Michigan
The Rev. Bonnie A. Perry was ordained and consecrated as the XI Bishop of Michigan on February 8 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn. Perry is the first female bishop as well as the first lesbian bishop in the diocese since it was formed in 1836; she is the 39th woman to be consecrated bishop in the Episcopal Church.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was the chief consecrator and Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows was the preacher. The ceremony included prayers and readings in Arabic to celebrate the diocese’s ministries in the local Arab-American community.
Perry was elected bishop on June 1, 2019, at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. Previously, Perry was the rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois. Perry earned a doctor of ministry degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of the Holy Cross. She was ordained in 1990 in the Diocese of Newark.
Perry succeeds the Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs Jr., who has served as bishop since 2000 and retired in December 2019.
The Episcopal Diocese of Michigan was established in 1836 and is comprised of 77 congregations and more than 16,000 baptized members.
The Rev. Susan Bunton Haynes was ordained and consecrated as the XI Bishop of Southern Virginia on February 1 at Williamsburg Community Chapel in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is the first female bishop in the diocese’s 128-year history.
Haynes was elected from a pool of six candidates on the eighth ballot at a diocesan special council in Dinwiddie, Virginia, on September 21, 2019. Prior to the election, Haynes served as the rector of St. Paul’s in Mishawaka, Indiana, for 11 years.
Haynes succeeds the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV who served as the X Bishop of Southern Virginia. Hollerith served the diocese for 10 years and retired in January 2019.
The Diocese of Southern Virginia encompasses 101 congregations from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to the Dan River.
