Dr. Terwilliger Elected Suffragan Bishop of Dallas
Diocesan Press Service. October 6, 1975 [75340]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Rev. Robert E. Terwilliger, director of the Trinity Institute in New York, has accepted his election as Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, it was announced there October 1. Dr. Terwilliger was elected on September 25.
The Trinity Institute, which Dr. Terwilliger founded in 1967, is a special ministry of the Parish of Trinity Church in New York. It has provided continuing theological education with small seminars and an annual General Conference for Episcopal clergy.
In the past few years, the General Conference has also been repeated in Chicago and San Francisco. Its speakers have included the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, who dedicated the Institute; Cardinal Suenens, and other theologians of note from Europe and the U.S.
Dr. Terwilliger will direct the General Conference of the Institute scheduled for January 13-15 in New York even if he has been consecrated by that time. The Most Rev. Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be one of the speakers at that meeting.
No date has been set for the consecration of Dr. Terwilliger as bishop, as the process requires gathering of majority approvals from the diocesan bishops and standing committees which is usually a lengthy procedure.
Dr. Terwilliger has become a well known theologian throughout the Episcopal Church, as well as the Anglican Church of Canada and the Church of England, not only because of the Institute but also because he has led many clergy conferences in various Anglican dioceses.
He is the author of a number of books on theology, including Receiving the Word of God, and his most recent, Christian Believing published by Morehouse-Barlow Co. He is a member of a number of ecumenical groups, including the Anglican/Roman Catholic and Anglican/Orthodox dialogues. He is a member of the Episcopal Church's Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations.
On hearing of his election, the Rev. Robert Ray Parks, rector of Trinity, said, "Dr. Terwilliger's departure will mean a deep loss to the Trinity Institute which has been, for so many years, his ministry.
" The Institute has drawn thousands of Episcopal priests to New York for its conferences. My desk has been flooded with mail from priests and bishops attesting to its value for continuing education and training, enhancing the morale of the clergy and of their congregations. "
When Dr. Terwilliger founded the Institute, he had been associate rector of All Saints, Manhattan. Prior to that he had been rector of St. James, Los Angeles ( 1960-62) and Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (1949-60). He succeeded the late Bishop James A. Pike as rector of Poughkeepsie and also as chaplain at Vassar College.
Dr. Terwilliger has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse (1939) and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass. (1943). He earned the Ph.D. degree at Yale in 1948. He was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Seabury Western Theological Seminary in 1970.
His other parish experience was as curate, All Saints, Worcester; assistant, Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, Conn.; and assistant, Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York. Dr. Terwilliger is an adjunct professor of theology at the General Theological Seminary and chaplain for the Community of the Holy Spirit in New York. As a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches, he is chairman of the sub-committee on Episcopal/Roman Catholic Relations.
He has been a member of the Anglican Theological Commission's Joint Doctrinal Discussion with International Orthodox Churches since 1971.