PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese will officially have a new leader of its flock tomorrow when the eighth bishop is consecrated.

The Yale-educated clergy was once agnostic but told Brenda Waters he has never been more certain of his calling or his mission.

“The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is a great place to be,” Reverend Dorsey McConnell says.

Reverend McConnell will soon become Bishop McConnell of the Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese, leading 37 parishes and more than 9,000 members.

Last month, Bishop Kenneth Price retired.

“My biggest hope is that we move our attention beyond the things that have so consumed us as a Diocese and begin doing what the church should be doing which is the message of God’s hope and mercy,” Rev. McConnell says.

What has consumed the Episcopal Church is the splitting of the church back in 2008 with the majority of the clergy and laity leaving to form a more conservative church.

“There is still a good deal of pain around that but at the same time I think over the last three years this Diocese has made huge strides under the leadership of Bishop Price,” Rev. McConnell says.

During the interview, Rev. McConnell told KDKA-TV that he lead a sizable parish in Boston and was happy there. Then, his name was tossed in the hat last fall to come to Pittsburgh.

“When I started to read the profile and saw what the Diocese had been through and its hopes for healing and the reconciliation and its deep passion for its mission, my hair went up on the back of my neck. I thought, my gosh, this could be a call,” Rev. McConnell says.

Saturday, October 20 at 11:00a.m., the 8^th Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh will be consecrated at Calvary Church in East Liberty.

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