Saturday’s ceremony, called the welcoming and seating, was led by the Very Rev. John P. Downey, Cathedral of St. Paul’s dean.
“Sean Walter Rowe, bishop in the Church of God, and our bishop, we welcome you to your Cathedral Church, the symbol and center of your pastoral, liturgical and teaching ministry in this diocese,” Downey said.
Rowe was then officially seated in the cathedral for the first time.
Before the ceremony, Rowe said he was looking forward to moving the diocese forward.
“I’m hoping to bring enthusiasm and energy,” he said. “I want to set out a vision of hope.”
I think we know what a bastion of orthodoxy the diocese of NW PA is, so we exoect great things to happen…not.
demographically this diocese is very similar to Pittsburgh. How could it have evolved in such a radically different fashion?
#2 — In the 60’s (perhaps a bit earlier) there was a movement called “The Pittsburgh Experiment.” Evangelical Christians of many denominations prayed and worked together to bring Christ to the region. Their witness and prayers had a powerful effect.
I wish Bishop Rowe great success.
The Cathedral is a nice place. I attended there once on Palm Sunday, while passing through Erie on my way home across the country. I sat making crosses out of my palms. At coffee hour I was surrounded by a group of children asking me how to make them. I taught about a dozen children and their parents how to make African palm crosses. I pray blessings for them and their new bishop, just as they blessed me that day.
As for demographics, one of my research interests is how certain theological positions have evolved in certain places. That California (SF that is), Massachusetts, or Chicago are revisionist is no surprise, but Utah, Ohio, Indianapolis, Alabama? That San Joaquin (in the “Bible Belt of California”), Fort Worth, South Carolina are traditionalist is not surprising. Places like Pittsburgh and Rio Grande have their own circumstances that don’t always conform to expectation. There are reasons, cultural and historical. I find it all very interesting
I think that in some places, such as Alabama and Utah, there is a huge cohort of people in an already more conservative denomination, such as the Mormans in Utah and Southern Baptists and other fundamentalist churches in places like Alabama. The Episcopal church has, in some of those places, become a place for those people who, for whatever reason, do not want to or cannot worship in those denominations; in conservative areas such as those, the Episcopal church has been a refuge for more progressive people.
Alta Californian – As you know, the Sacramento Bee has the greatest geographical reach of any paper in California, as it gathers in news from all points north, mostly from rural areas and small towns, for hundreds and hundreds of miles. When I saw your online name, I remembered when the second section of the Bee, which would have local news from such places as Dutch Flat, Yreka, Susanville, and Oregon House, used to be titled “Superior California.” Just a piece of old trivia to lighten the day!
Rob, I do know. In fact the northeast deanery of the Diocese of Northern California is referred to as the “Superior Deanery”. Interesting you should mention the Bee, I took my nom de plume from the Gold Rush newspaper, San Francisco’s [i]The Alta California.[/i]
AC – Thanks for getting back – I should have recognized the historical allusion to the Gold Rush paper, the Alta California, in which many famous literati, Bret Harte for one, were featured. My family has had several people, spanning many generations , who have lived in “Superior California” – in Woodland, Oroville, Alta (a PG&E;powerhouse town near Dutch Flat), Marysville, Yuba City, Paradise, Folsom, Orangevale, Sacramento itself, and probably a few places I have overlooked. Regards. A long time ago my grandmother was a communicant at St. John’s in Marysville, a very historic church. Also, my aunt in Auburn, where she lived almost all her life after being born in Oroville, and a while in Alta, attended St. Luke’s in Auburn. Sac itself is an interesting place, with its river history, old wooden Victorian houses, and Blessed Sacrament RC Cathedral, which was the largest church west of Chicago when it was built in the 1880’s.