Multicultural elements abound as Rochester ordains bishop in colorful ceremony

[Episcopal News Service] An array of color, movement and sound encompassed the more than 1,200 people who gathered to celebrate Prince G. Singh's ordination and consecration as the 8th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester.

"We are here to bless a bridge builder," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in her sermon. Reflecting on a recent visit to the famed Brooklyn Bridge, which is held together by tension, she noted that all parts of the bridge are necessary to make it work.

"The Diocese of Rochester has called Prince to be a bishop, but they did not call him to be a prince bishop -- a monarch -- but to be a bridge builder, a servant ministry," Jefferts Schori said. She challenged the new bishop to "be a bridge; to build bridges; and to encourage others to build bridges."

To the diocese and the new bishop she said, "May you build well together, blessed with the tension of the Holy Spirit."

Held in the Eastman Theater in downtown Rochester, 15 bishops gathered for the laying on of hands.

Singh's family, friends, members of the diocese, and political, interfaith and ecumenical dignitaries from the eight-county diocese and across the globe participated in the liturgy.

Born and educated in India, Singh, 45, was surrounded by his family -- his wife Roja, sons Ned and Eklan, along with his mother, brother and other family members who made the trip from India and elsewhere in the United States.

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Rochester elects Prince Singh as eighth bishop

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Dr. Prince Singh was elected February 2 to be the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester.

Singh, 45, rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Oakland/Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, in the Diocese of Newark, was elected on the second ballot from a slate of five candidates. An election on that ballot required 75 votes in the lay order and 33 votes in the clergy order. Singh was elected with 77 lay votes and 35 clergy votes.

Singh will succeed Bishop Jack McKelvey, who has spent the past eight years as bishop of Rochester. Prior to being called to Rochester, McKelvey had spent eight years as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Newark. McKelvey will retire in this spring and Singh is due to be consecrated May 31 at the Eastman Theater at the University of Rochester.

The election took place at Trinity Episcopal Church, in Geneva, New York.

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