FORT WORTH (DPS, Nov. 28) -- The Rev. Clarence C. Pope, rector of St. Luke's, Baton Rouge, La., was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the
Diocese of Forth Worth at a special convention Sept. 14.
Pope, 54, was chosen in an unusual first ballot election over
five other nominees. As coadjutor, he will automatically succeed the
Rt. Rev. A. Donald Davies when the latter retires in January, 1986.
Pope is a graduate of Centenary College and the University of
the South and was ordained priest in 1955.
After his ordination, Pope served as priest-in-charge at a
number of missions in Louisiana and as rector of St. George's, Bossier
City, before being called to Baton Rouge in 1963.
Pope was active in civic affairs in Bossier City and served
on the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce.
He has held many diocesan posts, including those of president
of the Standing Committee, vice-president of the Executive Board, and
alternate deputy and deputy to two General Conventions. He is a founding board member of Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, served as lay
reader examiner for the diocese, and is a former trustee to All Saints'
School, Vicksburg. He was a chaplain in the Air Force reserve for 10
years. Davies, 64, became bishop of Dallas in 1970 after a ministry
that included parish work, college chaplaincy, seminary teaching and
staff duties at the Episcopal Church Center. He has been a member of
the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church since 1979 and chairs
that body's standing committee on world mission. Until recently, he was
also chairman of the General Convention's world mission panel and president of Province VII. When the Diocese of Fort Worth was created from
the Diocese of Dallas at the 1982 General Convention, Davies exercised
his right to choose which of the two he would preside over to take on
the new task. |