The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan’s standing committee has asked the Rt. Rev. Thomas K. Ray, bishop of the diocese from 1982 to 1999, to serve as an assisting bishop. The diocese announced this decision in the October issue of its newspaper, The Church in Hiawathaland.
The diocese has been without a bishop since the Rt. Rev. James A. Kelsey died in a traffic collision in June 2007. He had served as the tenth bishop of the diocese since 1999.
The diocese elected the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, rector of St. Paul’s Church, Marquette, in 2008. He did not achieve sufficient consents among bishops and standing committees to be consecrated.