By Richard C. Dujardin
CHARLESTOWN, R.I. -- Talk about unusual processions.
The new spiritual leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's New England Synod, Bishop-elect James E. Hazelwood, has invited fellow motorcyclists to join him as he travels by motorcycle to his installation at 2 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church on Lancaster Street in Worcester.
Bishop-elect Hazelwood, who was pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Charlestown for 19 years prior to his election in June, is the first native Rhode Island and the first parish pastor to be chosen as bishop since the Synod, with 63,00 members and 182 churches in New England and 2 in New York, was created in 1987.There are 12 ELCA churches with more than 5,600 members in Rhode Island.