Chilton R Knudsen

Chilton Abbie Richardson Knudsen is a bishop of the Episcopal Church. In May 2015, she was appointed to serve as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Maryland, and previously served as the diocesan bishop of Maine. Knudsen is the 938th bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church. She was consecrated as a bishop by Frank T. Griswold, Frederick Wolf, and Geralyn Wolf.

Knudsen is the eldest of four siblings. Growing up in a navy family, she spent a large part of her childhood overseas in places such as Guam, Japan, and the Philippines. She studied biology and ecology at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. She then attended the University of Pittsburgh for graduate studies and taught at her alma mater. Knudsen then taught in a nursing program at a community college and worked as a counselor at women's health clinics in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

As a young woman Knudsen felt a calling to the priesthood, but at that time the Episcopal Church was not ordaining women. Following the decision of the church to ordain women, Knudsen attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, earning a M. Div. degree in 1980. She was ordained a deacon in 1980 followed by ordination to the priesthood in 1981. She first served in Bolingbrook, Illinois, working to establish a new mission there. She later worked as Pastoral Care Officer/Canon for Pastoral Care in the Diocese of Chicago.

Knudsen was elected the 8th Bishop of Maine in 1997 and remained in that post until her retirement in September 2008. Following her retirement from that post she served as interim bishop in the Diocese of Kentucky and as assistant bishop in New York and Long Island.

Following the resignation of Heather Cook as suffragan bishop to the Bishop of Maryland, Eugene Sutton, the standing committee were authorized by the diocesan convention to hire an assistant bishop until a suffragan bishop can be nominated and elected.

After the convention the diocese announced that it had hired Knudsen as assistant bishop. The choice was seen as bold given that, like Cook, Knudsen also struggled with alcohol addiction and is a recovering alcoholic. Knudsen is seen as a leader in the church in the areas of addiction and recovery. She has worked as a counselor in the field of addiction recovery and has also written two books on the subject. The Maryland diocese hopes that her experiences with alcoholism and recovery will help lead to a greater understanding of such issues.

Knudsen will assume her post as assistant bishop later in 2015. It is expected that she will serve as assistant bishop for one to two and a half years until a suffragan bishop is named.