[Episcopal News Service] The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia has announced that the Rev. David Cox has been added by petition to its slate of four nominees to stand for election as the diocese’s sixth bishop.

Cox, 65, is the rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hot Springs, Virginia. His nomination makes him the sole priest of the diocese on the slate.

The other nominees are:

The Very Rev. Mark Bourlakas, 49, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville, Kentucky;

The Rev. Jeanne Finan, 62, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Asheville, North Carolina;

The Rev. Gail Greenwell, 57, rector of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, Kansas; and

The Rt. Rev. David Rice, 51, bishop of the Diocese of Waiapu in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

Detailed information about all the nominees is available here.

The nominees will visit with members of the diocese March 1-3.

The bishop election will take place on March 9 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke and the ordination is scheduled for July 20.

The sixth bishop will succeed the Rt. Rev. Neff Powell, who has served as the diocese’s fifth bishop since 1996.