Pasadena Rector Nominated for Post in N.Y. Episcopal Diocese

The Rev. George F. Regas, rector of a large Pasadena parish and a well-known peace activist, has been named as one of five candidates to succeed the bishop of the Episcopal Church’s New York diocese.

Regas, 57, was a nominee nine years ago as the San Francisco-based bishop of California, but since then he said he had consistently turned down requests to be considered in other elections to the episcopacy, including the recent one in Los Angeles.

“I said I didn’t want to be part of the Los Angeles election,” Regas said in an interview. “I didn’t feel it was the right job for me, and I was very supportive of Fred Borsch,” who was elected last January and installed last month.

But when Regas was asked by the New York committee seeking a successor to Bishop Paul Moore of the 10-county New York diocese, Regas said he was interested. Moore, whose diocese includes the denomination’s headquarters, has been a progressive figure in denominational and social issues for 18 years.

“The bishop of New York is a major force in the life of the Episcopal Church,” Regas wrote in a letter to the 3,500 members of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena and other supporters of his ministry. “The ministry of peace and social justice to which I have committed my life would find a new voice in New York.”

Regas, who has been at All Saints for 21 years, said the nomination also appealed to him because the New York diocese wants “a bishop who will build the church, help it to grow.” All Saints, while serving as the base for the Interfaith Center to Stop the Arms Race and other activist projects, maintained its position as one of the largest Episcopal parishes in the country.

The election Sept. 27 will be for coadjutor bishop, who would eventually succeed Moore, 68. The other nominees are the Rt. Rev. Walter Dennis, suffragan (assistant) bishop of New York; the Rt. Rev. Richard Grein, bishop of Kansas; the Rev. C. Hugh Hildesley, rector of the Church of Heavenly Rest, New York City, and the Rev. Thomas F. Pike, rector of the Parish of Calvary/St. George’s, New York City.