Episcopal Church elects first black presiding bishop

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By BRADY MCCOMBS AND RACHEL ZOLL

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Episcopal Church elected its first African-American presiding bishop, choosing Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina during the denomination's national assembly Saturday.

Curry was elected by a landslide in a vote at the Episcopal General Convention, the top legislative body of the church. Curry earned 121 of 174 votes from bishops on the first ballot. The other three candidates had 21 votes each or less. The decision was affirmed on an 800-12 vote by the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay participants at the meeting.

Curry's election is the second consecutive historic choice for the New York-based church of nearly 1.9 million members. He will succeed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was the first female presiding bishop and the first woman to lead an Anglican national church. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the Anglican Communion, an 80-million member worldwide fellowship of churches with roots in the Church of England.

At a news conference, Curry said his selection as the first black leader of the denomination was "a sign of our church growing more deeply in the spirit of God and in the movement of God's spirit in our world." He will be installed Nov. 1 in a service at the Washington National Cathedral, the day Jefferts Schori completes her nine-year term.

FULL story at link. Photo gallery at link.



Bishop Michael Curry, of North Carolina, speaks after being elected the Episcopal Church's first African-American presiding bishop at the Episcopal General Convention Saturday, June 27, 2015, in Salt Lake City. Curry won the vote in a landslide. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7b293e3f81264a46ae063d0ba8b9841e/episcopal-church-elects-first-black-presiding-bishop

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Wow.

I forgot the Jefferts-Schori was up... The Presiding Bishop office is a 9-year term. I usually try to keep track as an Episcopalian. So much going on this year.

Congrats to him!

[Kablooie]

2. He follows in the footsteps of my great uncle who was presiding bishop around 1940.

The Episcopal church has always been liberal leaning.

My uncle was a minister also and used to have church "be-ins" in the 60's while he wore paisley robes.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "The Episcopal church has always been liberal leaning"

Here in Philly, Father Paul Washington was an activist in the Civil Rights movement leading Philadelphia's Church of the Advocate for 25 years during the height of the Civil Rights era. He spearheaded a number of protests, hosted a Black Panthers convention, and raised money for Angela Davis' legal defense. He we was also the first rector, despite vicious opposition, to ordain women as priests in the U.S. Episcopal Church in 1974... And 5 years later, a former member of Church of the Advocate and one of my mother's best friends and high school classmates - the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, was ordained a minister, became interim Rector for Church of the Advocate, and later was ordained as the first female Bishop (as a Suffragan Bishop in Massachusetts) in the Anglican Communion in 1989. Had the honor of her officiating at my Confirmation that same year as she returned to Philly to do our ceremony (her mother was active in my church here). Had her sign my little prayer book.

It took 25 years since that time for the mother church - the Church of England - to finally authorize female Bishops in 2014.