Ordination and Consecration of Bishop-elect Paula Clark set for September 17

A day the Diocese of Chicago has long awaited has now been set.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has set September 17 as the day he will ordain and consecrate the Rev. Paula E. Clark as the Thirteenth Bishop of Chicago. The service will take place at the Westin Chicago Lombard in Lombard, Illinois.

“Bishop-elect Paula E. Clark of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, in collaboration with diocesan leadership, has worked through tremendous challenges over the past year, and I am pleased to announce that I will serve as her chief consecrator in a liturgy now scheduled for September 17, 2022,” Curry wrote in a statement issued earlier today.

“I am overjoyed that God has brought us to this day!” Bishop-elect Clark said. “On September 17, we will make a new beginning together, and I could not be more excited to discover where the Holy Spirit will lead us in our ministry.”

The hotel, where the diocese held its annual diocesan conventions for more than a decade before the pandemic forced them online, is familiar to many people in the diocese. Holding the service there will allow more people to attend than a service held in any of the diocese’s church buildings, said the Rev. Courtney Reid, director of operations on the bishop’s staff.

The Presiding Bishop told the Standing Committee last week that he had set a date for the service, and Bishop-elect Clark and the Standing Committee met together on Friday to prepare for the announcement. Watch upcoming issues of the diocesan newsletter for more information about plans for the ordination and consecration.