The Rev. Rodney Michel, rector of St. Peter's Church, Bayshore, N.Y., was elected Suffragan Bishop of Long Island Nov. 2 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City.

The election took place after a lengthy and spirited debate on whether the diocese was in a position to elect, given the publicity generated by the article in Penthouse magazine [TLC, Nov. 17]. Delegates voted 218 to 127 to proceed with the election, and Fr. Michel was elected on the third ballot.

Fr. Michel, 53, has been in Long Island since 1987, when he became canon pastor of the cathedral. He moved to the Bay Shore parish in 1991.

The bishop-elect is a native of Nebraska and a graduate of the University of Nebraska and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. Following ordination in 1970, Fr. Michel was vicar of St. Mark's, Gordon, St., Paul's, Merriman, and St. Mary's, Rushville, Neb. He was rector of St. Andrew's, Scottsbluff, Neb., 1972-82, and rector of St. Paul's, Grand Forks, N.D., 1982-87.

He is president of the standing committee of Long Island and a member of the diocesan commission on music and liturgy. He is a member of the Society of Mary, the Order of St. Luke, and is an associate of the Sisters of the Holy Nativity.

Fr. Michel and his wife, Marie, have been married for 31 years and are the parents of four children.

Following the election, Fr. Michel was presented to the convention and accepted with thanks and a request for the delegates' prayers. He led those assembled in reading Psalm 133.

Others who were nominated were the Rev. Canon F. Anthony Cayless, canon pastor of the Cathedral of the Incarnation; the Ven. John A. Greco, archdeacon of Nassau, Long Island; the Rev. Frederick J. Howard, director of pastoral care in Long Island; the Rev. David Bryan Hoopes, O.H.C., rector of St. Thomas', Farmingdale, N.Y.; the Rev. Charles Sullivan, rector of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Smithtown, N.Y.; and the Ven. Bernard O. Young, archdeacon of Queens. The latter two were nominated from the floor.

(The Rev.) Noreen Mooney