Michael Curry (bishop)
Michael Bruce Curry (born March 13, 1953) 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 elected to the role, having previously served as Bishop of North Carolina from 2000 to 2015. His tenure as Presiding Bishop will end in October 2024 and he will be succeeded by Sean Rowe.[3]
This article is about the American presiding bishop. For other people named Michael Curry, see Michael Curry.
Michael Curry
Non-territorial/non-metropolitical
November 1, 2015[1]
June 1978 (deacon)
December 1978 (priest)
by Harold B. Robinson (deacon)
John M. Burgess (priest)
June 17, 2000
by Robert Hodges Johnson
March 13, 1953[2]
Sharon Clement
2
Early life and education[edit]
Curry noted in his autobiography that both sides of his family were descended from slaves and sharecroppers in North Carolina and Alabama.[4] He was born in Maywood, Illinois, a suburb just west of Chicago.[5] His grandfather and great-grandfather were Baptist ministers.[6] His parents were Dorothy and the Rev. Kenneth Curry, who had been Baptists but became Episcopalians when they were allowed to drink from the same chalice as whites in racially segregated Ohio.[7] His mother died when he was young; his father and grandmother raised him.[8]
Curry attended public schools in Buffalo, New York.[9] He graduated with high honors from Hobart College in Geneva, New York, in 1975. He then earned a Master of Divinity degree, in 1978, from the Yale Divinity School, in association with Berkeley Divinity School. Curry has also studied at The College of Preachers, Princeton Theological Seminary, Wake Forest University, the Ecumenical Institute at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, and the Institute of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies.[8]
Ministry as priest[edit]
Curry was ordained deacon at St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo, New York by the Rt. Rev. Harold B. Robinson in June 1978 and priest at St. Stephen's, Winston-Salem, North Carolina by the Rt. Rev. John M. Burgess in December 1978.[10] He served initially as deacon-in-charge and subsequently as rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (1978–1982) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; then as rector of St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights, Ohio (1982–1988). He served as rector of St. James' Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland (1988–2000). In his three parish ministries, Curry participated in crisis response pastoral care, the founding of ecumenical summer day camps for children, preaching missions, creation of networks of family day care providers, and the brokering of investment in inner city neighborhoods.[11]
Honors[edit]
Curry has received honorary degrees from the School of Theology-Sewanee, Virginia Theological Seminary, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, the Episcopal Divinity School,[54] the Seminary of the Southwest,[55] and Church Divinity School of the Pacific.[56] Curry was appointed a serving brother of the Order of St John by Elizabeth II on July 25, 2015.[57] In 2019 he received the James Parks Morton Interfaith Award.[58]
Personal life and health[edit]
Curry is married to Sharon Clement, with whom he has two daughters.[59]
In 2018 Curry underwent surgery as treatment for prostate cancer.[60][61] In late 2023 he had surgery to remove his right adrenal gland and an attached mass,[62] and was hospitalized in December of that year for subdural hematoma ("brain bleed") caused by a fall.[63] It was the second time he has suffered a subdural hematoma, having been hospitalized in 2015 on his first day in office following a fall.[64] Following surgery in March 2024 to insert a pacemaker,[65][66] Curry resumed his public engagements in May 2024, including by preaching on Ascension Day at Saint Thomas Church in New York.[67]