The Living Church

Year Article Type Limit by Author

The Living ChurchDecember 24, 1995Yale Professor Elected Bishop of Bethlehem by Bill Lewellis211(26) p. 6

The Diocese of Bethlehem elected the Rev. Paul V. Marshall, associate professor at Yale Divinity School and acting director of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, as its eighth bishop. Fr. Marshall, 48, received the required majority of both lay delegates and clergy on the third ballot during the diocesan convention Dec. 2 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Five persons had been nominated for election after a nine-month search process during which some 140 candidates were considered. The other four nominees were: The Rev. Canon Ronald C. Crocker, canon to the ordinary of the Diocese of Rhode Island; the Rev. George H. Martin, rector of Sts. Martha and Mary Church, Eagan, Minn.; the Rev. Canon Richard C. Rowe, canon to the ordinary of the Diocese of Western New York, and the Rev. Rosemari G. Sullivan, rector of St. Clement's, Alexandria, Va.

Fr. Marshall is a native of New York City who served as a Lutheran minister and Army chaplain from 1972 to 1977. He was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in 1978 in the Diocese of Fond du Lac. He was assistant at Holy Trinity Church, Long Island City, N.Y., 1979-82, and rector of Christ Church, Babylon, N.Y., 1982-1989. He joined the Yale faculty in 1989. He and his wife, Diana, are the parents of two children.

Balloting took place during the Eucharist, in which the Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer, Bishop of Bethlehem, delivered his final diocesan address. Bishop Dyer, who has been diocesan since 1982, will move to Virginia Seminary as professor of theology and spiritual development.

"Don't allow anything - neither culture nor church nor money nor power nor family - to stand in the way of your seeking after God alone - God's love, God's salvation, God's mission, God's very life," Bishop Dyer said. "I want to leave this gospel challenge with you. Don't be afraid. Don't be held hostage by this generation's consumer culture of greed. Joyfully accept this challenge!"