[Diocese of the Dominican Republic] The Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota was ordained and consecrated bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic on Feb. 13, at the closing Eucharist of the 58^th annual diocesan convention in Santo Domingo. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry presided over the service held in the volleyball stadium at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.

The new bishop coadjutor was elected on July 25, 2015, at an extraordinary convention of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic at Epiphany Cathedral in Santo Domingo. He will succeed Bishop Julio César Holguín as the fourth bishop of the Dominican Republic when Holguín retires.

More than 1,500 people witnessed the consecration with 21 bishops and 100 priests, deacons and seminarians from throughout the Episcopal Church participating in the service. Students from many of the Dominican Episcopal schools led the procession into the stadium with colorful flags and banners.

Curry served as the chief consecrator and co-consecrators included Holguín; Bishop Telésforo A. Isaac, the second bishop of the Dominican Republic, who also preached the sermon; Bishop William J. Skilton, assistant bishop of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic (retired); Bishop Wilfrido Ramos-Orench, bishop of the Diocese of Puerto Rico; and Bishop Lloyd Allen of the Diocese of Honduras. Special guests included representatives of the Evangelical Church of the Dominican Republic (Iglesia Evangélica Dominicana), one of the largest Protestant denominations in the country.

As the first presiding bishop to attend a convention of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, Curry brought greetings from the Episcopal Church, congratulating attendees on “the vitality of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic as a part of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.”

He also praised Holguín by saying, “Thank God for your long and apostolic ministry. When giants walk among us, we must thank God for them. Your bishop has been a voice for those who have no voice, a light for those who have no light.”

Holguín is now in his 25th year of service as bishop of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, and is the longest-serving diocesan bishop currently in the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops.

Quezada is married to Mary Jeannette Pringle de Quezada, who designed and made the cope, miter and stole presented to her husband at the ceremony. The couple have two children, a daughter and a son who presented the miter, stole and a pectoral cross to their father, and who sang as part of the Dominican Episcopal musical group Ministerio Adonai during the ceremony.

Prior to his election, Quezada served as vicar of Jesus the Nazarene and Good Samaritan churches in San Francisco de Macorís. He is a graduate of the Center for Theological Studies, the Episcopal seminary in Santo Domingo, and was ordained a priest in 1983.