Nearly 4,000 people, including clergy and high-ranking church officials from across the country, gathered at Boston University’s Agganis Arena Saturday morning for the consecration of the Rev. Alan M. Gates, 56, who was elected as the new Bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of Massachusetts.
“It was so much more than a transition from one beloved bishop to another,” said the Rev. Cameron Partridge, the Episcopal Chaplain at BU in an email. “It was a moment to celebrate who we are as a wider community and who God is calling us to become.”
Partridge is also the director of Episcopal BU, BU’s Episcopal ministry.
“Episcopal BU was part of a group of several Boston area Episcopal campus ministries that served as greeters and ushers for the service,” he said. “All told there were about 40 chaplaincy people from around the diocese to greet about 4,000 people. Episcopal BU and all the chaplaincies did an amazing job.”
The ceremony largely focused on the idea of the community, Partridge said. Parts of the mass were in Spanish. A hymn was sung in an African language, and the ceremony featured performances from a 550-member choir, comprised of people from 75 different parishes, as well as several other choirs such as a gospel choir and a handbell choir.
“The significance of the event is not so much in who is there, but the fact that so many clergy and lay people have shown up to bear witness to such a holy transition and to worship and take communion together,” said Jesse Belanger, a member of Episcopal BU and a junior in the College of Engineering.
Gates replaced Bishop Tom Shaw, who has presided over the Episcopal Dioceses of Massachusetts since 1995. The crowd attending Saturday’s ceremony erupted in applause midway through Shaw’s sermon.
“The long standing ovation during the middle of the sermon was a clear indicator of the way people in the diocese feel about Bishop Tom,” said Belanger. “This particular consecration was poignant, in ways, because Bishop Tom has been a very much beloved leader, and to see him pass the job onto the next bishop reminds people of much they will miss his presence in the life of the diocese.”
Gates formerly served as the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He has also served parishes in Massachusetts and the Chicago area. Individuals from Gates’ former parishes, such as Lou Wanwermeyer, were in attendance at Saturday’s ceremony. Wanwermeyer, 66, now resides in Brasstown, North Carolina.
“He’s extraordinarily compassionate, and he brings energy and an intellect to his faith, which is contagious,” Wanwermeyer said. “He’s accessible and very grounded and centered. He’s just an extraordinary, down to-Earth guy. He’s very approachable, very low key, very unassuming, and almost modest, and he’s also brilliant.”
Dodie Dosenberg, 75, of Weymouth, described Gates as friendly and personable.
“The ceremony was beautiful, and the music was fabulous,” she said. “We met him when he came to our church while we were practicing, and he thanked us for being in the choir.”
Agnes Washington, 60, of Lowell, said the music at Saturday’s ceremony was a joyous way to bring the community together and celebrate Gates’ consecration.
“I loved the choirs,” she said. “I used to be part of a chorus in Africa, so the music was the part I loved the most.”
