Casper priest now Episcopal bishop

From Wyoming via Montana-

One minute, he’s a parish priest.

But as a dozen bishops placed their hands on the shoulders of a kneeling John Smylie, he became the new head of the Episcopal Church in Wyoming.

The national church’s presiding bishop, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, conducted the two-hour consecration service attended by several hundred members of the Wyoming diocese at the Casper Events Center on Saturday.

“Therefore, Father, make John a bishop in your church,” Jefferts Schori prayed during the laying-on of hands. “Pour out upon him the power of your princely spirit, whom you bestowed upon your beloved son Jesus Christ, with whom he endowed the apostles, and by whom your church is built up in every place, to the glory and unceasing praise of your name.”
In March, Wyoming Episcopalians elected Smylie as the diocese’s ninth bishop, which marked the first time a bishop was elected from within the state. All others, including the outgoing the Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell, have been from outside Wyoming.

Caldwell, bishop since September 1997, and his predecessor, the Rt. Rev. Bob Jones, were among the dozen bishops from the United States and Swaziland, South Africa, who laid their hands on Smylie during the consecration.

Wyoming has about 7,000 Episcopalians, according to the diocesan website. Their numbers have declined, as have those in the U.S. Episcopal Church, which has lost members in part from internal disagreements over doctrine and practice.

More here-

http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_0a8bef16-9d27-11df-9cb2-001cc4c002e0.html