The Very Rev. John Tarrant, rector of Trinity Church, Pierre, S.D., was elected Bishop Coadjutor of South Dakota May 9 on the second ballot during a special electing convention in Pierre.
 
Fr. Tarrant, 57, will become the 10th Bishop of South Dakota following the retirement of the Rt. Rev. Creighton Robertson.
 
The bishop-elect is a native of Kansas City, Mo. He was raised in rural Michigan and went on to graduate from Michigan State University and Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1983 and the priesthood in 1994 and went on to serve in several small congregations. He was assistant at Church of the Atonement, Westfield, Mass., 1983-85; rector of St. Paul’s, Gardner, Mass., 1985-89; assistant at St. Paul’s, Holyoke, Mass., 1989-91; missioner in the Diocese of Connecticut, 1991-95; rector of St. Paul’s, Stockbridge, Mass., 1996-2005, and rector in Pierre since then.
 
In the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, Fr. Tarrant was a member of several diocesan committees and diocesan council, and was dean of the South Berkshire Deanery for six years. In South Dakota, he is the dean of the Central Deanery and a member of the diocesan task force on mission strategies.
 
He and his wife, Patricia, have been married for 19 years, and have a combined family of 11 grown children.
 
“It’s a weighty thing to be elected a bishop of this church,” Fr. Tarrant told Episcopal Life Online.” My first idea is to get out amongst the folks and listen.”
 
Because he was elected within 120 days of General Convention, his consecration will need to be ratified by that convention in July. A tentative date of Oct. 31 has been set for his consecration.
 
Other nominees were: the Rev. Canon John F. Floberg, canon missioner on the Standing Rock Reservation in the Diocese of North Dakota; the Rev. Douglas R. Dunn, rector of St. Luke’s, Denver, Colo.; and the Rev. Peter A.R. Stebinger, rector of Christ Church, Bethany, Conn.
 
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