Wollongong Bishop-elect Peter Hayward will adopt one of Australia's biggest Anglican flocks at a packed consecration ceremony in Sydney, church authorities say.
Reverend Canon Peter Lindsay Hayward will become the next Bishop of Wollongong at a consecration ceremony at St Andrew's Cathedral on April 13.
More than 600 invitations to the ceremony have been sent out.
Yesterday the Bishop-elect said he was "excited, daunted, apprehensive and motivated" by the job ahead.
What welcome to Wollongong events are in the wings are not known, however a trip south won't be new territory for Canon Hayward, who spent 20 years in Nowra after moving there as a nine-year-old.
He was a council engineer at Shoalhaven City Council for five years and retains family connections to the South Coast, holidaying at Bulli Beach Tourist Park for the past six years.
The father of three adult children has been the rector of St Bede's Church in Beverley Hills since 2001.
He was hand-picked for the Wollongong role by Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, who will oversee his consecration in April.
All the state's bishops are consecrated at St Andrews.
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