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Bishops by Type

Episcopal means "overseen by bishops." A bishop is the overseer. Bishops come in several types. The highest rank in ECUSA is the Presiding Bishop, currently Most Reverend Edmond Browning. The Presiding Bishop presides over the House of Bishops. His Cathedral is the National Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Washington, DC. His residence is in the Episcopal Church Center at 815 Second Avenue in New York City, one block from the United Nations, at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and 43rd Street, on the Eastside of mid-Manhattan. The Presiding Bishop, once elected, no longer serves as a diocesan bishop, nor is the Presiding Bishop an Archbishop: the Presiding Bishop has the authority to represent ECUSA as our 'primate' at meetings of primates of various parts of the Anglican Communion, but our Presiding Bishop lacks the authority all the other primates bring to those gathering.

The Presiding Bishop Browning, the 24th Presiding Bishop, will complete his full 12-year term on December 31, 1997. General Convention will elect a new Presiding Bishop in Philadelphia, July 21. The canons also allow nominations from the floor. Canon Nickerson, who oversees the General Convention Office, announced June 2nd as the deadline for additional nominees, so they might have the same background check done by the Nominating Committee on the four. We will not know whether there are additional nominees until after their candidacy has been cleared by this process.

As a result of canonical changes in 1994, the new Presiding Bishop will have a term of only nine years.

Parts of this document examine the record of the bishops who are eligible to be elected.

Other categories of bishops include, in descending order of rank:

• Diocesan Bishops.

  Diocesans are the chief overseers of a diocese. Any other bishops in a diocese serve under the diocesan.

• Bishops Coadjutor.

  A coadjutor is elected with guaranteed right to succeed the diocesan, but serves under the diocesan until the coadjutor becomes the diocesan. Terms for coadjutor status are at the discretion of the diocesan.

• Bishops Suffragan.

  Suffragans are elected with tenure for life without the right to automatic succession. As suffragans they are always assistants, but can stand for election if nominated to be diocesan or coadjutor in any diocese.

• Assisting Bishops.

  This category is growing more popular. An assistant bishop has no tenure and serve solely at the behest of the diocesan. Some are retired diocesans; frequently those prefer the designation "Assisting Bishop" to "Assistant Bishop."

• Retired Bishops.

  A Presiding Bishop must retire upon reaching 70. All other bishops must retire by 72. Bishops may retire earlier at their own choosing. Just under half of the 323 living ECUSA Bishops (including bishops elect) are retired:

  

  156	Retired
  167	Active
  
  

  One of the issues before this General Convention, is legislation proposed to remove votes from retired bishops. Currently retired bishops retain a vote equal to that of active bishops, with a few canonical exceptions. Those who wish to remove the vote point out that retired bishops are no longer accountable to any constituency.

  On earlier occasions we have seen the spectacle of bishops being brought in in wheel chairs by partisans wanting to control the vote, as in 1976 when some bishops wanted to block the ordination of women.

  Writing for The Irenaeus Society in January 1997, Bishop Stephen Jecko (Florida) said: "I am also asked to advise those who are retired that funds will be available to subsidize your journey to Philadelphia, should you need such assistance in order to be present. Please contact Bishop Ben Benitez [retired Bishop of Texas]."

  When a group of 10 active diocesans tried to kick Bishop Righter out of the House as a heretic, they mustered a huge number of retired bishops to help them meet the requirement of consents for a trial from 25% of all living bishops, including Bishop Emrich, who has Alzheimer's disease. Bishop Emrich voted through his son as proxy, who had the legal power of attorney. Reactions to this spectacle seem not to be muted by the fact that 25% of the diocesans also consented to the presentment. Bp. Righter was exonerated in May, 1996, after a huge cost to the church.

• Others: Bishops on special assignment.

  In this more amorphous category, rank depends on the assignment. Special assignments vary and currently include Observer to the UN, Overseer at the Church Pension Fund, and Chief of Operations at the Episcopal Church Center. Two currently serve as a vicars, one as vicar of the wealthiest parish in the world.

Bishops and all others are accountable to the General Convention, a bicameral legislature which meets triennially. The House of Deputies is one chamber, the House of Bishops the other. Legislation must pass in both Houses to be official policy of the Episcopal Church.

During the interim, the Presiding Bishop and Executive Council provide oversight at the national level. There are 100 domestic dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Each dioceses has much choice in terms of its liturgical and theological preferences, including choice of candidates for ordination, although persons are guaranteed access to the process without regard to gender, race, or sexual orientation.

General Convention governs the church through Constitution and Canons, and it advises the church through resolutions. The House of Bishops twice a year, even in years when General Convention does not meet, but it cannot pass legislation without the concurrence of the older House of Deputies. The 1977 House of Bishops' conscience clause, for example, was passed to allow bishops who disagreed with the 1976 canon permitting the ordination of women not to recognize such ordinations in their own Sees. The conscience clause was not a legal document because it never received the concurrence of the House of Deputies. The last General Convention demanded (with Resolution C004SA) that a committee find a way to empower women's ministries in ever diocese. That Committee's report will be one of the issues before the 1997 General Convention.

The House of Bishops often issues pastorals, sometimes at its own initiative, sometimes at the request of General Convention. These documents have no force of law in ECUSA, but serve as strong advice. For major strength, they need to be passed by both houses of General Convention. For example, see the House of Bishops' Teaching on Human Sexuality, written to be a pastoral but reduced through parliamentary action at the 1994 convention to the lesser status of a "teaching." The House of Bishops cannot legally function as a Roman Catholic magesterium.

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New Bishops, Not at General Convention in 1994

Thirty-seven bishops (22% of all active bishops) have been consecrated or elected since General Convention in 1994, including 27 diocesans or coadjutors. Even so, this allows for far more continuity and corporate memory in the House of Bishop than in the House of Deputies, where 39% of the House of Deputies will be serving for the first time.

Diocesans

1. Bruce Caldwell. Bishop-elect of Wyoming
2. Edwin Leidel. Bishop of Eastern Michigan
3. F. Neff Powell. Bishop of Southwestern Virginia
4. Gordon Scruton. Bishop of Western Massachusetts
5. Mark MacDonald. Bishop-elect of Alaska
6. Paul Marshall. Bishop of Bethlehem
7. Richard Chang. Bishop of Hawaii
8. Theodore A. Daniels. Bishop-elect of Virgin Islands
9. Carolyn Irish. Bishop of Utah
10. Geralyn Wolf. Bishop of Rhode Island
11. Michael Creighton. Bishop of Central Pennsylvania
12. Robert Ihloff. Bishop of Maryland
13. Clarence Hayes. Bishop of Panama
14. Vernon E. Strickland. Bishop of Western Kansas
15. Dorsey F. Henderson. Bishop of Upper South Carolina
16. Henry I. Louttit. Bishop of Georgia
17. Alfredo Morante. Bishop of Ecuador
18. Thomas Shaw. Bishop of Massachusetts
19. Catherine (Cate) Waynick. Bishop of Indianapolis

    Coadjutors

20. C. Wallis Ohl. Bishop Coadjutor of Northwest Texas
21. Charles Bennison. Bishop Coadjutor of Pennsylvania
22. Clifton Daniel. Bishop Coadjutor of East Carolina
23. Dan Herzog. Bishop Coadjutor of Albany
24. David Bane. Bishop Coadjutor-elect of Southern Virginia
25. Henry Parsley. Bishop Coadjutor of Alabama
26. Robert Duncan. Bishop Coadjutor of Pittsburgh
27. John Lipscomb. Bishop Coadjutor of Southwest Florida

1. J. Gary Gloster. Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina
2. Rodney Michel. Bishop Suffragan of Long Island
3. Andrew Smith. Bishop Suffragan of Connecticut
4. William Skilton. Bishop Suffragan of South Carolina
5. Catherine S. Roskam. Bishop Suffragan of New York
6. Robert Hibbs. Bishop Suffragan of West Texas
7. Leopoldo Alard. Bishop Suffragan of Texas
8. David Jones. Bishop Suffragan of Virginia
9. John Said. Bishop Suffragan of Southeast Florida
10. Kenneth Price. Bishop Suffragan of Southern Ohio

For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on New Deputies and Deputy Type.

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Gender

"We are seven." "Seven is the Hebrew number for perfection"....

Ordinaries:
1. Carolyn Irish. Bishop of Utah.
2. Mary Adelia McLeod. Bishop of Vermont.
3. Geralyn Wolf. Bishop of Rhode Island.
4. Catherine (Cate) Waynick. Bishop of Indianapolis.

   Suffragans:

5. Jane Dixon. Bishop Suffragan of Washington.
6. Barbara Harris. Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts.
7. Catherine S. Roskam. Bishop Suffragan of New York.

A female presides over the House, and women constitute a majority (52%) of the lay deputies, and an even larger percentage (59%) of the new lay deputies. Women constitute only 20 percent of the clergy deputies, but 23 percent of the new clergy deputies.

For additional parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Gender.

Females are only 19.8% of all ECUSA clergy active in the 100 domestic dioceses. Click here to see their distribution diocese by diocese.

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Age

Indeed, 77 of the 99 diocesans currently in office or elected have been consecrated or elected since January 1, 1986, when Edmond Browning began his service as Presiding Bishop. At least sixty-one of 100 will have been consecrated during the the last 9 years of Bishop Browning's term--i.e., the length of the term of the person who will become the new Presiding Bishop in Philadelphia.

The average date of birth for all 167 active bishops right now was November ,12 1938, for an average age of 59.49. If you remove the 14 assistant bishops, many of who are working after 'retirement,' the remaining 153 average 58.36. The 120 ordinaries and bishops coadjutor average the same, 58.36. The 108 ordinaries and bishops coadjutors in the domestic dioceses average 57.87.

Of all 323 living bishops eligible to vote at General Convention:

The oldest bishop is 98; the youngest is 43. The oldest age known for any deputy is 81; the youngest is 31.

The average member of the House of Bishops was born as the Great Depression was ending, was barely 3 years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and only 7 when WW2 ended. The average bishop now was too young to have been drafted in Korea and too old, had she or he not been clergy, to have been drafted in Vietnam. The average bishop now became an adult while John F. Kennedy was President. The Space Age was a fact of life, not just scientic speculation, in the secondary school education of the average bishop today.

In 4-5 more years, the average bishop will have been in college during the 1960's. The average bishop now completed college at the very beginning of the sit-ins, before integration. In 4-5 more years the average bishop will have reached the her or his teens after segregation had been outlawed. In 8-10 years the average bishop will not have lived in a world where women priests were just an idea and where homosexuals were never mentioned except in whispers.

We are seeing a shift a bit like that in the early church where once it was mere speculation whether the uncut might remain uncut. Within one generation the uncut were in the vast majority of those hearing, heeding, and spreading the much better news about more important signs of genuine holiness. In a few decades one wondered how on earth a small piece of the male's private part could have ever received the status it once had, and no one would ask to peek.

My friend theologian Norman Pittenger has often told me, "Louie, so long as there is death, there is hope." I fantasize wearing a tacky button in Phildelphia saying, "I have outlived those who passed the resolution of 1979." Some from that era have repented and survived, like my dear friend and former adversary Bishop Sims. Thanks be to God.

Click here to see a birthday prayer calendar for all deputies and bishops to the 1997 General Convention.

See ordination and consecration patterns.

For more parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Age.

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Place of Birth: Bishops' Mobility

The entire nation has moved around a lot in the last half century: only 21 percent of the deputies now live in the state where they were born, and only 47 percent now live even in the province where they were born.

Click here to see a map of the provinces.

Only 25 (23.1%) of the bishops were elected by dioceses in which they were serving; 45 (41.7%) were elected bishops within the same province where they served.

Of the 108 ordinaries and coadjutors in the domestic dioceses, 4 were born in the United Kingdom and 3 in Province 9. The other 101 are distributed unequally based on their provinces of birth and the provinces in which they now serve. Clearly the 'Westward Movement' is in action among those elected to the Episcopate:

Click here to see a map of the provinces.

For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Birthplace & Mobility.

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Marital History

Most bishops are married. Check here to see the names of their spouses. Nine bishops currently in the House have divorced and remarried while being bishops. Another, a dicoesan, annulled his wife and three children and remarried. At least three other diocesans were divorced and remarried before being elected to the episcopacy.

According to White & Dykman, 2nd ed. General Convention in 1946 amended I.18 to provide for application by persons whose marriage had ended in divorce (or who wished to marry someone whose marriage had ended in divorce) "to the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese...for a judgement as to his or her marital status in the eyes of the Church, or for permission to be married by a Minister of this Church..." 2:418.

The Episcopal Church did not allow clergy to remarry until the 1960's.

To date, The Rt. Rev. Otis Charles, retired Bishop of Utah, is the only ECUSA bishop has openly affirmed that he is gay.

Of the 103 ordinaries and coadjutors in domestic dioceses who are married:

57.86 Avg age now
33.02 Avg. length of marriage
24.84 Avg. age when married

All 103 have begat children:

Only 12 (7.2%) of the 167 active ECUSA bishops are single:

1. David Ball. Bishop of Albany
2. Walter Dennis. Bishop Suffragan of New York
3. Barbara Harris. Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts
4. Dorsey F. Henderson. Bishop of Upper South Carolina
5. Carolyn Irish. Bishop of Utah
6. Robert Ladehoff. Bishop of Oregon
7. Frederick Putnam. Assistant Bishop of Minnesota
8. John-David Schofield. Bishop of San Joaquin
9. Thomas Shaw. Bishop of Massachusetts
10. E. Don Taylor. Assistant Bishop of New York
11. Charles Vache. Assistant Bishop of East Carolina
12. Geralyn Wolf. Bishop of Rhode Island

For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Parental Status.

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Education

[Note: See my more recent, 1998 Report on the Education of 308 Bishops at http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/bisheduc.html.]

Exclusive of honorary degrees, of the 167 active bishops in ECUSA, 161 (96.4%) have earned at least one graduate degree, 66 (39.5%) have earned at least two graduate degrees, and 17 (10%) have earned three graduate degrees.

Those who have earned three graduate degrees:
1. Craig Anderson. Headmaster, St. Paul's School, NH. Bachelor's: 63 Valparaiso. 75 USo MDiv. 81 Vanderbilt MA. 86 Vanderbilt PhD
2. Orris G. Walker. Bishop of Long Island. Bachelor's: 64 Maryland. 68 GTS STB. 80 Drew DMin. 84 Windsor MA
3. Allen Bartlett. Bishop of Pennsylvania. Bachelor's: 51 USo. 58 VTS MDiv. 80 VTS DMin.
4. John H. Smith. Bishop of West Virginia. Bachelor's: 61 Cornell. 64 GTS STB. 80 Hartford Seminary DMin.
5. James Coleman. Bishop of West Tennessee. Bachelor's: 53 Tennessee. 58 USo MDiv. 75 Wake Forest DMin.
6. Herbert Edmondson. Assistant Bishop of Central Florida. Bachelor's: 50 London. 54 London BD. 61 UTS MDiv. ? Connecticut Seminary PhD
7. J. Gary Gloster. Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina. Bachelor's: 59 Wabash. 62 VTS MDiv. 90 VTS DMin.
8. Robert Ihloff. Bishop of Maryland. Bachelor's: 64 Ursinus. 67 ETS MDiv. 71 Central Connecticut State MA. 86 EDS DMin
9. Stephen Jecko. Bishop of Florida. Bachelor's: 64 Syracuse. 67 GTS MDiv. 82 VTS DMin.
10. John Lipscomb. Bishop Coadjutor of Southwest Florida. Bachelor's: 73 North Carolina. 74 USo MDiv. 86 GTS DMin.
11. Edwin Leidel. Bishop of Eastern Michigan. Bachelor's: 61 Wisconsin. 64 Nashotah, MDiv. 90 USo DMin.
12. Herbert Thompson. Bishop of Southern Ohio. Bachelor's: 62 Lincoln. 65 GTS MDiv. 92 Union DMin.
13. John Buchanan. Bishop of West Missouri. Bachelor's: 58 USCarolina. 69 GTS MDiv. 75 McCormickTS DMin. 60 JD Univ. of Southern California
14. Frederick Borsch. Bishop of Los Angeles. Bachelor's: 57 Princeton. 63 Oxford BA MA. 60 GTS STB. 66 Birmingham U., Eng. PhD
15. Robert Ladehoff. Bishop of Oregon. Bachelor's: 54 Duke. 57 GTS STB. 80 VTS DMin.
16. Robert Rowley. Bishop of Northwestern Pa. Bachelor's: 62 Pittsburgh. 65 Pittsburgh LLB. 70 George Washington LLM. 77 ETSSw MDiv
17. Robert Shahan. Bishop of Arizona. Bachelor's: 61 Kansas. 67 Mich. State. MBA.. 73 Nashotah MDiv. 79 Northwestern PhD

This is slightly under the twelve percent of the clergy deputies have earned a doctorate and well under half the twenty-two percent of the lay deputies have an earned doctorate

Here are the 54 institutions granting two or more of the university degrees earned by the 167 active bishops. See the Seminary Alumni Lists for the bishops' names.

In descending order of the number of degrees granted:
1. VTS, 40 (24% of the bishops)
2. GTS, 34 (20%)
3. USo, 31 (18.6%)
4. Nashotah, 12 (7%)
5. ETS, 9 (5%)
6. SWTS, 9 (5%)
7. Trinity College, 8
8. CDSP, 6
9. ETSSw, 5
10. North Carolina, 5
11. Oxford, 5
12. Berkeley, 4
13. Drew, 4
14. Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Caribbean, 4
15. Florida, 4
16. Harvard, 4***
17. LSU, 4
18. Michigan, 4
19. Vanderbilt, 4
20. Brown, 3***
21. Connecticut, 3
22. Cornell, 3***
23. EDS, 3
24. Emory, 3
25. London, 3
26. Rice, 3
27. The Citadel, 3
28. W&L, 3
29. Bexley Hall, 2
30. Cambridge, 2
31. Claremont, 2
32. Concordia, 2
33. Dartmouth, 2***
34. Delaware, 2
35. Duke, 2
36. Hillsdale, 2
37. Hobart, 2
38. Kansas, 2
39. Maryland, 2
40. Minnesota, 2
41. Northwestern, 2
42. NYTS, 2
43. Oklahoma City, 2
44. Oregon, 2
45. Pittsburgh, 2
46. St. Thomas Catholic Colorado, 2
47. Temple, 2
48. Toronto, 2
49. UTS, 2
50. W&M, 2
51. Wabash, 2
52. West Virginia, 2
53. Wisconsin, 2
54. Yale, 2***

Honor Societies: Phi Beta Kappa & Phi Kappa Phi

Eighteen (5.5%) of the 324 living bishops graduated Phi Beta Kappa of Phi Kappa Phi.

1. Matthew Bigliardi. Retired Bishop ofOregon.
2. Robert Duncan. Bishop Coadjutor of Pittsburgh.
3. Andrew Fairfield. Bishop of North Dakota.
4. Clarence Hayes. Bishop of Panama.
5. Robert C. Johndon. Bishop of North Carolina. [Phi Kappa Phi]
6. Peter Lee. Bishop of Virginia.
7. Henry I. Louttit. Bishop of Georgia.
8. Charlie McNutt. Chief Officer of Operations.
9. James Montgomery. Retired Bishop of Chicago.
10. Henry Parsley. Bishop Coadjutor of Alabama.
11. G. Paul Reeves. Retired Bishop of Georgia.
12. Edward L. Salmon. Bishop of South Carolina.
13. Ervine Swift. Retired Bishop of Europe.
14. John S. Thornton. Bishop of Idaho.
15. Arthur E. Walmsley. Retired Bishop of Connecticut.
16. O'Kelly Whitaker. Retired Bishop of Central New York and Assisting Bishop of Southern Virginia.
17. Andrew Wissemann. Retired Bishop of Western Massachusetts.
18. Robert Witcher. Retired Bishop of Long Island. [Phi Kappa Phi]

This is slightly higher than the 4.26% of the House of Deputies who graduated Phi Beta Kappa & Phi Kappa Phi. (See the full list of all ECUSA clergy in Phi Beta Kappa.)

Legal training

Seven diocesan bishops (7% of the domestic ordinaries) have law degrees:

1. John Buchanan. Bishop of West Missouri.
2. Joe Doss. Bishop of New Jersey.
3. Dorsey Henderson. Bishop of Upper South Carolina.
4. Creighton Robertson. Bishop of South Dakota.
5. Robert Rowley. Bishop of Northwestern Pa.
6. Cabell Tennis. Bishop of Delaware.
7. William Wantland. Bishop of Eau Claire.

See Seminary Alumni Lists regarding bishops, and for additional parallel information about the House of deputies, click on Education.

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Publications

Note 33 percent of all diocesan bishops specify publications in the entries which they submitted to the Clerical Directory; whereas only 8.6% of the deputies list publications which they have authored.

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Participation in Interim Bodies

Ninety-four bishops (29% of all bishops) serve on interim bodies. Twelve of the 94 (13%) are retired.

By contrast, only 12.5% of the deputies serve on interim bodies. Many clergy and lay persons not in the House of Deputies also serve on interim bodies.

Memberships

Only 38 of the 108 diocesans and ordinaries in domestic diocese (35%) listed items under "Memberships" in the Clerical Directory. These 38 listed 69 affiliations, shown here in descending order or repetition:

1. OHC (9)
2. SSJE (4)
3. OSL (3)
4. SSC (3)
5. Associated Parishes (2)
6. CODE (2)
7. EPF (2)
8. Evangelical Education Society (2)
9. Irenaeus Group (2)
10. North American Academy of Liturgy (2)
11. Societas Liturgica (2)
12. St. John of Jerusalem (2)
13. ACPE
14. All Saints' Sisters of the Poor
15. AP
16. CCN
17. Cross of Nails
18. Cursillo
19. ERM
20. ESMHE
21. Executive Council
22. Fellow of College of Preachers
23. Fellowship of the Witness
24. FODC
25. Hymn Society of America
26. Julibee Ministry
27. KEEP
28. LAND
29. Liturgical Conference
30. Military Chaplains Association
31. Monks of Mt. Tabor w/ Byzantine Catholic Church
32. Noel
33. Order of Ascension and St. Mary
34. OSB
35. Rural Workers Fellowhip
36. SBL
37. Sharing Ministries Abroad
38. SHN
39. Soc. of Transfiguration
40. Society for Increase of Ministry Scholarship Committee
41. Society of St. Paul
42. SocOLW
43. SOM
44. SSF
45. St. Albans and St. Sergius
46. Urban Bishops Coalition

For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Participation in Ecclesiastical Organizations.

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Special Constituencies

I provide these lists to help persons connect to others with common interests and concerns. If I have omitted anyone or included anyone incorrectly, please alert me by writing to lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu

• African American Bishops.
• Seminary Alumni Lists.
• Birthday Calendar for Bishops.
• Bishops Online.
• Females Bishops.
• Heretic's Corner. Extensive coverage of the House of Bishops' Trial of the Century.
• Hispanics.
• Ivy League Graduates
• Phi Beta Kappa & Phi Kappa Phi Graduates.
• Lawyers.
• Runners-Up in Recent Episcopal Elections.
• Bishops Eligible to be Translated in 1998.
• Snail Addresses of All Bishops.

For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Special Constituencies.

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Last Assignment before Election

Of the 167 active bishops, 123 were in parochial assignments on election, with the average parish size of 747 communicants. That is much, much larger than the 466 average parish size of all deputies to the 1997 General Convention.

It is even larger still than the average parish size throughout ECUSA, 213 (based on 7,413 parishes with 1,577,951 communicants, as reported for 1994 in the 1996 Episcopal Church Annual).

Twenty-two bishops formerly in parochial assignments now oversee dioceses with 20,000+ communicants; before election, these worked in parishes that averaged 1,059 communicants.

Twenty-four bishops formerly in parochial assignments now oversee dioceses with under 9,000 communicants; before election, these worked in parishes that averaged 462 communicants.

It is clear that the size of a candidate's current assignment substantially influences dioceses when they elect bishops. In general, candidates with the bigger parochial assignments go to the bigger dioceses. This has not been true in the last two election for Presiding Bishop, with the election of the Bishop of Mississippi (currently 37th in size out of 100 domestic dioceses) and the Bishop of Hawaii (currently 71st).

The average parish size for all deputies in a parish is 466. The average parish size in ECUSA is 213 (based on 7,413 parishes with 1,577,951 communicants, as reported for 1994 in the 1996 Episcopal Church Annual).

Cross references: See Proportion of the Flock below. See also a list of the 220 largest churches in ECUSA, Halfway Through the Decade of Evangelism, statistics on ECUSA communicants, and The Small Church (at http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/smallchu.html) Note: "The Small Church" is the theme of the 1997 General Convention.

Forty (24%) of the 167 active bishops were in non-parochial assignments when they were elected:

• Leopoldo Alard. Bishop Suffragan of Texas. Non-parochial. Canon for hispanic ministries.
• Charles Bennison. Bishop Coadjutor of Pennsylvania. Non parochial. EDS Professor.
• Frederick Borsch. Bishop of Los Angeles. Nonparochial. Princeton U. Chapel Dean. Professor..
• James Brown. Bishop of Louisiana. Nonparochial. Archdeacon Diocese of LA.
• Edmond Browning. Presiding Bishop. Non-parochial. Archdeacon of Oki when elected Bp. of Oki (1968) From there to Bishop for Europe (1971). From there to Executive for World Mission (1974). From there to Bp. of Hawaii (1976) and from there to Presiding Bishop (1986)..
• Richard Chang. Bishop of Hawaii. Non-parochial. Assistant to the Presiding Bishop.
• Clarence Coleridge. Bishop of Connecticut. Non-parochial, Director of Counseling for the diocese, before suffragan in 1981..
• Sturdie Downs. Bishop of Nicaragua. Non-parochial. No assignment listed..
• Robert Duncan. Bishop Coadjutor of Pittsburgh. Non-parochial, Canon to the Ordinary in Pittsburgh.
• Herbert Edmondson. Assistant Bishop of Central Florida. Non-parochial work in Jamaica before elected Bp. of Jamaica..
• Andrew Fairfield. Bishop of North Dakota. Non-parochial. Staff of Diocese of Alaska..
• Leopold Frade. Bishop of Honduras. Non-parochial. National Evangelism Coordinator, Province 4.
• Richard F. Grein. Bishop of New York. Non-parochial. Bishop of Kansas, 81-; St. Michae's and All Angels, Mission Kansas..
• Ronald H. Haines. Bishop of Washington. Non-parochial. Elected diocesan while suffragan of Washington, and before that non-parochial as Bishop's Deputy of the Diocese of Western NC.
• Barbara Harris. Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts. non-parochial. Director of the Episcopal Church Publishing Co..
• Clarence Hayes. Bishop of Panama. Non-parochial. Director Instituto Episcopal San Cristobal, Panama.
• Harold Hopkins. Pastoral Development. Non-parochial. Archdeacon, Diocese of Maine when elected Bp. of ND.
• Carolyn Irish. Bishop of Utah. Non-parochial. 3 parttime assignments in Washington, DC.
• Steven Jecko. Bishop of Florida. Non-parochial. Assistant to Bishop of Florida.
• Terence Kelshaw. Bishop of Rio Grande. Non-parochial. Professor at Trinity School for Ministry.
• Jerry A. Lamb. Bishop of Northern California. Non-parochial. Assistant to Bishop of Oregon.
• Neptali Larrea. Bishop of Central Equador. Non-parochial.
• Alfred C. Marble. Bishop of Mississippi. Non-parochial. Staff assistant to Bishop of Eastern Carolina.
• Paul Marshall. Bishop of Bethlehem. Non-parochial. Professor at Yale Divinity School.
• Patrick Matolengwe. Milwaukee. non-parochial. Received as bishop from South Africa in 1990..
• F. Clayton Matthews. Bishop Suffragan of Virginia. Non-parochial. Canon to the Ordinary.
• Bernardo Merino. Bishop of Colombia. Non-parochial. Archdeacon of Colombia.
• Robert O. Miller. Bishop of Alabama. Non-parochial. When elected ordinary was already the suffragan of Alabama for 2 years; before that, Rector of St. Francis in Pelham, Alama.
• James H. Ottley. Observer to the U. N.. Non-parochial. Chaplian of Univ. of Panama when elected Bp. of Panama in 1984. Went to the United Nations in 1996..
• F. Neff Powell. Bishop of Southwestern Virginia. Non-parochial. Executive Assistant to the Bishop of Oregon.
• Catherine Bishop Suffragan of Roskam. Bishop Suffragan of New York. Non-parochial. Missioner for the Diocese of California.
• Robert Rowley. Bishop of Northwestern Pa. non-parochial. Canon to the Bishop of Bethlehem..
• Jeffery Rowthorn. Europe. Non-parochial. Assoc. Prof. at Yale Divnity School when elected Suffragan of CT. Moved from there to Suffragan for Europ in 1995..
• Thomas Shaw. Bishop of Massachusetts. Non-parochial. Superior of SSJE.
• Onell Soto. Assistant Bishop of Atlanta. Non-parochial. Mission Information Officer of Executive Council..
• Furman Stough. Assistant Bishop of Alabama. Non-parochial. Missioner for the Diocese of Alabama before becoming Bishop of Alabama..
• Vernon E. Strickland. Bishop of Western Kansas. Non-parochial. Canon to the Ordinary, Wyoming..
• Robert G. Tharp. Bishop of East Tennessee. Non-parochial. Canon to the Ordinary.
• Franklin Turner. Bishop Suffragan of Pennsylvania. Non-parochial. Assistant to Bp. of PA for congregations.
• Arthur Williams. Bishop Suffragan of Ohio. Non-parochial. Archdeacon of Ohio.

• David Ball. Bishop of Albany. All Saints' Cathedral Albany.
• Allen Bartlett. Bishop of Pennsylvania. Christ Cathedral, Louisville, KY. Louisville.
• Frank Cerveny. Church Pension Fund. St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville, FL, Dean until elected Bp. of Florida in 1974. Moved to CPF in 1993.
• John C. T. Chien. Bishop of Taiwan. St. John's Cathedral, Taipei.
• Dorsey F. Henderson. Bishop of Upper South Carolina. Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac.
• Bertram Herlong. Bishop of Tennessee. Cathedral of St. Paul, Detroit.
• B. Sidney Sanders. Bishop of East Carolina. St. Andrew's Cathedral, Jackson, Mississippi.
• Robert Shahan. Bishop of Arizona. Grace Cathedral. Topeka, Kansas.
• Cabell Tennis. Bishop of Delaware. St. Mark's Cathedral Seattle.
• O'Kelly Whitaker. Assisting Bishop. Southern Virginia. St. Luke's Cathedral, Orlando. Dean before becoming Bp. of CNY.
• Geralyn Wolf. Bishop of Rhode Island. Christ Cathedral, Louisville, KY,

See a list of the Cathedrals of the Episcopal Church.

For related information on the House of deputies, click on Deputy Parish Size.

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Deputation's Past Votes on Belwether LBG Issues

See Deputy Support for LBG Issues in 1994 In it I compare deputies' performance with the diocesan bishop's performance.

For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Prior votes on Belwether LBG Issues.

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Proportion of the ECUSA Flock

See also:dioceses by size. For parallel information on the House of deputies, click on Effects of Disproportional Representation

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Email addresses for bishops

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Provincial Patterns

For parallel information, click on provincial patterns in the House of Deputies.

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Bishops' Neighborhoods

White privilege with a miter

Only four percent of our domestic diocesan bishops are African American, compared with five percent of the deputies and 12.1% of all Americans. (I have not yet been able to locate data to show what per cent of Episcopalians are African American. Please contact me if you can point to official data.)

Seventy-four percent of all Caucasian ECUSA bishops are diocesans; only one-third of all African American Bishops are diocesans.

Economic Privileges Mitered

The zip codes in which domestic diocesan bishops live have median household incomes about $3,000 higher than the medians in zip codes in which deputies live; and deputies live in zip codes with median household incomes about another $3,000 higher than that of households overall in the United States. Put another way, if bishops live at all like their immediate neighbors, they make about $6,000 per year more than others in their communities.

Median
Household
Income
$29,199.00	United States
$32,113.00	Deputies' Zip Codes
$35,019.00      Bishops' Zip Codes

Employment & Educational Privileges of Those Who Live in Bishops' Zip Codes

Of those living in zip codes with active ECUSA bishops, 19.2% hold executive or professional positions, vs. 15.6% of those living in zip codes with deputies. The bishops' neighbors are more likely to have graduate degrees (9.8%) than are deputies' neighbors (6.9%).

Click here to view parallel data about any person in the US.

Or:

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Ordination/Consecration Patterns

Currently active bishops average 59 and have been serving as bishop an average of 9.11 years. They served an average of 21.9 years before becoming bishop, and were ordained on average at age 28.9. They served an average of .74 of a year as a deacon.

Bishops who became priests after other careers

Many bishops, like an increasing number of other clergy, came into the the Episcopal ministry after other careers. Thirteen (12%) of ECUSA's active 108 domestic bishops were ordained to the priesthood at age 37+. Forty-six percent of these are females, for whom a career in the priesthood was not opened until 1976:

1. Barbara Harris. Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts. Ordained priest in 10/80 at age 50.
2. Creighton Robertson. Bishop of South Dakota. Ordained priest in 5/90 at age 46.
3. Jane Dixon. Bishop Suffragan of Washington. Ordained priest in 1/82 at age 45.
4. Carolyn Irish. Bishop of Utah. Ordained priest in 1/84 at age 44.
5. David Bane. Bishop Coadjutor of Southern Virginia. Ordained priest in 12/85 at age 43.
6. Mary Adelia McLeod. Bishop of Vermont. Ordained priest in 12/80 at age 42.
7. Catherine S. Roskam. Bishop Suffragan of New York. Ordained priest in 12/84 at age 41.
8. J. Clark Grew. Bishop of Ohio. Ordained priest in 12/78 at age 39.
9. Catherine (Cate) Waynick. Bishop of Indianapolis. Ordained priest in 11/86 at age 38.
10. Dorsey F. Henderson. Bishop of Upper South Carolina. Ordained priest in 11/77 at age 38.
11. Jerry A. Lamb. Bishop of Northern California. Ordained priest in 8/77 at age 37.
12. John Buchanan. Bishop of West Missouri. Ordained priest in 1/70 at age 37.
13. Robert Rowley. Bishop of Northwestern Pa. Ordained priest in 1/78 at age 37.

Click here to review parallel data on the ordination patterns of clergy deputies.

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Standing Commissions & Committees

Bishops comprise 27% of the memberships of interim bodies, known variously as commissions, committees, and boards. Only 10% of the deputies serve on these bodies, and comprise only 31% of the membership. The remaining 42% of the members are clergy and lay persons not elected to General Convention.

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Legislative Committees

Legislative committees serve during General Convention. All proposed legislation is assigned an appropriate legislative committee. Committees typically hold hearings on and draft the final versions of all legislation considered on the floor of General Convention, responding to proposals from dioceses, deputies, bishops, and interim bodies.

Click here to see the list of legislative committees and their members for 1997. Click here to see my statistical report of the House of Deputies appointments.

Of bishops appointed to Interim Bodies

• 98.4% are active.
• 1.6% are retired.

• 75.9% of active bishops are on legislative committees compared with only 63.8% of the deputies.

• 41.8% of the active bishops who signed the Koinonia Statement are on legislative committees
• 34.7% of the active bishops who signed the Presentment against Bishop Righter are on legislative committees.

• 71.4% of the African American bishops are on legislatve committees, compared with 98% of the African American deputies.

• 57.1% of the female bishops are on legislatve committees, compared with 69.1% of the femal deputies..
• 77.7% of the active male bishops are on legislative committees.

• 82.4% of the diocesan bishops and bishops coadjutor are on legislatve committees.
• 81.8% of the suffragans bishops are on legislatve committees.
• 60.0% of the assisting bishops are on legislative committees
• 11.1% of the assistant bishops are on legislative committees

Percent of the active bishops from Provinces on legislative committees.

50.0% Prv. 1

63.2% Prv. 2

90.9% Prv. 3

77.4% Prv. 4

85.0% Prv. 5

60.0% Prv. 6

82.4% Prv. 7

69.6% Prv. 8

100.0% Prv. 9

Legislative Committee Assignments of the Five Nominees for Presiding Bishop:

• Griswold: Prayer Book and Liturgy.
• Rowley: Rules of Order (Chair).
• Shimpfky: National and International Problems. (Chair)
• Thompson: Church Pension Fund.
• Wimberly: None, but will be very busy with Program, Budget, and Finance--an interim body that works especially hard at General Convention.

23 bishops hold assignments on two legislative committees:

1. Frank K. Allan. Bishop of Atlanta. Admission of New Dioceses, Chair. Communications.
2. Peter Beckwith. Bishop of Springfield. Consecration of Bishops. Certification of Minutes, Chair.
3. James Brown. Bishop of Louisiana. Rules of Order. Constitution, Chair.
4. John Buchanan. Bishop of West Missouri. Education. Canons.
5. William Burrill. Bishop of Rochester. Social and Urban. Ecumenical Relations.
6. John C. T. Chien. Bishop of Taiwan. Admission of New Dioceses. Evangelism.
7. James Coleman. Bishop of West Tennessee. Church in Small Communities. Communications.
8. James E. Folts. Bishop of West Texas. Church Pension Fund. Stewardship and Development.
9. Ronald H. Haines. Bishop of Washington. National and International Problems. Church Pension Fund.
10. Jack Iker. Bishop of Fort Worth. Church in Small Communities. Stewardship and Development.
11. Russell E. Jacobus. Bishop of Fond du Lac. Church in Small Communities. Prayer Book and Liturgy.
12. David Joslin. Bishop of Central New York. Ministry. Committees and Commissions.
13. Henry I. Louttit. Bishop of Georgia. Prayer Book and Liturgy. Church Music.
14. Creighton Robertson. Bishop of South Dakota. Education. Canons.
15. Edward L. Salmon. Bishop of South Carolina. Church Pension Fund. Stewardship and Development.
16. Robert Shahan. Bishop of Arizona. Social and Urban. Committees and Commissions.
17. Andrew Smith. Bishop Suffragan of Connecticut. National and International Problems. Miscellaneous Resolutions.
18. William E. Swing. Bishop of California. Admission of New Dioceses. Ecumenical Relations.
19. Robert G. Tharp. Bishop of East Tennessee. Church Music, Chair. Constitution.
20. John S. Thornton. Bishop of Idaho. Church in Small Communities. Communications.
21. Frank Vest. Bishop of Southern Virginia. Dispatch of Business, Chair. Rules of Order.
22. Arthur Williams. Bishop Suffragan of Ohio. Consecration of Bishops. Prayer Book and Liturgy.
23. Stewart Wood. Bishop of Michigan. Social and Urban. Miscellaneous Resolutions, Chair.

Click here here to review parallel statistics on the House of Deputies appointments to legislative committees.

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Acknowledgements

All the errors here are mine, and I would appreciate continuing help with them as spotted.

Note: Census data comes from the 1990 U.S. Census, much of it from the Summary Tape File 3B on 3 CDs. Deputy name and zip data was checked against zip code information provided by the General Convention Office. Biographical data was derived from the Electronic Clerical Directory and the Electronic Lay Leadership Directory, available from the Church Hymnal Corporation.

I am grateful to those in the scholarly community who have pointed me to important sources of data and to persons who would sharpen my analysis.

I am grateful to my many colleagues in the Diocese of Newark who have patiently waited through my compulsive explanations of minute detail when prompted only by "How are you?" or "Nice day, isn't it?" Many have suggested important questions for me to ask of the data.

I am particularly grateful to the many, many people who have encouraged this work while coming at a whole host of issues from theologically different perspectives. I rejoice in several important friendships that such collaboration has started or moved into even richer dimensions.