Memorial eucharist for Northern Michigan Bishop James Kelsey set for June 8
Episcopal News Service. June 4, 2007 [060407-05]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
A memorial eucharist and celebration of the life of Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan Bishop James Kelsey will be held June 8 in Marquette, Michigan.
Visitation will be at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 201 East Ridge St. The memorial eucharist will be at 4 p.m. at St. Michael Roman Catholic Church, on the corner of College Street and Presque Isle Avenue.
Kelsey, 54, was killed in a road accident June 3, while returning to Marquette from a parish visitation. The accident, which remains under investigation by the Michigan State Police, occurred along what is known as the Seney Stretch in Alger County, about two miles east of Shingleton, Michigan on Highway M-28.
Michael Charles Wiita, 58, of Lake Linden, Michigan, the driver of a pick-up truck with which Kelsey's sports utility vehicle apparently collided, was also killed in the accident. A passenger in Wiita's truck, Jessica Amber Slavik, 27, of Hubbell, Michigan, was injured. Kelsey was traveling alone.
The driver of a third vehicle involved in the accident was not injured, according to an article in the Marquette Mining Journal newspaper.
Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming Bishop Bruce Caldwell, a longtime friend and Kelsey's colleague in Mutual Ministry practiced in both dioceses, will be the presider. Other participants in the service are still being chosen, according to Rise Thew Forrester, editor of the diocesan newspaper.
The Diocesan Standing Committee and what is known as the diocese's "core team" met with members of the Kelsey family on the morning of June 4 to begin planning the memorial Eucharist.
The family issued a statement later in the day. It reads in full:
"The world became a darker place with the passing of James Arthur Kelsey. James gained love and respect from everyone he met in his professional and personal life. James spent his life giving. Giving of his time, his heart, and his soul to help anyone and everyone in need. His levels of compassion and kindness were unparalleled. A courageous man, willing to stand up for his beliefs, James Kelsey was the benchmark to which great men are judged. Not only a great man, but a great husband, and father. There was no better model for how to be a truly wonderful human being than the one he provided for his sons and daughter.
"If the world were full of more men like James Arthur Kelsey, it would be a wonderful place. Sadly, today we find ourselves with one less."
After learning of Kelsey's death the evening of June 3, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said: "The Episcopal Church has today lost one of its bright lights. We will be less without the easy grace of Bishop James Kelsey -- Jim to most of us -- and we shall miss his humor, insight, and passion for the ministry of all. He gave us much. We pray for the repose of his soul, and for his family. We pray also for the Diocese of Northern Michigan. All of us have lost a friend. May he rest in peace and rise in glory."
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, who lives in downstate Michigan and was a friend of Kelsey and his wife, Mary, said June 4 that Kelsey was beloved.
"He embraced all the baptized and helped us discover our gifts and fully use them in the name of Jesus Christ. He was a friend in the truest sense," she said. "We have been blessed to have him in our lives."
Born in 1952 in Baltimore, Maryland, Kelsey graduated from Ithaca College in 1974, and from General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1977. In 1985, Kelsey moved with his family to Oklahoma, where he served for four years as canon missioner for Cluster Ministries. In 1989, he was called to the Diocese of Northern Michigan, where he served for 10 years as ministry development coordinator before being elected bishop in 1999.
Kelsey will be remembered as a welcoming and open person who always endeavored to include others, Jane Cisluycis, diocesan operations coordinator, said June 3. "It is hard to imagine the hole he will leave behind," she said.
Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, awarded Kelsey an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree during its commencement exercises May 17. In the citation accompanying the degree, EDS professor Fredrica Harris Thompsett said that Kelsey was committed to "communal leadership and appreciation of all the baptized."
"Some ministry folk who are truly skilled in collaborative, shared ministry are educated over time into this path," Thompsett wrote. "Some are deeply shaped in mutual ministry by those with whom they serve. Some are called out to witness biblically and prophetically, following the Apostle Paul's missionary methods and appreciation of diverse gifts within each and every community. And some frankly are just born with a taste for companionship. Jim Kelsey, you are a bit of all of these paths to baptismal ministry, and much more."
Kelsey is survived by his wife, Mary, and three grown children.
A weblog set up in remembrance of Kelsey is available here.