Thursday, April 30, 2009

New York Assistant Bishop to Retire


The Rt. Rev. E. Don Taylor, assistant Bishop of New York, will retire in early June to assume a new assignment as rector of the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle in Kingston, Jamaica. The parish’s church committee requested that the Bishop of Jamaica invite Bishop Taylor to return to the city of his birth.

After completing his bachelor's degree in history at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, he was among the first class of students to participate in the newly established Toronto School of Theology, graduating in 1970 with the S.T.M. Degree. After serving for a time as headmaster of his alma mater, Kingston College, he served parishes in the dioceses of Western New York and Atlanta until he was elected Bishop of the Virgin Islands in 1986.

Bishop Taylor made evangelism a priority, and worked to unify the far-flung parishes of the diocese by establishing a diocesan radio station. In 1994, Bishop Richard Grein invited him to serve as an assistant Bishop in New York. He now holds the title of Vicar Bishop of New York City.

“I have spent a lot of time with people, clergy and lay, during times of joy and difficulty,” Bishop Taylor said on the diocese’s website. “This has been an intentional ministry and what I am most happy about. Another is the education of laity for ministry. I have been training lay ministers—wardens, vestry members, catechists, Sunday school teachers. There's hardly a Saturday when I am not teaching.”

A Mass to mark the conclusion of Bishop Taylor’s pastoral ministry in New York will be celebrated May 16 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/4/29/new-york-assistant-bishop-to-retire

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