The Rev. Paula Clark. Photo courtesy Diocese of Chicago

[Diocese of Chicago] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has set Sept. 17 as the day he will ordain and consecrate the Rev. Paula E. Clark as the 13th bishop of Chicago. The service will take place west of the city at the Westin Chicago Lombard.

“Bishop-elect Paula E. Clark of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, in collaboration with diocesan leadership, has worked through tremendous challenges over the past year, and I am pleased to announce that I will serve as her chief consecrator in a liturgy now scheduled for September 17, 2022,” Curry wrote in a statement issued May 17.

Clark was elected bishop on Dec. 12, 2020. Her ordination and consecration have been on hold since she experienced a cerebral bleed while exercising in April 2021. Clark returned to work on March 7, alongside Bishop Chilton Knudsen, who’d been called to serve as Clark convalesced.

“I am overjoyed that God has brought us to this day!” Clark said the diocese’s announcement. “On September 17, we will make a new beginning together, and I could not be more excited to discover where the Holy Spirit will lead us in our ministry.”

The diocese has historically held its annual conventions in Lombard, a suburb about 21 miles from Chicago. Holding the service there rather than in one of the diocese’s churches will accommodate a larger crowd, said the Rev. Courtney Reid, director of operations on the bishop’s staff.

Also on Sept. 17, pending consents, former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will serve as chief consecrator for the Rev. Phyllis Spiegel, bishop-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. Spiegel was elected on May 7 and is scheduled to be consecrated and ordained at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City.