James “Jay” Magness, the sixth Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries of the Episcopal Church, was consecrated June 19 at Washington National Cathedral.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori presided, and Bishop Edwin F. Gulick Jr. of the Diocese of Kentucky preached. Chaplains and bishops from around the Episcopal Church and several bishops who hold similar positions in the Anglican Communion were among the guests. An on-demand webcast of the service is available here: http://www.nationalcathedral.org/

The position of Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries, formally known in the constitution of the Episcopal Church as the Bishop Suffragan for the Armed Forces, includes not only the pastoral care and oversight for armed forces chaplains, military personnel and families, but also oversight of federal hospitals, prisons and correctional facilities, as well as the Eucharist communities related to military installations.

More than 18,000 Episcopalians serve worldwide in the United States military. Federal prison populations are growing. The Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries assists these populations through the recruitment and sustainment of chaplains and through the creation of programs and support networks for chaplains, parishes located near military bases, veteran’s affairs hospitals and federal prisons.

Magness, 63, was chosen out of a field of eight nominees and was elected during a March 24 meeting of the House of Bishops at Camp Allen, Texas. Previously, Magness served as the canon for mission and diocesan administration in the Diocese of Southern Virginia and in parish and diocesan ministry. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 2003 in the rank of captain, serving as command chaplain of U.S. Joint Forces Command and fleet chaplain for the U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Prior to those assignments, from 1997 to 2000, he was on the Navy Chief of Chaplains’ staff as personnel  manager of the Navy Chaplain Corps.

The Office of the Bishop Suffragen for Federal Ministries recently moved to Washington, D.C., from New York, where the administrative offices of the Episcopal Church are located. The office now occupies a suite of rooms on Capitol Hill at 110 Maryland Ave. NE.

“When I first heard about the move, it made all the sense in the world that that office should be here, because this is the capital city of the country and you’ve got so much military: veterans, hospitals – it’s all centered here,” said the Rev. Stuart Kenworthy, rector of Christ, Georgetown and a former Army chaplain. “For all those reasons, it just makes sense that it would be here in Washington.” But, he added, “in an ideal world, it would have been at the cathedral, where the chaplains could be supported by a community of faith. I hope that [Magness] will find ways to build that connection.”

Kenworthy served as a communion minister at the June 20 consecration, and Christ, Georgetown – along with others in the diocese – also has supported the transition financially.