Grace Cathedral

Dear Friends,

We’re on the home stretch of a transition process that began with Bishop Marc’s July 2022 announcement of his intention to retire this July. Mark your calendars: On Sunday, August 11 at 3 pm at Grace Cathedral, in a service of Choral Evensong, we’ll install the Rt. Rev. Austin Keith Rios as Ninth Bishop of the Diocese of California. “Hmmm … but I was at Grace on May 4. Didn’t we already do that?” you might wonder. 

On May 4, we gathered together with a bishop presiding, bishops from around The Episcopal Church, as well as our local Lutheran bishop, and ordained and consecrated Austin Keith Rios a bishop. He began that event as a priest, and emerged as a bishop — a change in orders. In addition to being ordained to a new order, Bishop Rios became our Bishop Coadjutor. In this role, he has served alongside our Eighth Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Marc Handley Andrus, in a well-planned period of transition. 

In the midst of the rite of ordination and consecration on May 4, Bishop Rios was presented with gifts, or symbols of the order of bishops. These include a Bible, a stole and mitre (the hat!), Anglican bishops’ office vestments — rochet and chimere — and the diocesan ring. Historically, the ring could have been used as an official seal. These are ancient symbols, and common to bishops across the Anglican Communion, and, allowing for variations in vestments, to other churches that share episcopal structure.

Now, upon Bishop Andrus’ retirement, Bishop Rios is conferred the role of Bishop Diocesan. As Diocesan, Bishop Rios is the Ecclesiastical Authority and Chief Pastor of the Diocese. He works through and with the structures of the Diocese, including the Standing Committee, Executive Council, and Diocesan Convention, to ensure the health of our congregations and institutions, the vitality of lay and ordained ministers and ministries, and our faithfulness to God’s mission as well as the governance structures of the whole church. He is also the President of the Board of Grace Cathedral, and other episcopal institutions, The Bishop is the principal ambassador of the diocese to The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, as well as ecumenical and interfaith bodies. His office expresses and engenders the unity of the Body — the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”

We gather on August 11, then, to mark and celebrate Bishop Rios’ role as Bishop of the diocese. The Rite of Welcoming and Seating of a Bishop in the cathedral (The Book of Occasional Services 2022) is adapted to the context of Choral Evensong. The rite includes the cathedral Dean, Chapter, and staff Clergy formally welcoming the Bishop to his cathedral, and the Bishop, in turn, praying for our shared ministry for the good of the Diocese and church. The outward signs of the rite are the diocesan crozier and the Cathedra. The crozier, or pastoral staff, will be presented by the Rev. Dr. Mauricio Wilson, President of the Standing Committee, the body which shares authority with the Bishop, and is vested with ecclesiastical authority in the absence of a bishop. And Bishop Rios will be formally seated in the Cathedra, or chair of the Bishop, symbolizing the center of his pastoral, liturgical, and teaching ministry in the Diocese. 

For these festivities, we have the joy of welcoming the choir boys back from summer break, and Canon Director Music Jared Johnson has prepared choral music befitting the full choir and occasion. Don’t miss it!

See you in church,
Anna