Mark M. Beckwith

Last updated
The Right Reverend

Mark M. Beckwith

D.D.
Bishop of Newark
Church Episcopal Church
Diocese Newark
ElectedSeptember 23, 2006
In office2007–2018
Predecessor John P. Croneberger
Successor Carlye J. Hughes
Orders
Ordination1980
by  Morgan Porteus
ConsecrationJanuary 27, 2007
by  Katharine Jefferts Schori
Personal details
Nationality American
Denomination Anglican
SpouseMarilyn Olson
Children2

Mark M. Beckwith was the tenth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. He is the author of the book Seeing the Unseen: Beyond Prejudices, Paradigms and Party Lines. [1]

Contents

Biography

Beckwith graduated from Amherst College in 1973 and from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in 1978.

He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1980. He served as associate rector at St Peter's Church in Morristown, New Jersey from 1982-1985, then became rector of Christ Church in Hackensack, New Jersey (1985-1993). Before his bishop election, he served as rector of All Saints Church in Worcester, Massachusetts (1993-2006). He was consecrated as the tenth Bishop of Newark on January 27, 2007, by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. [2]

Beckwith has appeared in two PBS specials with Jon Meacham, God in New York (2010) and Christians, Muslims, and Jews: Bridging the Divide (2011). [3] [4]

He has also been a featured guest in several interviews and panel discussions on MSNBC's Morning Joe show. [5] [6] [7]

From 2017-2019, Beckwith co-hosted a television talk show series on NJ PBS titled A Matter of Faith with a Bishop, an Imam and a Rabbi. [8] The show premiered on April 12, 2017 and was hosted by Bishop Mark Beckwith, Imam W. Deen Shariff and Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, who lead conversations with special invited guests and discussed "headlining news through the lens of faith." Beckwith's last day as Bishop was September 22, 2018, when his successor Carlye J. Hughes was consecrated.

Beckwith and his wife, Marilyn Olson, have been married since 1982. They have two children together.

Activism

In the Diocese of Newark, Beckwith co-founded Morris Shelter, Inc., a nonprofit homeless shelter in Morristown, New Jersey, and was the first president of Inter-Religious Fellowship for the Homeless in Bergen County. [9]

On December 7, 2009, as active Bishop of Newark, Beckwith joined other Episcopalians to urge the New Jersey state Senate to pass a marriage equality bill. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying "I pray that the marriage bill passes -- so that all couples who have engaged in a lifelong union can have their unions recognized. Homosexuality is not an issue of lifestyle; it is a matter of identity. We don't choose our identity; we are challenged to claim our identity as God's gift to us. The church I have chosen to serve is about helping all of God's children claim and celebrate their identity as imago dei -- as created in the image of God." [10]

Beckwith helped found the Newark Interfaith Coalition for Hope and Peace in 2008 to reduce street violence among gangs in Newark and to encourage interfaith dialogue and cooperation. [11]

In 2012, Beckwith co-founded Bishops United Against Gun Violence, an advocacy network of over 100 Episcopal Church Bishops. The group was formed in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. In 2019, Beckwith began serving as a bishop liaison to the network to foster relationships and develop partnerships with groups working in the gun violence prevention arena. [12]

Beckwith has been part of the leadership team for Braver Angels, a national movement dedicated to political depolarization. [13]

Authorship

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Shelby Spong</span> American bishop (1931–2021)

John Shelby "Jack" Spong was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church, born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He served as the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey from 1979 to 2000. Spong was a liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author who called for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief away from theism and traditional doctrines. He was known for his progressive and controversial views on Christianity, including his rejection of traditional Christian doctrines, his advocacy for LGBTQ rights, and his support for interfaith dialogue. Spong was a contributor to the Living the Questions DVD program and was a guest on numerous national television broadcasts. Spong died on September 12, 2021, at his home in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 90.

Charles Judson Child Jr. was the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. He was consecrated as Bishop Suffragan in 1978, and served as diocesan bishop from 1983 to 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Diocese of Newark</span> Diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States

The Episcopal Diocese of Newark is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America comprising the northern third of New Jersey in the United States. The Diocese represents the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a province, and presides over Episcopal parishes, missions, outreach ministries and schools in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren, and one church in Union County.

John Palmer Croneberger was an American clergyman of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Newark.

John Joseph O'Connor was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Newark from 1901 until his death in 1927.

Sean W. Rowe is the eighth and current Episcopal Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. He is also bishop provisional of the Diocese of Western New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Angelo Saltarelli</span> American prelate

Michael Angelo Saltarelli was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wilmington from 1995 to 2008. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1990 to 1995.

William Aloysius Griffin was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Trenton in New Jersey from 1940 until his death in 1950. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1938 to 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas H. McLaughlin</span>

Thomas Henry McLaughlin was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as president of Seton Hall College from 1922 to 1933 and as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey from 1937 until his death in 1947. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of what was then the Diocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1935 to 1937

Donald Maynard Hultstrand was the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry S. Kennedy</span> American Episcopal/Anglican bishop

Harry Sherbourne Kennedy was a bishop of Hawaii in the Episcopal Church from 1944 till 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church, Newton</span> Historic church in New Jersey, United States

Christ Church, also known as Christ Episcopal Church, is a Christian house of worship located on the corner of Church Street and Main Street in Newton, New Jersey. It is a parish overseen by the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The congregation first met on 28 December 1769 and was granted a charter by New Jersey's last Royal Governor William Franklin on behalf of Britain's King George III. Christ Church is the oldest church in Newton and the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Newark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas A. Starkey</span> American bishop

Thomas Alfred Starkey was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark from 1880 to 1903.

Charles Francis Boynton was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Puerto Rico, serving from 1947 to 1951. He served later as a suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York from 1951 to 1969. In 1990 he joined the Anglican Catholic Church.

John Forsythe Ashby was an American bishop in the Episcopal Church.

Jennifer Lynn Baskerville-Burrows is the bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis in the Episcopal Church, elected in October 2016s consecrated on April 29, 2017. She is the first African-American woman to be elected a diocesan bishop. Prior to her consecration, she served as Director of Networking in the Diocese of Chicago. Previously, she was a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, and the Episcopal Diocese of California. In addition to her parish ministry, she has been Director of Alumni and Church Relations at Church Divinity School of the Pacific and a chaplain to Syracuse University.

Sanford Zangwill Kaye "Sandy" Hampton is an American bishop of The Episcopal Church, serving in Minnesota and Olympia, and Oregon.

Bonnie Anne Perry is a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. She was elected the Diocese of Michigan's eleventh diocesan bishop on June 1, 2019, which made her the first woman and first openly lesbian priest elected as an Episcopal bishop in Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Lipka</span> American Anglican bishop

Richard Walter Lipka is an American Anglican bishop. Lipka served as a Roman Catholic and Episcopal priest before being consecrated in the Charismatic Episcopal Church. He has served since 2021 as bishop ordinary of the Missionary Diocese of All Saints, an Anglo-Catholic diocese in the Anglican Church in North America. He is a significant figure in the Episcopal charismatic renewal movement and the Anglican realignment.

References

  1. ↑ Beckwith, Mark M. (2022). Seeing the unseen : beyond prejudices, paradigms, and party lines. Shane Claiborne. New York, NY. ISBN   978-1-64065-518-8. OCLC   1287752978.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ Episcopal News Service (2007-01-29). "NEWARK: Mark Beckwith ordained and consecrated as 10th bishop". www.episcopalarchives.org. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  3. ↑ "Bishop Beckwith in PBS special "God in New York" | The Episcopal Diocese of Newark". dioceseofnewark.org. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  4. ↑ "Bishop Beckwith on "Christians, Muslims and Jews: Bridging the Divide" with Jon Meacham | The Episcopal Diocese of Newark". dioceseofnewark.org. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  5. ↑ "Searching for hope amidst the Newtown tragedy". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  6. ↑ "Honoring Rosh Hashanah". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  7. ↑ "An interfaith discussion with Imam Shareef, Bishop Beckwith and Rabbi Gewirtz". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  8. ↑ "A Matter of Faith with a Bishop, an Imam and a Rabbi". NJ PBS. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  9. ↑ "Rt. Reverend Mark Beckwith at All Saints Aug. 5 and 12". Boothbay Register. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  10. ↑ "Episcopal News Service: Press Release # 120809-06". www.episcopalarchives.org. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  11. ↑ NJTV News | Interfaith Coalition Hopes to Curb Violence in Newark | PBS , retrieved 2022-08-16
  12. ↑ "Our Bishops". Bishops United Against Gun Violence. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  13. ↑ "Hold America Together". Braver Angels. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.