CONSECRATED AS NEW BISHOP

Chronicle (Levin), 10 March 1947, Page 8

CONSECRATED AS NEW BISHOP

-Press Association

Bv Telegraph-

, Vv ELLxlN GrTON, Mai*. 9. With. dignified ritual aiid the traditional pageantry of the Angiican (Jhm'eh, juev. tt. H. Owen, M.A., was today elevated from the priesthood to the episcopate" by liis conseeration at tne C'atheural ehurch of St. Paui. Tonxorrow night he will be enthroned as JLJishop of Wellington. The conseeration eeremony was perfornied by ihe- Primate, the Most Itev. Arehbishop. West-Watscm, in the presence- of Bishops P. A. Bennett (Aotearoa),, P. W. Btephenson (Nelson), W. J. Sirakiii (Auckland),, W. A. E. 1'itchett (Dunedin) and 35 elergy of the diocese. ; A large crowd assembled bef ore the ehurch. as the. liour of' 10 a.m. arrived ,but only a portion was able to gain adjmittance wnieh was by tieket. Thosein the pews incl'uded the Higli Commissioner for Unitedi Kingd'om, Sir Patrick, Duff, Lady Duif, Mrs., Uwen,. wife of the bishop-elect, Mrs. Wallis, widow of the late Bishop Wallis, Mrs. Coleridge and Mr. S. T. C. Sprott, daughter and son of the late Bishop Sp.ro tt, representatives of familles who have worshipped at St. Baul's since the days of the early Bishops. Amongst the congre;gatio.n, too, were parishioners from all parts of the diocese, some of whom had brouglit food to stoek the new Bishop 's iarder. Earely has so imposing an eeelesiasticai scene been witnessed in New Zealand as the procpssion eutered the front of the chureh ahd marched to the .ehancel during the processional hymn. A cross precetfed a strong ehoir of boys, women and men under the marslial, Ee-v. F. M. Kempthorne, who Avas followed by representatives of the lay readers and 35 elerg-y of the diocese. in the second seetioa of the procession the verger preceded the diocesan seeretary and registrar, Mr. S. T. C. Sprott; provincial seeretarv, Mr. L. II. Wilson; ckurch advocate, Mr. P. T. Clere; ■ chancellor, Mr. H.. E. Evans, K.C., lay and honorary eanons, arehdeacons and then the bisiiop-elect. Thirdly came the fcpiscopal section led by the vicur's and parishioners ' churchwardens, Messrs E. 1j. Cachemaelle and L. J. Retalliek respectively; the preccntor, the Itev. W. Langston; server canon, the Itev. N. F. E. Bobertshawe; vicar canon, the Rev. D. J. Davies; eommissury, the Rev. Arehdeacon F. II. Petrie, the Bishops of the Province each jireceded by his Chaplain carrying the primalial staif, and iinally the Arehbishop foliowed liv liis Cliaplains.

The ArehibisTiop, standing at the altar, opened the service with the Lord 's Prayer. The Bishop of Auckland read the epistle and the Bishop of Dunedin the gospol. The.address from the pupit fell to the Bishop of Aotearoa. Bishop "T>ennett opened his sermon bv saying that the Bishop-elect wotdd notico Ihat on j great' cercmonial occasions rhe hfuori people would plait wreaths of the kau- , whau Iree and would give thoughl to ( those who had gono bef ore. This beautiful and quite Christian thought , carried with it, in the circular Avreatlis, ! the idca of a world without end. Death | did not close the individual or creation J and the green of leaves denoted tTiat i the memorv of those who had built in j tlie pasl was still green Avhich was so ] with those who had laboured as Bishops | in the Wellington diocese Avhon; he re- j ealled. Bisho]) Brnnctt extended to !hel Bishop-elect and Mrs. Owen, a very warm welcome and assured liim, on beliaif of his elergy, of loyaltv and sineere cooperation. The Bishops of Dunedin and Nelson presented the elected Bishop to the Arehbishop sitting in a chair near the holv talde. The Arehbishop then de•nanded Ihe mandate for the conseeration which was read by the chancellor of the diocese ahd the conseeration proceeded, culininaflug in the layTng on of hands by the Arehbishop and Bishops present. The rest of Ihe service eonsisted of the deliverv of the 1 Bible to the new F>ishop bv ihe Arehbishop and the participation in the Hioly Communion by the Arehbishop and other bishops.