This is a list of the Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Initially the position of Presiding Bishop rotated geographically. After 1795 the Presiding Bishop was the senior bishop in order of consecration. Starting in 1926, the office became elective, the Presiding Bishop being chosen at General Convention by vote by all bishops, and approved by the House of Deputies. The office now has a nine-year term. Since 1938 the Presiding Bishop has been required to resign his or her former diocese after accepting election.
| No. | Presiding Bishop | Image | Took office | Left office | Diocese | Length of term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William White |  | July 28, 1789 | October 3, 1789 | Pennsylvania | 67 days |
| 2 | Samuel Seabury |  | October 5, 1789 | September 8, 1792 | Connecticut | 2 years, 339 days |
| 3 | Samuel Provoost |  | September 13, 1792 | September 8, 1795 | New York | 2 years, 360 days |
| No. | Presiding Bishop | Image | Took office | Left office | Diocese | Length of term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | William White | | September 8, 1795 | July 17, 1836 | Pennsylvania | 40 years, 313 days |
| 5 | Alexander Viets Griswold |  | July 17, 1836 | February 15, 1843 | Eastern | 6 years, 213 days |
| 6 | Philander Chase |  | February 15, 1843 | September 20, 1852 | Illinois | 9 years, 218 days |
| 7 | Thomas Church Brownell |  | September 20, 1852 | January 13, 1865 | Connecticut | 12 years, 115 days |
| 8 | John Henry Hopkins |  | January 13, 1865 | January 9, 1868 | Vermont | 2 years, 361 days |
| 9 | Benjamin Smith |  | January 9, 1868 | May 31, 1884 | Kentucky | 16 years, 143 days |
| 10 | Alfred Lee |  | May 31, 1884 | April 12, 1887 | Delaware | 2 years, 316 days |
| 11 | John Williams |  | April 12, 1887 | February 7, 1899 | Connecticut | 11 years, 301 days |
| 12 | Thomas M. Clark |  | February 7, 1899 | September 7, 1903 | Rhode Island | 4 years, 243 days |
| 13 | Daniel S. Tuttle |  | September 7, 1903 | April 17, 1923 | Missouri | 19 years, 222 days |
| 14 | Alexander Charles Garrett |  | April 17, 1923 | February 18, 1924 | Dallas | 307 days |
| 15 | Ethelbert Talbot |  | February 18, 1924 | January 1, 1926 | Central Pennsylvania | 1 year, 317 days |
| No. | Presiding Bishop | Image | Took office | Left office | Previous diocese | Length of term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | John Gardner Murray |  | January 1, 1926 | October 3, 1929 | Maryland | 3 years, 275 days |
| 17 | Charles P. Anderson |  | November 13, 1929 | January 30, 1930 | Chicago | 78 days |
| 18 | James DeWolf Perry |  | March 26, 1930 | December 31, 1937 | Rhode Island | 7 years, 280 days |
| 19 | Henry St. George Tucker |  | January 1, 1938 | December 31, 1946 | Virginia | 8 years, 364 days |
| 20 | Henry Knox Sherrill |  | January 1, 1947 | November 14, 1958 | Massachusetts | 11 years, 317 days |
| 21 | Arthur C. Lichtenberger |  | November 15, 1958 | October 12, 1964 | Missouri | 5 years, 332 days |
| 22 | John E. Hines | January 1, 1965 | May 31, 1974 | Texas | 9 years, 150 days | |
| 23 | John Allin |  | June 1, 1974 | December 31, 1985 | Mississippi | 11 years, 213 days |
| 24 | Edmond L. Browning |  | January 1, 1986 | December 31, 1997 | Hawaii | 11 years, 364 days |
| 25 | Frank T. Griswold |  | January 1, 1998 | November 1, 2006 | Chicago | 8 years, 304 days |
| 26 | Katharine Jefferts Schori |  | November 1, 2006 | November 1, 2015 | Nevada | 9 years, 0 days |
| 27 | Michael Bruce Curry |  | November 1, 2015 | — | North Carolina | 8 years, 199 days [1] |
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy. Organizationally, several Christian denominations utilize ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses.
This is a directory of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops across various Christian denominations. To find an individual who was a bishop, see the most relevant article linked below or Category:Bishops.
The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons, it is the ultimate authority in the Episcopal Church, being the bureaucratic facility through which the collegial function of the episcopate is exercised. General Convention comprises two houses: the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. It meets regularly once every three years; however, the House of Bishops meets regularly in between sessions of General Convention. The Bishops have the right to call special meetings of General Convention.
A presiding bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity.
The Episcopal Church in North Texas was a diocese of the Episcopal Church from 1982 to its merger with the Diocese of Texas in 2022. The diocese included a geographic area of 24 counties in the north central part of Texas. As of 2021, it includes 13 churches, including a number of other congregations in the process of reorganization. The jurisdiction was the site of a major schism in 2008. This schism was the result of the diocese's bishop, Jack Iker, leading the majority of clergy and parishes to join the Anglican Church of North America as the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. The Episcopal Church diocese is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It announced on April 22, 2022, that it would seek reunion with the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. The merger was finalized by the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on July 11, 2022.
A bishop is a senior role in many Methodist denominations. The bishop's role is typically called the "episcopacy", based on the Greek word episkopos (επισκοπος), which literally means overseer. Superintendent is another translation of episkopos but in most Methodist denominations this is a role distinct from bishop. The first Methodist bishops were appointed in America, and many Methodist denominations, such as the Free Methodist Church, recognize the office of bishop. Others, such as the Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches, do not have bishops.
Katharine Jefferts Schori is the former Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Previously elected as the 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, she was the first woman elected as a primate in the Anglican Communion. Jefferts Schori was elected at the 75th General Convention on June 18, 2006, and invested at Washington National Cathedral on November 4, 2006, and continued until November 1, 2015, when Michael Bruce Curry was invested in the position. She took part in her first General Convention of the Episcopal Church as Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in July 2009.
Edmond Lee Browning was an American bishop. He was the 24th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland forms part of Province 3 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Having been divided twice, it no longer includes all of Maryland and now consists of the central, northern, and western Maryland counties of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, and Washington, as well as the independent city of Baltimore.
Michael Bruce Curry is an American bishop who is the 27th and current presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. Elected in 2015, he is the first African American to serve as presiding bishop in The Episcopal Church. He was previously bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina.
Daniel Sylvester Tuttle was consecrated a bishop of the Episcopal Church in 1866. His first assignment was as Bishop of Montana, a missionary field that included Montana, Utah, and Idaho.
An elder, in many Methodist churches, is an ordained minister that has the responsibilities to preach and teach, preside at the celebration of the sacraments, administer the church through pastoral guidance, and lead the congregations under their care in service ministry to the world.
Carolyn Tyler Guidry, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was the first woman appointed to be a presiding elder in the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church and the second woman to become a bishop in the denomination.
The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over 54 counties in eastern Missouri. It has 42 congregations and is in Province 5. Its cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, is in St. Louis, as are the diocesan offices. The current bishop is Deon K. Johnson.
John Williams was the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut and eleventh presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Arthur Carl Lichtenberger was a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He served as Bishop of Missouri from 1952 to 1959, and as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1958 to 1964.
The Episcopal Church (TEC), based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African American bishop to serve in that position.
John Maury Allin was an American Episcopal bishop who served as the 23rd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1974 to 1985.
John Elbridge Hines was a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States. When he was elected the 22nd Presiding Bishop in 1965, at the age of 54, he was the youngest person to hold that office, which he held until 1974. Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, said Hines' movement to divest church-held assets in that nation played an important role in the demise of apartheid.
Henry Knox Sherrill was an Episcopal bishop. He was the 20th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1947 to 1958, having previously served as Bishop of Massachusetts (1930–1947).
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