Dear Friends in Jesus Christ,
It is with a full heart that I write to let you know of my intention to retire in March of 2027. Thirteen years ago, this beautiful and vibrant diocese conferred a tremendous honor upon me by asking if I would accept your election as the 10th Bishop of New Hampshire. You had asked for someone you hoped would be your pastor through whatever right pathways God would lead us. I humbly accepted that vocation of bishop, sensing that I was not equipped or ready, but that if I were to be a bishop, I was called to this particular diocese, to this special people. It has been my deepest honor to be your bishop to the most of my ability.
Now, as I begin a 14th blessed year in your service, God is calling me to begin to step aside and to allow the diocese to prepare to welcome its next bishop. I have shared this discernment with both Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and the Standing Committee who have already begun to put in place the necessary procedures for an episcopal election to take place on October 24, 2026.
Based upon the timing of garnering the necessary consents from the wider church, its standing committees and bishops, and upon the calendar of the Presiding Bishop, the new bishop would be ordained and given the crosier on March 6, 2027. At that time, I will have reached 66 years of age and will be in the 15th year of my consecration. The person whom God and people choose to succeed me will indeed be blessed to serve in this faithful place in God’s pasture.
I bid your prayers, assure you of mine, and I look forward to the next year and half of Tending the Vine of Christ together for the sake of the world God cherishes with a love that is stronger than even death.
Gratefully Yours in the Abiding Christ,
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld,
Bishop of New Hampshire