GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Whayne M. Hougland, Jr., the former rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Salisbury, was consecrated and ordained as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan last Saturday afternoon. The service took place in the Van Noord Arena on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids.
Witnessed by nearly 1,000 people, including 100 in processions and platform party, the religious ceremony represented a key achievement in the vocation of Hougland, who had served just over eight years as rector of St. Luke’s. A native of Kentucky, he attended the School of Theology at Sewanee and was ordained a priest in 1998 and came to St. Luke’s as rector in 2005.
Hougland became the ninth bishop in the history of the diocese and the 1,077th bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church in America.
The Right Rev. Michael B. Curry, bishop of North Carolina, was co-consecrator and preached at the service. Special guests included Bill Vandergriff, elder of the Little Traverse Bay Band of the Odawa Indians, who offered a pipe ceremony as part of the invocation to the service. The other special guest was the Sudanese Drumming Corps from the Grand Rapids area.
Hougland led the celebration of Holy Communion, with those in the congregation receiving the sacrament.