wfn.org | Griswold's installation to be broad

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)]

November 13, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-2002
Griswold's installation to be broadcast
live on television and Internet

       (ENS) While only 3,750 people will be allowed to squeeze into
the Washington National Cathedral to witness the installation of Bishop
Frank T. Griswold III as the 25th presiding bishop of the Episcopal
Church, a host of others will participate in "virtual reality" on January
10, 1998.
       It will be the first time a presiding bishop has been installed
before a national and international audience on television and the
Internet.
       The satellite television broadcast will originate on the Episcopal
Cathedral Teleconference Network (ECTN) to more than 100 downlink
sites across the United States. Television sets--and even some TV "altars"
in Michigan--will help bridge the gap between national event and local
participation.
       Using technology barely conceived 12 years ago, an Internet
simulcast of the audio portion of the program will be transmitted by
GraceCom, the communications ministry of Grace Cathedral in San
Francisco, using the website address www.ecusa.anglican/ectn.

Downlink sites ready
        Not willing to merely sit around a television set in the Diocese of
Michigan, Episcopalians will use "technology and a little imagination" to
"smell the incense, taste the bread and wine, and hang on every word
and gesture," according to Herb Gunn, editor of The Record, the
diocesan newspaper.
       Calling it the "next technological step," Gunn said that next to a
big television screen there will be an altar, flowers and candles. A
concelebrant at each downlink site will participate, and ECTN is
providing copies of the service leaflets for remote congregations to
follow "without missing a note."
       "This is not something that we are just observing," said the Rev.
Saundra Richardson, coordinator of the Corporate Witness Circle in the
diocese. "We are actually a part of it. Consider ourselves and all the
downlink sites across the country as being overflow crowds into
Bethlehem Chapel at the Cathedral in hamlets, in cities, in someone's
house or on a rural farm all across the country, worshipping via
satellite."

Tickets going, going, gone
       Tickets for the installation are now gone, according to the Rev.
Preston Kelsey, special assistant to the presiding bishop coordinating
seating for the event.
       "No further requests are being accepted due to limited seating,"
Kelsey said in early November. He cited "stringent fire regulations" in
Washington, D.C. for limiting attendance to 3,750 seats. That includes
all bishops, ecumenical guests, and dignitaries invited to attend the two-
hour service.
       "People who have requested tickets will be advised on December
1," Kelsey said, adding that there is already a "very, very long" waiting
list. Kelsey encouraged "those who have not yet requested tickets to
check with their local downlink site" for broadcast information.
       
Coordinates for downlink
       The ECTN broadcast will be on the Telestar 5 satellite, (C-Band),
transponder 7, downlink frequency 3840 Mhz. downlink sites requiring
more technical information and congregations wanting to become a
downlink site can contact the ECTN coordinator at 800/559-ECTN; by
fax at 212/602-0722, or by e-mail at info@ectn.org.
       The ECTN broadcast is jointly sponsored by the Episcopal church
Center, Trinity Institute and Trinity Parish in New York, the Washington
National Cathedral, and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.