Pittsburgh, PA — On Saturday, August 6, 2022, The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh warmly welcomed its new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Alex Cameron, who was consecrated by Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America. Bishop Cameron was surrounded by 17 bishops, 93 priests and deacons from across the Pittsburgh diocese, and hundreds of diocesan and ecumenical leaders, friends, family, and church representatives at the Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The exuberant worship service featured a choir joined together from several churches and was followed by an outdoor lunch that was prepared and served by dozens of volunteers. The morning downpour ceased just in time for a bagpiper to lead Cameron and his wife, Tamara, into the tent for the reception.
“I’m so grateful for this day and all that has gone into it,” said Cameron, after the cheering subsided, “for this time and for the grace of God that is upon this moment, upon the diocese, and upon this church. And I pray that we will always be led forward in that grace and in the power of God, because nothing is impossible with Christ.”
The consecration of their new bishop marks an exciting step forward for the diocese and its members, who have endured the resignation of Bishop Hobby in October 2020, followed by the turmoil and delays of the last two years of the pandemic. The new bishop search was officially launched in May 2021, and Cameron was elected on the first ballot on April 30, 2022.
“You and I—the ninth Bishop of Pittsburgh and the seventh—share a Scots heritage. We also share a call to this diocese in a time of serious financial and missional decline,” Archbishop Robert Duncan, former Bishop of Pittsburgh and Archbishop of the ACNA, pointed out during his sermon. “But we also share a call to a diocese that has had God’s hand of favor on it repeatedly. Stay close to Jesus and expect miracles. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:10), and he can send them to you in abundance, as he did to me and to us in my time. It is ninety percent prayer, ten percent what has been entrusted to us, and one hundred percent his ability to multiply loaves and fishes and to intervene at the Red Sea. The more you expect miracles—the more you go to Jesus for his path forward, the more you join yourself to what you see the Father doing—the more miracles you will see. Why does God favor the places he favors? Why Nazareth? Why Pittsburgh? A mystery, surely, but humble and attentive souls are just as surely at the heart of it.”
Bishop Cameron officially begins on September 6 and will lead the clergy of the diocese in a retreat the following week, before beginning to prepare for the Diocesan Convention that will take place on November 5.
The consecration was livestreamed and can be watched on YouTube at https://youtu.be/QFql2nosIP0.