Barbara Clementine Harris

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The Rt. Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris (born 12 June 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was the first woman ordained a bishop in the Anglican Communion.

Education

Harris attended Villanova University, the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield, England, and also graduated from the Pennsylvania Foundation for Pastoral Counseling.

Prior to her ordination to the priesthood, Harris served as head of public relations for the Sun Oil Company.

Harris has long been active in civil rights issues, participating in freedom rides and marches in the 1960s, including the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. . Throughout her various careers, she has been noted for her liberal views and her outspokenness.

Ordination

Her rector at the Church of the Advocate on the north side of Philadelphia, the Rev. Paul Washington, became convinced of Harris' serious interest in seeking holy orders, and recommended her to Bishop Lyman C. Ogilby of Pennsylvania. Ogilby ordained her as a deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1980. She served as an acolyte in the service in which the first eleven women were ordained priests in the Episcopal Church on 29 July 1974. She was the priest-in-charge of St. Augustine of Hippo Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania from 1980-1984, served as chaplain to the Philadelphia County prisons, and also as counsel to industrial corporations for public policy issues and social concerns. She was named executive director of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company in 1984, and publisher of The Witness magazine. In 1988 she served as interim rector of Philadelphia’s Church of the Advocate.

Election as bishop

She was ordained Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts on 11 February1989. She retired from her post in Boston in 2003. She was succeeded as bishop suffragan by another African American woman, Gayle Elizabeth Harris.

Currently, Barbara Harris serves as Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, and as president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company, publishers of The Witness magazine.

External links

• Barbara Clementine Harris biography and video interview excerpts by The National Visionary Leadership Project

Major works

• Harris, Barbara C. Parting Words: A Farewell Discourse. Boston: Cowley Publications.
• Harris, Barbara C. Beyond Powershift: Theological questions in a changing world (The Westminster Tanner-McMurrin lectures on the history and philosophy of religion at Westminster College). Westminster College.

Biographies

• Bozzuti-Jones, Mark Miter Fits Just Fine: A Story about the Rt. Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris: The First Woman Bishop in the Anglican Communion. Boston: Cowley Publications.

References

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Last updated on Thursday January 17, 2008 at 16:00:44 PST (GMT -0800)
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