The ordination and consecration of the Rev. James Arthur Kelsey as ninth Bishop of Northern Michigan at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Marquette, Mich., July 24, was unusual. It was different because the service was designed to exemplify the diocese's life of Mutual Ministry where, Bishop Kelsey said, "the stress is on ministry support teams, whether the ministers are ordained or not." Bishop Kelsey had been elected from within the diocese, having been its coordinator for ministry development since 1992.

Before the ceremony began, the bishop-elect was actively involved in the last-minute details, including leading the diocesan choir rehearsal.

Differences from more traditional Episcopal consecrations were visible from the very beginning. Bishop Kelsey sat in the congregation, with his family, through much of the service. Visiting bishops and ecumenical visitors were escorted, en masse, to their seats during the approximately 45 minutes of gathering music. The formal procession included only the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop, the four co-consecrating bishops, the gospel reader and acolytes.

Diocesan priests, vested or not as they chose, sat in the congregation; deacons were vested to give prominence to the diaconal ministry because its role has only recently been regained - and because the ministry of the deacons is very important to Bishop Kelsey. Every deacon of the diocese had a role in the service, said the Rev. Charlie Piper, rector of Holy Trinity Church, Iron Mountain.

Regional convenors brought the bishop-elect out from the congregation and presented him to the Presiding Bishop and co-consecrators.

The Litany for Ministry was led by the Rev. Paula Marvic, deacon at Trinity, Gladstone, assisted by others throughout the congregation. Likewise, the examination came from visiting bishops and clergy and laity throughout the congregation. Bishop Kelsey turned to face each questioner and responded toward that person.

The philosophy of baptismal ministry was illustrated in the homily, preached by the Rev. Steve Kelsey, twin brother of the bishop and missioner of the Middlesex Cluster in the Diocese of Connecticut. He likened the baptismal life to a Great Lake (the diocese is bordered by Lakes Superior and Michigan) - both life threatening and life giving. "It has more in it than we'll ever know," he said.

Giving examples of sharing the roles of deacon, priest and bishop among all the baptized, Fr. Kelsey said, "I'm not going to let you pawn off your baptismal episcopal responsibilities onto my brother. That would kill him ... that isn't going to happen here. I'm letting you do this; I trust you."

Northern Michigan is a small diocese, with 27 congregations, not counting summer chapels. Only six have more than 100 members. The diocese also takes seriously the ordination of Canon 9 clergy (there are 27 Canon 9 priests or priests in training and 10 seminary-trained priests in the diocese).

Kyle and Joel Tapio, who were scheduled to be baptized the following day, along with other children from St. James the Less, Harvey (called Little Jimmie's), presented the symbol of water to the new bishop. That water was poured into the immersion font of St. Michael's Church, and some was later withdrawn to be used at the boys' baptism.

Songs of praise dominated the music of the celebration, with traditional hymns and instrumentals from a string quartet interspersed.