The Rev. James Mathes, a moderate who serves as canon to the bishop in the Diocese of Chicago, has been elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. In a church divided over issues of sexuality, Mathes will take the reigns of the San Diego diocese in early March.

As Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Chicago, Mathes directs deployment, congregational development and the administration of Chicago’s 130 congregations. Raised in Texas, he holds degrees from the University of the South and Virginia Theological Seminary, and was ordained in 1991.

“I’m going to try and be a big-tent bishop,” Mathes told the Gay & Lesbian Times in a phone interview from his office in Chicago. “To have as many people within the community in the decision-making process as possible, even if they don’t necessarily agree all the time.” Mathes has said that the top three issues facing the U.S. Episcopal Church are refocusing its vision, incorporating new members and balancing the church’s budget.

Seven candidates were nominated in the election, including two San Diego-area priests, but the race was mainly divided between Mathes, a favorite among liberals and moderates, and the Rt. Rev. Anthony Burton of Saskatchewan, Canada, who garnered a majority of conservative support, The Associated Press reported.

On the third ballot, Mathes cleared the election with exactly the number of lay votes needed, 87, and 56 votes from local clergy. Burton had 84 lay votes and 48 clergy votes. Mathes’ election will be finalized when a majority of the Standing Committees and bishops of the other dioceses in the United States give their consent.

“My sense is that there’s been an intensity of feeling for a variety of reasons after our last general convention, and that the election occurring probably heightened differences that will subside to some extent now,” Mathes said. Some of those differences in the San Diego diocese involve multiculturalism, with an emphasis on the Hispanic community; expanding services along with San Diego’s population growth; and shaping a diocese that is multi-faceted in what is believed to be essential, “which gets to some of the more heated issues of the day,” he added.

The bishop is the chief pastor of a diocese, and is responsible for the pastoral care of the clergy, overseeing the variety of support functions that a diocese provides, and is responsible for the ordination process, as well as confirming adult members.

In a highly controversial move last year, the U.S. Episcopal Church consecrated Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the denomination’s first openly gay bishop. The move caused a firestorm of debate across the nation and in the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch. San Diego’s current bishop Gethin Hughes, who is retiring, voted against Robinson’s consecration.

Mathes stated his position on same-sex blessings as part of eight questions regarding theological, spiritual and moral issues asked of all candidates by the church’s nominating committee, and directed the Gay & Lesbian Times to a website where that information was posted in lieu of answering the question directly.

“Jesus was silent on homosexuality, but spoke clearly about fidelity, love, and care for the outcast and stranger,” he wrote. “If we are to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, I believe we should find some meaningful way for gays and lesbians who are committed to life-long monogamous unions to be recognized. I am also affected by my work as a chaplain in a psychiatric hospital, and the medical community’s wisdom on human sexuality. If we could tackle this issue, then the question of ordination would be clear because gays and lesbians would have similar moral parameters. We could then hold all people to the same standard of fidelity and monogamy.”

Three Los Angeles parishes broke from the U.S. Episcopal Church in mid-August over the consecration of Robinson and the fact that Bishop Jon Bruno of the six-county Los Angeles diocese was among the majority of U.S. Episcopal bishops who consented to Robinson’s election. The three parishes – St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints’ Church in Long Beach and St. David’s Church in North Hollywood – said they had placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in Uganda.

The Associated Press reported that an Anglican Communion commission appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed an Anglican Communion commission on the matter, which last month recommended a moratorium on same-sex blessings.

Last week, Bruno said he would stop blessing same-sex unions in an attempt to win back the three dissenting parishes, but also said his priests would be free to continue officiating at the ceremonies of same-sex couples.

“I don’t think my role as bishop is to make unilateral decisions,” Mathes said about how he would navigate those disputes if faced with them in San Diego, “but rather to work within the community and say, ‘Let’s move towards our decision as a community,’ reflecting on the Scripture that we read, the traditions, and to make an informed decision; that those decisions change over time – sometimes we come back to them and revisit them, so I’m not going to be a quick agent of change, because that whole process to adjust is going to take some time for people to work together. The question is not what I will do, but what we will do.”

Mathes takes the broad view on the possibility of resolving issues of openly gay clergy and same-sex blessings within the U.S. Episcopal Church, saying that the process will take time, but all things are possible. “If the Holy Spirit is in our church, in our processes, we will get there,” he said. “I don’t necessarily know what that looks like, or present that what I think it should look like is the way it will be.”

San Diego’s fourth bishop, Mathes will be ordained and consecrated in a ceremony on March 5 at the Town and Country Convention Center. Bishop Hughes will officially retire on March 5.

There are approximately 25,000 members and 51 congregations in San Diego and Imperial counties, part of Riverside County and Yuma, Ariz.