A plan for Bishop Mark MacDonald of the Diocese of Alaska to be the assisting bishop of Navajoland Area Mission while continuing to provide episcopal oversight in Alaska was approved by Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold.
Griswold told the House of Bishops at General Convention that he had approved the plan. The diocese and the area mission will explore what that partnership means during the next 18 months, MacDonald said.
Retired Bishop Rustin Kimsey of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon, Navajoland’s current assisting bishop, retired from his Navajoland post July 1. As an area mission it is subject to the oversight of the presiding bishop and the House of Bishops.
The 30th annual Navajoland Convocation, held in early June at Fort Defiance, Ariz., approved the request, as did the standing committee and diocesan council of the Diocese of Alaska.
Both Kimsey and MacDonald attended the Navajoland convocation. MacDonald served as vicar at Good Shepherd, Fort Defiance, before his election as bishop of Alaska. Kimsey has served as assisting bishop for Navajoland since the death of Bishop Steven Plummer on April 2, 2005.
