Massachusetts Calls Third Bishop
Episcopal News Service. February 2, 1989 [89024C]
NEW YORK (DPS, Feb. 2) -- The Diocese of Massachusetts has announced that the Rt. Rev. David Bell Birney, IV, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho since 1982, has accepted an invitation to serve as Assistant Bishop in Massachusetts. In April, Birney will move to Massachusetts where he will join Diocesan Bishop David E. Johnson and Bishop Suffragan Barbara Harris, who -will be consecrated as the first woman bishop in the history of the worldwide Anglican Communion at a special service in Hynes Auditorium, Boston, on February 11.
In announcing Birney's appointment, Johnson said, "David Birney will bring a wealth of experience to his position in Massachusetts. When he joins Barbara Harris and me in the spring, our diocese will have a pastoral presence that will represent the diversity of Massachusetts.
Birney was born in New Orleans but grew up in Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, in 1952. After his graduation from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1955, he was ordained and served parishes in York, Hanover, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, before moving to Uganda in 1969 as a tutor at Bishop Tucker Theological College.
After four years in Uganda, Birney moved to Botswana, where he served as assistant to the bishop of the diocese for two years. In 1976, he returned to the United States to serve as Coordinator of Overseas Ministries for the World Mission Department of the Episcopal Church Center.
Birney has been particularly active in hunger and justice issues during his ministry. He has served on the National Hunger Committee and, while in Idaho, served on the Governor's Task Force to make the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a national holiday.