Episcopal Press and News
The Right Reverend John Maury Allin
Diocesan Press Service. April 1, 1974 [74119]
THE RT. REV. JOHN MAURY ALLIN, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church for a 12-year term on October 4, 1973, at the 64th General Convention of the church in Louisville, Ky.
Elected by the House of Bishops and confirmed by the clerical and lay members of the House of Deputies, Bishop Allin will assume his new post on June 1, 1974. His formal installation as the church's 23rd Presiding Bishop will take place with inaugural celebrations on June 10-11 at the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Washington National) in Washington, D.C.
Born in Helena, Ark., on April 22, 1921, Bishop Allin was graduated from both college and seminary at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. In addition, he has a master's degree in education from Mississippi College, Clinton, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by the University of the South.
Ordained a deacon in 1944 and a priest the following year by Bishop R. B. Mitchell of Arkansas, he served congregations in the Diocese of Arkansas in Conway, Harrison, Eureka Springs, and Russellville.
In 1950 he took on the dual post of curate at St. Andrew's Church, New Orleans, La., and chaplain to that city's Episcopal students and institutions. Grace Church, Monroe, La., called him as rector in 1952.
In 1958 he became president and rector of All Saints' Junior College in Vicksburg, Miss. From this post he was elected to the episcopate in 1961 and was consecrated as Mississippi's coadjutor on October 28, 1961. He became diocesan on May 31, 1966.
During his ministry, Bishop Allin has served in many positions at the diocesan, provincial and national levels.
Elected by the 1970 General Convention to a six-year term on the Executive Council, he served on the Steering Committee and was chairman of its Program Group on Communication. Additional posts on the Council included membership on the Ecumenical Standing Committee and the Joint Committee on Church and Contemporary Issues. Bishop Allin resigned his membership on the Council in February, 1974.
At the time of his election as Presiding Bishop, he was chairman of the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations of General Convention and served as a member of the Commission's Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation.
In the House of Bishops his most recent committee posts have been Overseas Missions, Agenda, Pastoral Counselling, and Deaconesses.
Bishop Allin has been president of the St. Luke's Alumni Association of the University of the South and a member for six years of the University's Board of Regents. lie was elected to a six-year term as chancellor of the University in 1973.
He has also served as a trustee of the Episcopal Radio and Television Foundation, Atlanta, and a trustee of All Saints' School, Vicksburg.
Bishop Allin and his wife, the former Frances Ann Kelly, whom he married in 1949, have four children: Martha, John, Jr., Kelly Ann, and Frances Elizabeth. Before moving to Dover House, the official residence of the Presiding Bishop, near Greenwich, Conn., the Allins have made their home in Mississippi's see city of Jackson.
The Presiding Bishop's office is at the Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017.
