California Bishop Marc Andrus announces plan to retire in 2024

Posted Jul 22, 2022

[Episcopal News Service] California Bishop Marc Andrus announced in a message to his San Francisco Bay-area diocese on July 22 that he plans to retire in 2024, after the election and consecration of his successor.

“I share this news with a full heart, full of appreciation for the time that Sheila, our children, and I have lived with you in this extraordinary place of possibilities,” Andrus said. “There is much to celebrate.”

Andrus, bishop of California since 2006, is best known in The Episcopal Church as a leading voice for care of creation and combating climate change. He has led Episcopal delegations to several meetings of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP, including the 2015 meeting where nations reached the ground-breaking Paris Agreement.

Most recently, Andrus was among a group of bishops who this month persuaded their fellow bishops to approve a “mind of the house” statement at the 80th General Convention underscoring the importance of environmental issues and addressing climate change as inter-connected with most other social justice issues that elicit The Episcopal Church’s engagement.

His message announcing his retirement plans also outlined triumphs and challenges in the diocese during his 16-year-tenure as bishop. “More recently, we have been finding new ways to be a compassionate and vibrant church in the Bay Area during the Covid pandemic using new technologies and resources that can sustain ministry.”

Read the full message here.

The succession plan involves a target date of Dec. 9, 2023, for electing a new bishop, followed by a tentative consecration date of May 4, 2024. After a transition period, Andrus said he and his wife, Sheila Andrus, plan to relocate to Virginia by the end of July 2024.

“There is still much to do together, but I also look forward to your next chapter, when you will surely be blessed by a new bishop,” he said. “Of this I am certain: The Episcopal Diocese of California is, and will continue to be, a place of possibility.  It is a place of God’s grace and beauty, and it has been the deep honor of my life to share in ministry with you.


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