Name Henry Parsley, | ||
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Henry Nutt Parsley, junior (born October 29, 1948) is the retired tenth Bishop of Alabama, and the current Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of Easton. His seat is now at Trinity Cathedral (Easton, Maryland) and was at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Parsley is also a former Chancellor of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
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In January 2006, Parsley was nominated for Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and came in second in balloting to Katharine Jefferts Schori during voting at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in Columbus, Ohio.
Early life and education
Henry Nutt Parsley, junior was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, son of Henry Nutt Parsley (senior), a priest, and his wife Barbara. He attended the Porter-Gaud School, an Episcopal college preparatory school in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his undergraduate education in English literature at the University of the South (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1970), and his Master of Divinity from The General Theological Seminary (1973). He has studied at Oxford University in the areas of spirituality and soteriology, and received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from both the University of the South (1998) and The General Theological Seminary (1998).
Ministry
Parsley served in a number of parish churches in South Carolina and North Carolina and was for five years headmaster of a parochial school. His last parochial assignment was as rector of Christ Church, Charlotte (1986-1996).
Parsley served as Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama for two years (1996-1998), before becoming diocesan bishop in 1999. He served as the tenth Bishop of Alabama from 1999-2012, during which time he oversaw a diocese, encompassing the northern two-thirds of the state, comprising 92 parishes, eight campus ministries, and several institutions, that serves over 35,000 Episcopalians. In January 2006, he was nominated for Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, coming in second to Katharine Jefferts-Shori, then Bishop of Nevada, during the General Convention of the Episcopal Church held that summer in Columbus, Ohio. On February 12, 2010, during his address at the 179th annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, Parsley announced his plan to retire as diocesan bishop on December 31, 2011. John McKee Sloan, eleventh Bishop of Alabama, who was elected as Bishop Suffragan of Alabama in the summer of 2007 and consecrated in 2008, was installed as the current diocesan bishop on January 7, 2012.
Parsley served his undergraduate alma mater as Chancellor of the University of the South (the titular head of the institution), as well as on the Board of Trustees and on the Board of Regents. He has preached on the Protestant Hour (now Day 1) and was active in many outreach ministries of the Episcopal Church, including serving on the Board of the Presiding Bishops Fund for World Relief (now Episcopal Relief & Development). He served as a deputy to the General Convention in 1982, 1985 and 1994. Known as a moderate in the wider Church, Parsley was highly respected among his peers in the House of Bishops, where he served as Chair of the Theology Committee, and was a member of the Planning Committee. He chaired the Standing Commission on Stewardship and Development from 1998 and the Church Pension Fund's Abundance Committee from 2001.
In May, 2014, a convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton elected Parsley as Provisional Bishop to succeed their retiring bishop, James Shand. A special convention to formally elect him as Bishop Provisional for the Episcopal Diocese of Easton was held on June 16, 2014, and he was formally installed a month later. Parsley, already the 982nd bishop of the Episcopal Church, was installed on July 16, 2014.
Personal and Family Life
He is married to the former Rebecca Knox Allison (Becky). They are the parents of Henry Nutt Parsley, III, a realtor who lives with his wife in Boone, North Carolina.