Virginia: New Episcopal bishop to face tough challenges

By Steven G. Vegh
The Virginian-Pilot
February 13, 2009

Some might say the Rev. Herman "Holly" Hollerith IV will land between a rock and a hard place when he's consecrated today as the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia.

In the national sphere, the Episcopal Church is facing a lasting rash of breakaway parishes that call it out of step with religious traditions on homosexuality - an accusation repeated by many of the denomination's peers overseas.

Meanwhile, the diocese is still mending after a corrosive in-house feud centering on the last permanent bishop, who was pushed into retirement by 2006. the rest