The Rt. Rev. Dr. Glenda S. Curry was ordained and consecrated to serve as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Alabama on June 27 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham.

[Diocese of Alabama] The Rt. Rev. Glenda S. Curry was ordained and consecrated to serve as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Alabama on June 27 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham. She is the first woman to serve as bishop in the Diocese of Alabama.

The Rt. Rev. Scott Benhase, the 10th bishop of Georgia, served as the chief consecrator. He was joined by the Rt. Rev. Phoebe Roaf, bishop of West Tennessee; the Rt. Rev. John McKee Sloan, bishop of Alabama, and the Rt. Rev. Brian Seage, bishop of Mississippi. The Rev. Becca Stevens, founder and president of Thistle Farms in Nashville, Tennessee, was the preacher.

For health concerns, in-person attendance was limited to those with participating roles in the service and the bishop’s family. The service was livestreamed through the diocesan Facebook page and website. The livestream itself was a combination of pre-recorded videos and a live-feed of the service.

Curry has served as a priest in The Episcopal Church since 2002, most recently as rector of All Saints in Birmingham. Before becoming a priest, she served as the president of Troy State University in Montgomery and was the first woman to lead a four-year university in Alabama.

In reflecting on her new role, Curry said, “It is a challenging time right now to be moving into a bigger leadership role in the church. At the same time, the world needs the church; the world needs Jesus now more than ever. You can see it. You can feel it. You can’t turn on the television or go on the internet and not see signs of hatred and difficulty around us. The answer is not more darkness: it’s more love.” she continued, citing former dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California, the  Very Rev. Alan Jones. “The church is the ‘school of love’ and I really believe that’s true. I am excited to be in the place that God is calling me.”

Curry will serve as bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Alabama until Sloan’s retirement at the end of 2020. She will be invested as the 12^th bishop of the Diocese of Alabama on January 9, 2021, at the Cathedral Church of the Advent.