The Rt. Rev. Thomas Clark Ely, who served as Bishop of Vermont for 18 years, and was praised as an advocate for both LGBT inclusion and communion across difference in the Episcopal Church, died August 30 at 73.
The Diocese of Vermont celebrated him as “a champion of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church, as well as lay leadership churchwide” in a statement. The diocese also praised his stewardship of Rock Point, a diocesan-owned peninsula jutting out into Lake Champlain near Burlington that is home for the diocesan offices and camp, the bishop’s house, a private school, and community gardens and hiking trails.
A Connecticut native, after studies at Western Connecticut University and the School of Theology at Sewanee, Ely was ordained in the Diocese of Connecticut in 1980. He served in team ministries in two different regions of the diocese, led the diocesan youth ministry, and was director of Camp Washington, its camp and conference center.
In 2000, Ely was elected as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of Vermont, which already had a strong reputation for progressive theology (his predecessor, Mary Adelia McLeod, was the Episcopal Church’s first female diocesan bishop).
Alongside his vocal support for environmental causes and work against gun violence, he became a leading advocate for the ordination of LGBT people and same-sex marriage. Over two decades, he served on numerous churchwide task forces and General Convention legislative committees that developed canons and liturgies to advance these goals.
According to the Diocese of Vermont, “Bishop Gene Robinson, the church’s first openly gay bishop, said Ely had done more to advance the full inclusion of all baptized people in the life of the church than any other bishop, including himself.”
In a tribute widely circulated on social media, the Rev. Susan Russell remembered Ely’s support of her and fellow advocates after the 2006 General Convention ruled that bishops and standing committees should “exercise restraint” by not approving the election of candidates for the episcopate “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”
She praised Ely as “a candle of hope in a very dark moment,” and added, “It is simply impossible to overstate the impact of the gifts he brought to this struggle as a keen strategic thinker, a doggedly committed ally, and a deeply compassionate pastor.”
After the Episcopal Church’s advocates of LGBT inclusion had achieved nearly all their goals, Ely pivoted to become a leader in the movement for communion across difference, which seeks to promote mutual flourishing for supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage.
He served on the first Task Force on Communion Across Difference, which convened after the 2018 General Convention removed diocesan bishops’ power to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in their dioceses. The Task Force’s report to the 2022 General Convention made a theological case for church unity across deep disagreement. It plays a significant role in the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, which seek to restructure the wider Anglican Communion to encourage gracious and self-giving engagement.
Canon Christopher Wells, the Anglican Communion’s Director of Unity, Faith, and Order, served with Ely on the task force, working closely with him on drafting the theological statement. He described the project as “a profound experience of what Christians can do together when they meet in prayer and then speak and think persistently with the holy Scriptures in hand.”
“We were sure we disagreed on important points, and we did. But we also would not let go of dual commitments to speaking the truth as we saw it and protecting the conscience of one another. Tom tenaciously argued for a progressive view in the final editing and at the same time remained relentlessly reasonable, respectful, and fair-minded. We were all moved, and are grateful to God for what we accomplished in the end.”
After his retirement as Bishop of Vermont, Ely took up the ministry of communion across difference in an even more direct way, serving as Bishop Provisional of North Dakota from 2021 to 2024. He led the diocese after the retirement of Bishop Michael Smith, a prominent opponent of same-sex marriage, who served for several years as the chair of Communion Partners.
Ely stepped down from that role last year, to undergo a comprehensive regime of cancer treatment. He enjoyed several months of respite before an agressive resurgence of the disease in August, according to North Dakota’s current Bishop Provisional, Brian Thom.
He is survived by his wife, Martha Ann Wiggins, and by their two daughters, Jennifer and Katherine. The family plans funeral services at Christ Church in Guilford, Vermont, followed by a green burial.
The Rev. Mark Michael is editor-in-chief of The Living Church. An Episcopal priest, he has reported widely on global Anglicanism, and also writes about church history, liturgy, and pastoral ministry.
