When the Rt. Rev. Edwin F. “Ted” Gulick, Jr., announced his decision to retire as Bishop of Kentucky, he was clear about the timing and his destination. He would leave by August 2010 and move back to Virginia, where he was a rector in Newport News for 11 years before being elected a bishop.

Bishop Gulick will not pause from episcopal duties for long. He will begin visiting parishes Sept. 12 as one of five “guest bishops” who agreed to assist the Rt. Rev. Shannon Johnston, Bishop of Virginia, during 2010. On New Year’s Day in 2011 he will become assistant bishop.

The Rt. Rev. David Colin Jones, bishop suffragan since June 1995, continues in that ministry.

“This is the culmination of a series of discussions I’ve had with Bishop Gulick since 2008 leading up to this call,” Bishop Johnston wrote in a letter to the diocese. “As I met with the Standing Committee to discuss this appointment, we all sensed a profound call in the intersection of Bishop Gulick’s deep roots in this diocese, his gifts and passion for his continuing ministry, and our common sense of how he can complement and support the vision for ministry here. The Standing Committee unanimously and enthusiastically endorsed this appointment.”

Bishop Gulick, who turns 62 at the end of July, is a native of northern Virginia, a 1970 graduate of Lynchburg College and a 1973 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary.

In announcing his retirement in October 2008, the bishop said he was returning to Virginia to be closer to family. The bishop and his wife, schoolteacher Barbara Lichtfuss, have three grown children.

Their daughter, Robin K. Gulick, completed studies at Virginia Theological Seminary in July 2008 and is assistant to the rector at Church of the Redeemer, Bethesda, Md.