The Rev. Bavi Edna Rivera was affirmed as provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon earlier this month. A convention of about 275 Episcopalians - including a delegation from Hermiston's St. John's Episcopal Church - made the decision at a convention in Cove on May 23.
Rivera also serves as bishop suffragan, or assistant to the bishop, in the Diocese of Olympia. She plans to devote about one-third of her time to Eastern Oregon, which has been without a bishop since 2007 when the Rev. William Gregg resigned to become an assistant bishop in North Carolina.
Rivera addressed the convention after the decision, saying her first priority would be getting to know the diocese.
"We are nothing if we are not together," Rivera said.
She added: "God will be with us."
Rivera was first ordained to priesthood in 1976, and is the first Hispanic woman bishop in the Episcopal Church. She is a third-generation priest and second-generation bishop, after her father Victor Manuel Rivera served as bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin in California from 1968 to 1989.
The Diocese of Eastern Oregon encompasses the entire state east of the Cascade Mountains, plus Klickitat County in Washington. The diocese includes 22 parishes and more than 2,600 Episcopalians.
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