The Rt. Rev. James Ottley announced recently that he will return to Long Island, the diocese he was serving as an assistant bishop when he accepted a call to his current position as assistant Bishop of Southeast Florida. The change becomes effective June 1.

In 2000, Bishop Ottley transferred from Panama to Long Island, where he served for about a year as an assistant bishop with the diocesan, the Rt. Rev. Orris G. Walker, Jr., before transferring to Southeast Florida under the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade. A native of Panama, Bishop Ottley was consecrated Bishop of Panama--now part of the Anglican Church of Central America--in 1984.

“I have had a good ministry here,” Bishop Ottley told members of the Southeast Florida executive board on March 27. He told the board his decision to return to Long Island was based on both a sense of being called by the Holy Spirit and personal considerations.

Bishop Walker has been without episcopal assistance since the retirement of the Rt. Rev. Rodney R. Michel as Bishop Suffragan of Long Island earlier this year.

Bishop Frade said he does not plan to call for another assistant bishop at this time. Instead he has asked the Rt. Rev. Calvin O. Schofield, retired Bishop of Southeast Florida, the Rt. Rev. John Said, retired Bishop Suffragan of that diocese, and the Rt. Rev. Onell Soto, retired Bishop of Venezuela, to assist with visitations and confirmation.

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