Delegates to a convention of Episcopal religious leaders in Los Angeles voted Saturday to elect the Rev. Chester L. Talton as suffragan (assistant) bishop of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Talton, rector of a Harlem church, is the first black priest to become a bishop in the diocese.
Talton, 48, who was a priest at St. Philip's Church in New York, is the sixth suffragan bishop in the diocese's 94-year history. He succeeds the Right Rev. Oliver B. Garver Jr., who retires June 30 to serve as chaplain of Harvard School in Studio City.
