Griswold's Installation to Be Broadcast Live on Television and Internet
Episcopal News Service. November 13, 1997 [97-2002]
(ENS) While only 3,750 people will be allowed to squeeze into the Washington National Cathedral to witness the installation of Bishop Frank T. Griswold III as the 25th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, a host of others will participate in "virtual reality" on January 10, 1998.
It will be the first time a presiding bishop has been installed before a national and international audience on television and the Internet.
The satellite television broadcast will originate on the Episcopal Cathedral Teleconference Network (ECTN) to more than 100 downlink sites across the United States. Television sets -- and even some TV "altars" in Michigan -- will help bridge the gap between national event and local participation.
Using technology barely conceived 12 years ago, an Internet simulcast of the audio portion of the program will be transmitted by GraceCom, the communications ministry of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, using the website address www.ecusa.anglican/ectn.
Not willing to merely sit around a television set in the Diocese of Michigan, Episcopalians will use "technology and a little imagination" to "smell the incense, taste the bread and wine, and hang on every word and gesture," according to Herb Gunn, editor of The Record, the diocesan newspaper.
Calling it the "next technological step," Gunn said that next to a big television screen there will be an altar, flowers and candles. A concelebrant at each downlink site will participate, and ECTN is providing copies of the service leaflets for remote congregations to follow "without missing a note."
"This is not something that we are just observing," said the Rev. Saundra Richardson, coordinator of the Corporate Witness Circle in the diocese. "We are actually a part of it. Consider ourselves and all the downlink sites across the country as being overflow crowds into Bethlehem Chapel at the Cathedral in hamlets, in cities, in someone's house or on a rural farm all across the country, worshipping via satellite."
Tickets for the installation are now gone, according to the Rev. Preston Kelsey, special assistant to the presiding bishop coordinating seating for the event.
"No further requests are being accepted due to limited seating," Kelsey said in early November. He cited "stringent fire regulations" in Washington, D.C. for limiting attendance to 3,750 seats. That includes all bishops, ecumenical guests, and dignitaries invited to attend the two-hour service.
"People who have requested tickets will be advised on December 1," Kelsey said, adding that there is already a "very, very long" waiting list. Kelsey encouraged "those who have not yet requested tickets to check with their local downlink site" for broadcast information.
The ECTN broadcast will be on the Telestar 5 satellite, (C-Band), transponder 7, downlink frequency 3840 Mhz. downlink sites requiring more technical information and congregations wanting to become a downlink site can contact the ECTN coordinator at 800/559-ECTN; by fax at 212/602-0722, or by e-mail at info@ectn.org.
The ECTN broadcast is jointly sponsored by the Episcopal church Center, Trinity Institute and Trinity Parish in New York, the Washington National Cathedral, and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.