RIO GRANDE: Michael Vono becomes diocese's ninth bishop
Episcopal News Service. October 25, 2010 [102510-08]
Pat McCaughan
The Oct. 24 seating of the Rt. Rev. Michael Louis Vono as ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande capped a series of festivities with a "great spirit of joy, expectation and happiness," according to the Very Rev. Mark Goodman, as the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based diocese enthusiastically embraced its future.
Vono was officially seated before a congregation of about 450 during the regular 11 a.m. Sunday Eucharist at the Cathedral of St. John, where Goodman serves as dean.
During the ceremony, Vono thanked the diocese for engaging the hard work of reconciliation and vowed to continue that work, along with reconnecting with the wider church, Goodman said.
"It's been such a great time of celebration," Goodman said of the series of events, which began Oct. 21 with the diocese's 58th annual convention and culminated with Vono's Oct. 22 ordination and consecration at the Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque.
"The diocese has done some very good, very hard work of reconciliation and now to have the bishop come alongside us and continue to lead us in that direction is a great joy. The expression of joy was bubbling over. We want to let everyone know we're heading in new and wonderful directions," Goodman said.
Vono, 61, was ordained and consecrated before a congregation of more than 1,200 local, interfaith, ecumenical and international guests.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was chief consecrator at the service, while the Rev. Canon Chuck Robertson, her canon to the ordinary, served as preacher for Vono's consecration.
The Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, was a co-consecrator. Vono had served as rector of St. Paul's Within the Walls in Rome, Italy, prior to his April 22 election.
Other co-consecrators included: Larry Benfield, bishop of Arkansas; William Frey, retired bishop of Colorado and assisting bishop in the Rio Grande; Onell Soto, retired bishop of Venezuela; and Allan Bjornberg, bishop of the Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe and Rabbi Lawrence Bach of Temple Mt. Sinai in El Paso, Texas, were among the ecumenical and interfaith guests attending the celebration.
Bach chanted the Shema in Hebrew and led the congregation in a recitation in English, Goodman said.
An 80-voice choir from across the diocese was included among the musical celebration, Goodman said. Mariachis greeted the procession after the service and serenaded them into a reception.
A particularly poignant moment included the presentation of the pectoral cross and bishop's ring to Vono, by his mother, Goodman said.
There also was a strong presence from neighboring dioceses, including the attendance of: Bishop David Bailey of Navajoland; Bishop Suffragan Paul Lambert of Dallas; Bishop Andrew Doyle of Texas; Bishop Edward Konieczny of Oklahoma; and Bishop Kirk Smith of Arizona.
Sarah Eagle Heart, the Episcopal Church's program officer for Native American ministries was included among a host of local, national and international guests, Goodman said. Also attending were guests from St. Paul's Within the Walls, where Vono had served as rector since 1992, and others from the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, including guests from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.
"I am enthusiastically looking forward to joining you in the work you have begun, a profound spiritual witness of reconciliation, new life and healing, strengthening the bonds of affection and love in Christ among all God's people," Vono had said in an earlier letter, to the diocese after his election.
"I look forward to the wonderful life-giving challenges we will undertake together as we live into the Diocese of the Rio Grande's visionary identity as Christ Jesus' missionary and transformational people in New Mexico," he said in the letter, posted on the diocesan website.
Vono succeeds Jeffrey Steenson, who had announced in September 2007 that he was leaving the Episcopal Church to join the Roman Catholic Church. Frey had been serving Rio Grande as assisting bishop.
During his tenure at St. Paul's Within the Walls, Vono had served as president on the council of advice to the bishop and was active in ecumenical and interfaith work.
He also has served congregations in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts and taught at Catholic University of America, St. John's College High School and Agnes Greg School, all in Washington, D.C.
He has authored numerous articles for various publications, including The Living Church, Paulus magazine and Anglican-Episcopal World.
Vono was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on Sept. 15, 1948. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Warwick, Rhode Island; a Master of Arts degree in religious and theological studies from the Catholic University of America; a certificate in Anglican Studies from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria; and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Hartford Seminary, Connecticut. He was ordained to the diaconate in June 1976 and to the priesthood in February 1977.