Colorful Rites Mark Installation of New Episcopal Bishop

The Rt. Rev. Frederick Houk Borsch was ordained and consecrated the fifth Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles on Saturday in colorful ceremonies witnessed by a frequently applauding crowd of 5,000 at the Memorial Sports Arena.

“Make Frederick a bishop in your church,” the assembled bishops prayed as they clustered around Borsch and laid their hands on his head in the solemn moment of dedication.

The day’s event began with a dignified procession that included 151 large banners symbolizing each parish in the six-county diocese. And it ended with a gala picnic featuring mariachi musicians strolling through a balloon-festooned park on the USC campus.

Symbols of Leadership

Borsch, 52, was presented for ordination by clergy and lay people representing various ages, ethnic groups and areas of the diocese. He then received clothing and gifts signifying his spiritual leadership of the Southland’s 80,000 Episcopalians.

After his consecration, Borsch said in an interview his goals are to share the “good news of the Gospel” and to “reach out to those in need: the physically disadvantaged, those lacking food, home, clothes or education.”

He added that he would begin a ministry of “inclusiveness and caring” by visiting five ethnic and special ministries today--his first day in office.

Borsch succeeds the late Bishop Robert C. Rusack, who died in July, 1986. Suffragan (assistant) Bishop Oliver B. Garver Jr. of Los Angeles has been running the diocese in the interim.

Historic Ritual

The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, presiding bishop of the 2.5 million-member Episcopal Church, was the chief consecrator in laying hands on Borsch. This practice of empowering a new bishop for office dates to rites of the early Christian church.

Co-consecrators were Garver; recently retired Bishop James Montgomery of Chicago, where Borsch was born; Bishop Mellick Belshaw of New Jersey and Bishop John T. Walker of Washington. About 20 other Episcopal bishops also participated in the rite, and several dozen leaders of other area religious communities attended.

The Rt. Rev. James Ottley, bishop of Panama, preached the sermon, challenging the white-robed Borsch to “love your people” in a “multicultural and bilingual diocese” where “there is joy but . . . also fear, anxiety and tensions between those who have always lived here and those who have come to find refuge and a new way of life.”

Others taking part in the service included Barbara Borsch, the bishop’s wife, who read Scripture, and Janice Rusack, widow of the previous bishop, who presented Borsch with a miter, the tall headdress representing a bishop’s office and rank.

Other presented vestments included a pectoral cross, a stole, a bishop’s ring and a cope--a long, cape-like garment worn for special services.

Bread for the Hungry

Before a 25-minute Communion service, the new bishop was also given gifts of bread “for the feeding of the hungry”; a theological book “for the ministry of teaching”; water “for baptism”; oil “for healing”; a chalice “for celebrating the Eucharist”; a Bible, and a gold-inlaid staff, symbolizing the bishop’s role as shepherd of the flock.

The ceremony was held in the Sports Arena because no church in the Los Angeles area was large enough to accommodate the crowd. The diocese, founded in 1895, stretches from Santa Maria in the north to San Clemente in the south and Needles to the east.

Borsch had been dean of the chapel and professor of religion at Princeton University since 1981. He previously served as dean and president of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley for nine years. A New Testament scholar and author of 11 books, Borsch also taught at General Theological Seminary in New York, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., and Queens College in Birmingham, England.

Although Borsch appears to be highly popular with many of the 222 active priests of the Los Angeles diocese--at least 20% of them studied under him in Berkeley--controversy erupted over some of his writings that have been interpreted as questioning the physical, or bodily, Resurrection of Jesus.

Because of the issue, the Diocese of San Diego last April was one of two dioceses to withhold concurrence in Borsch’s Jan. 8 election as a bishop. But 101 of the nation’s 118 dioceses have now ratified Borsch, and consent by only a simple majority was required.

Borsch responded to the controversy in a written statement saying that the Resurrection “is the cornerstone of my faith. From a faith perspective, I have no trouble professing the physical Resurrection of Jesus . . . but as a biblical scholar and theologian I recognize that there are different views in the New Testament itself.”

As part of his examination during Saturday’s ceremony, Borsch affirmed the prescribed mandate to “proclaim . . . Christ’s Resurrection.”

Borsch has said he will speak out strongly on such issues as AIDS, poverty, homelessness and help for undocumented immigrants. He said he expects to work closely with Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who has accented similar concerns.

Welcoming Thoughts

In an interview, Mahony said: “I welcome Bishop Borsch very much and . . . look forward to his bringing that shared vision and sense of concern, collaboration and unity of all peoples.”

Rabbi Paul Dubin, executive vice president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, said he expects continuing good relations between the Jewish community and the Episcopal diocese.

“I am impressed with his (Borsch’s) desires and goals of an inclusive ministry,” Dubin said, adding that Jewish groups expect to cooperate in helping the homeless and people with AIDS.

Borsch’s plans today include celebrating Communion at the oldest black and Latino Episcopal parishes in Los Angeles; conducting a Bible study with prisoners in the county Central Jail; blessing AIDS patients at the County-USC Medical Center, and talking to the homeless on a walking tour of the Skid Row hotel project of Episcopal priest Alice Callaghan.

The Episcopal Church is one of 28 regional and national bodies in the worldwide Anglican Communion, which recognizes the Archbishop of Canterbury as spiritual leader. The Los Angeles diocese is the fifth largest in the nation.