First Female Bishop in the Episcopal Church Is the 2010 Luccock Visitor at the Divinity School

Bishop Barbara Harris, the first woman to be ordained a bishop in the Episcopal Church and in the worldwide Anglican Communion, is the 2010 Luccock Visitor at Yale Divinity School.

Harris will deliver a talk titled “Re-visioning the Church” on Wednesday, March 24, at 12:30 p.m. in the Common Room, Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, 409 Prospect St.

The ordination of Harris as a bishop in the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1989 created a firestorm among Anglicans around the globe at the time, but ultimately paved the way for other women to follow suit both in the Episcopal Church and in some Anglican churches abroad.

Harris is a member of the Union of Black Episcopalians and has represented the Episcopal Church on the board of the Prisoner Visitation and Support Committee. She is a past vice president of Episcopal City Mission, an independent agency of the Diocese of Massachusetts working for and on behalf of the urban poor.

The Luccock Visitorship was established in 1963 in memory of Halford E. Luccock, who served as a professor in the Divinity School from 1928 to 1953. The Luccock Visitor, usually a parish minister, is invited to spend time at Yale Divinity School interacting with faculty and students.