The Rt. Rev. Mark M. Beckwith was consecrated Bishop of Newark Jan. 27 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center before a congregation of more than 2,500. Bishop Beckwith, who has been serving as acting bishop since Jan. 2, succeeds the Rt. Rev. John P. Croneberger, who has retired.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was preacher and chief consecrator at the service. In her sermon, she compared Bishop Beckwith to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and St. John Chrysostom, who denounced the abuse of authority in Church and government while serving as Bishop of Constantinople in the late fourth and early fifth centuries.

Co-consecrators were: the Rt. Rev. Robert Anderson, assistant Bishop of Los Angeles; Bishop Croneberger; the Rt. Rev. Carol Joy Gallagher, assistant Bishop of Newark; the Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts; the Rt. Rev. Gordon Scruton, Bishop of Western Massachusetts; and the Rt. Rev. John S. Spong, retired Bishop of Newark.

In finding a successor to Bishop Croneberger, the Newark search committee said it was looking for someone with success in fostering church growth. A week before the consecration, deputies to the annual convention approved a budget that was 7 percent less than the previous year. Diocesan membership has decreased by nearly 40 percent since 1972. Bishop Beckwith, who was elected last June, presided over a membership increase of nearly 30 percent while serving as rector of All Saints’ Church, Worcester, Mass., from 1993 to 2006.

In an interview with the Newark Star Ledger, Bishop Beckwith said he could not promise any quick solutions. He acknowledged that some of his future decisions on church mergers and closings may not be immediately popular.

“The church needs to decide who they are demographically, what’s our passion, what’s our call, and then to develop a strategy out of that,” he said.

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