Eastman Consecrated Maryland Coadjutor
Episcopal News Service. July 1, 1982 [82161]
WASHINGTON (DPS, July 1) -- The Rev. A. Theodore Eastman was ordained and consecrated bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland at the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul here on June 26.
The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop, was the chief consecrator of Eastman before a congregation of 3,700. Two combined choirs, totaling 500 members, and a brass ensemble provided music for the service.
Assisting Allin as co-consecrators were Bishop David K. Leighton, Sr., diocesan Bishop of Maryland; Bishop Robert P. Atkinson of West Virginia; Bishop John T. Walker of Washington; and retired Bishop Harry L. Doll of Maryland.
The Rev. Loren B. Mead, Alban Institute, Washington, was the preacher at the service. The Most Rev. William Borders, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, led a group of ecumenical leaders. Present were a number of public officials from the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. Twelve bishops of the Episcopal Church participated in the rite.
Eastman, 53, was elected bishop coadjutor of the diocese -- with the right to automatic succession -- at a special convention last March. At the time of his election he was rector of St. Alban's Church in Washington, where he had served since 1973.
A native of California, he is a graduate of Haverford College and Virginia Theological Seminary. He has served parishes in California and Pennsylvania and as executive secretary of the Overseas Mission Society and an executive with Consultation Renewal of Washington.
Leighton has announced that he intends to retire when he turns 65 in 1987. In the interim, Eastman has been given responsibility for major program areas of the diocese, including mission congregations, education, social ministries, advocacy programs, ecumenism and spiritual development.
Leighton has been bishop in the diocese since 1968, first as coadjutor, and since 1971 as diocesan. The diocese consists of 123 parishes and missions and more than 60,000 baptized members. The Diocese of Maryland comprises the western shore of the state, excluding Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's Counties (which are in the Diocese of Washington). The Diocese of Easton comprises the nine counties of the state on the eastern shore.