John B. Coburn Elected Bishop of Massachusetts
Diocesan Press Service. June 9, 1975 [75220]
BOSTON, Mass. -- The Rev. Dr. John B. Coburn, president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies, and rector of New York City's St. James' Church, was elected to succeed the Rt. Rev. John M. Burgess as Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts.
Dr. Coburn has indicated his acceptance of the election, subject to the consents of the bishops with jurisdiction and the standing committees of the dioceses, which are expected to be forthcoming. However, Dr. Coburn will not be consecrated until after the September, 1976, meeting of the Episcopal Church's bi-cameral General Convention because of his commitment as president of the House of Deputies.
When the necessary consents to his election have been received, probably in the fall, Dr. Coburn will move to Boston and will assume all administrative aspects of the office of bishop when Bishop Burgess retires December 31.
The Diocese of Massachusetts has the largest number of baptized members (117,000) of any diocese in the Episcopal Church, and has 74,000 communicants, nearly 200 parishes, and more than 400 clergy.
Dr. Coburn, one of the best-known clergymen in the Episcopal Church, has previously declined elections to the episcopacy on several occasions.
Dr. Coburn, who will be 62 when he is consecrated, is no stranger to the diocese, since he was formerly dean of the Episcopal Theological (now Divinity) School in Cambridge for 12 years. He was also dean of Trinity Cathedral, Newark, N.J., for four years, rector of Grace Church, Amherst, Mass., for seven years, and assistant rector of Grace Church, New York City. Following his 12 years at EDS, he spent a year teaching ninth grade black youth in a street academy in Harlem before going to St. James' in 1969.
Dr. Coburn was elected president of the House of Deputies in 1967, and presided over that house's sessions in South Bend in 1969, in Houston in 1970, and in Louisville in 1973. He will preside over the house at the General Convention meeting in Minneapolis/ St. Paul in September, 1976, and is ineligible for re-election to another term. Dr. Coburn was elected on the eighth ballot of the Massachusetts convention on May 31, defeating seven other candidates. He won a majority of lay votes on the seventh ballot and on the eighth went over the top in both orders with 137 clerical and 163 lay votes. Bishop Burgess said that Dr. Coburn is in a position to help unify the Convention's House of Bishops and House of Deputies. "He may do a lot to bring greater understanding as a liaison between the two houses," he said.
Bishop Burgess, the first black domestic diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church, became Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts in 1962, Bishop Coadjutor in 1969, and Diocesan Bishop in 1970. The Rt. Rev. Morris F. Arnold is Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts.