The Right Reverend

Mary Glasspool
Assistant Bishop of New York
Glasspool in 2011
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DioceseNew York
AppointedApril 2016
In office2016–present
Orders
OrdinationMarch 1982 (priest)
by Lyman Ogilby
ConsecrationMay 15, 2010
by Katharine Jefferts Schori
Personal details
Born (1954-02-23) February 23, 1954 (age 69)
New York City, New York, US
DenominationAnglican
ParentsDouglas Murray Glasspool & Anne Dickinson
SpouseBecki Sander
Previous post(s)Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles (2010–2016)
Alma mater

Mary Douglas Glasspool (born February 23, 1954) is an assistant bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. She previously served as a suffragan bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles from 2010 to 2016. She is the first openly lesbian woman to be consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion.

Early life, education, and personal life

Glasspool was born on February 23, 1954, in Staten Island, New York, to the Reverend Douglas Murray Glasspool and Anne Dickinson.[citation needed] Later, the Glasspool family moved to Goshen, New York, where her father served as rector of St. James' Church until his death in 1989. Glasspool graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1976 and received her Master of Divinity degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1981.[1]

In 2019, Glasspool referred to Becki Sander as her "spouse of 31 years".[2]

Ordained ministry

Glasspool was ordained a deacon in June 1981 by Bishop Paul Moore Jr. and a priest in March 1982 by Bishop Lyman Ogilby. In 1981, Glasspool became assistant to the rector at St. Paul’s Church in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, where she served until 1984. She was the rector of St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Church in Boston from 1984 to 1992, was the rector of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Annapolis, from 1992 to 2001, and served as canon to the bishops for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland from 2001 to 2009.[1]

Glasspool was elected a bishop suffragan on December 4, 2009, on the seventh ballot at the 115th convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in Riverside, California.[3] On March 17, 2010, the Presiding Bishop's Office certified that her election had received the necessary consents.[4] Glasspool was consecrated on May 15, 2010, in Long Beach, California, by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori.[5] Glasspool is the first openly lesbian woman to be elected to the episcopate in the Episcopal Church or in the larger Anglican Communion, and is also the 17th woman elected to the episcopate in the Episcopal Church.[6] Her election has gained worldwide attention in the context of the ongoing debate about gay bishops in Anglicanism.[citation needed] She served as bishop suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles until 2016.[7]

In 2015, Glasspool accepted the invitation to serve the Episcopal Diocese of New York,[8] where she has been serving as an assistant bishop since 2016.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bishop Glasspool".
  2. ^ "The Way of Love and Lambeth: Bishop Mary D. Glasspool speaks to the House of Bishops". Episcopal Church. March 14, 2019.
  3. ^ Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles: "Election of two Bishops Suffragan" Archived 2010-05-29 at the Wayback Machine, December 4–5, 2009, accessed March 20, 2010
  4. ^ EpiscopalLife Online: "Los Angeles Bishop-elect Glasspool receives church's consent to ordination" Archived 2010-03-23 at the Wayback Machine, March 17, 2010, accessed March 20, 2010.
  5. ^ "Lesbian bishop is consecrated in US". www.churchtimes.co.uk.
  6. ^ "BBC - Will & Testament: Mary Glasspool: Anglicanism's first lesbian bishop". www.bbc.co.uk.
  7. ^ Whoegh, Payton. "Past Bishops".
  8. ^ Episcopal Diocese of New York: "Bp Mary Glasspool to Come to NY as Assistant Bishop" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, November 14, 2015, accessed February 23, 2016.
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