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, bishop of the Episcopal Church's East Carolina diocese since 1997, resigned Friday to become bishop provisional of the diocese of Pennsylvania. His resignation becomes effective Feb. 28.

"I do love and treasure our Diocese of East Carolina and count it as a privilege to serve as your bishop for these years," Daniels said in a statement posted Friday at the diocese's website. "I have confidence in the leadership of the standing committee going forward and in the skills and abilities of a wonderful and dedicated staff at Diocesan House."

Since the diocese has no coadjutor, or deputy bishop with the right of succession, Daniel's vacancy will be filled by a church election. In the interim, a six-member standing committee of Episcopal priests and lay members will handle the diocese's day-to-day affairs. Among the members of this standing committee is Jane Martin of Wilmington, a member of St. James Parish.

The diocese will form a search committee to screen candidates, said the Rev. Catherine Powell of Wilmington's Episcopal Church of the Servant, who also sits on the diocese's executive council. A new bishop will then be chosen by an assembly of priests and lay delegates from Episcopal parishes from across the eastern half of North Carolina.

"This will be a somewhat long process," Powell said.

The seventh Episcopal bishop of East Carolina, Daniel was born in Goldsboro in 1947, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1969 and earned a master of divinity degree in 1972 from Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1973 by former Bishop Hunley A. Elebash and served parishes in Kinston, Ahoskie, Dayton, Ohio, and Bristol, R.I., before being elected bishop coadjutor of East Carolina in 1996. He became full bishop the following year.

In Pennsylvania, Daniel will succeed Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr., who is retiring. The diocese of Pennsylvania covers the city of Philadelphia and four surrounding counties, with more than 22,000 members and 155 congregations.

Under canon (church) law, a bishop provisional is like an interim bishop, said Joan Geiszler Ludlum of Wilmington, the chancellor (legal adviser) to the Diocese of East Carolina. Daniel will serve an unspecified period of time until a permanent bishop is elected. The Rev. Ledlie I. Laughlin, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania diocese, said in a statement that Daniel's tenure will likely be about two years.

In recent years, the Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania has faced considerable controversy, as some parishes have sought to leave the denomination, objecting to what they see as its increasingly liberal stances. Daniel is expected to introduce what the Episcopal Church terms a "new mission strategy" in an effort to reconcile church factions and mediate differences, Ludlum said.

"He will be the perfect person to fill this role," she added.

Ben Steelman: 343-2208