Career
He was elected bishop on May 3, 2003, and consecrated on October 18, 2003, at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton. Officially, Councell followed the Rt. Review Joe Morris Doss as bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey after Doss was forced to resign amidst controversy.
David Bruce Joslin served as assisting bishop while the diocese organized to elect its 11th bishop.
Before his election, Councell spent eight years serving as the rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois. From 1986-1995 Councell served as canon to the ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts following eight years as vicar at Saint George"s Church in Riverside, California.
Councell graduated from the University of California at Riverside Phi Beta Kappa with honors with a Bachelor of Arts in 1971. In 1975 he earned a Master of Divinity, from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Councell was ordained a priest in 1975 in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Los Angeles
They have two grown children: Sarah Councell Turner who graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary with a Master of Theological Studies degree and now working for Bread for the World in Washington, District of Columbia, and Martha Councell, a professional flutist. Councell has announced he will retire from his position as bishop in 2013, and did so when new bishop Willam Stokes was consecrated in November 2013. Since January 2014, Councell has served as resident Chaplain of Doane Academy, an Episcopal college preparatory school in Burlington, New Jersey, where he also teaches courses on Ethics and World Religions.
