Young will be the fourth bishop to serve the diocese since its establishment in 1985. It has been 12 years since a bishop has been ordained in the diocese, and about 800 people will be present for the celebration and pageantry that are part of the sacred service.
The presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, will be chief consecrator. The Right Revs. William Evan Sanders and Charles Glenn vonRosenberg, the first and third bishops of the diocese, will be participants in the ordination.
The Right Rev. Robert Gould Tharp, second bishop of the diocese, died in 2003.
The Rev. Richard S. Westbury, Jr., rector of Christ Church, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., will be preaching. Ecumenical, interfaith and other guests will be present at the ordination.
The service will also be streamed live on the diocesan website at www.etdiocese.net.
A reception for the newly ordained bishop will be held at Church of the Ascension following the service. The seating of Bishop Young will be held at St. John’s Cathedral on Sunday, June 26.
Young was elected Feb. 12, on the eighth ballot out of a field of five nominees. He succeeds vonRosenberg, who was elected in 1998 and ordained in 1999.
Young served as the rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island), Fla., from 1997 to 2011.
Previously, he served as rector of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, Fla., for five years, and as assistant at St. Giles Episcopal Church, Northbrook, Ill., for two years. He received a master of divinity from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in 1990 and a bachelor of science in sociology from Florida State University in 1978. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1990.
Young and his wife, the Rev. Kammy Young, have two children, Lucy, a recent college graduate, and George, who will graduate from college in the summer.
The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee is approximately 14,350 square miles in area, comprising 34 counties in East Tennessee and three counties in North Georgia with the Cumberland Plateau as the western border.
There are 45 congregations and five worshiping communities servicing nearly 16,000 active members. The population of the diocese is concentrated in the major metropolitan areas: Chattanooga, Knoxville and the Tri-Cities area, which includes Kingsport, Bristol and Johnson City, areas totaling more than 2.4 million people, according to Tennessee state government statistics.
