William E. Swing

Last updated
The Right Reverend

William Edwin Swing

D.D.
Bishop of California
Church Episcopal Church
Diocese California
Elected1979
In office1979–2006
Predecessor C. Kilmer Myers
Successor Marc Andrus
Orders
OrdinationDecember 20, 1961
by  Wilburn C. Campbell
ConsecrationSeptember 29, 1979
by  John Allin
Personal details
Born (1936-08-26) August 26, 1936 (age 87)
Huntington, West Virginia, United States
Nationality American
Denomination Anglican
ParentsWilliam Lee Swing & Elsie Bell Holliday
Spouse
Mary Taylor
​
(m. 1961)​
Children2
Alma mater Kenyon College

William Edwin Swing (born 26 August 1936) is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He was the Bishop of California, based in San Francisco, from 1980 to 2006. [1]

Contents

Education

Born in West Virginia, Swing received a A.B. and D.D. from Kenyon College in 1958 and 1981, a M.Div. and D.D. from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1961 and 1980, L.H.D. from the University of San Francisco, 2005, D.D. Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 2007, a D.H.L from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in 2009. Swing is the recipient of many honorary doctoral degrees including the Jesuit sponsored University of San Francisco.

Priest and Bishop

Swing was ordained a deacon at Huntington, West Virginia, on June 11, 1961; he was ordained a priest at Wheeling, West Virginia, on December 20, 1961. He was appointed curate of St Matthew’s Church in Wheeling, West Virginia from 1961–63; vicar of St Thomas’ Church in Weirton, and St Matthew’s Church in Chester, West Virginia from 1963-69; and then rector of St Columba's Church in Washington, D.C. from 1969-79. [2] [3]

He was elected as the seventh Bishop of California in 1979 and was consecrated at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, on September 29, 1979. [4] He is the Founder and President of the United Religions Initiative (URI), an international NGO working to promote interfaith cooperation. He is an author and inspirational speaker and has received numerous awards for his commitment to service. [5]

Work

During his time as bishop, Swing was a pioneer in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to homelessness. He served for over two decades on the board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research and was active in San Francisco on a daily basis with alcohol and drug rehabilitation, Latino immigrant ministries, and care for the elderly and homeless.

Swing founded the United Religions Initiative as a model to the United Nations. [6] In 1996 he traveled to China, Japan, South Korea, India, the Middle East, and Europe seeking guidance and commitment from leaders of many of the world’s religions, including the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram, Islam’s Grand Mufti of Egypt, and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 2008 the Bishop Swing Community House, a permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless adults, in the South of Market, San Francisco was named after him.

See also

Bibliography

A Bishop's Quest (2015), Xoxox Press

A Swing with a Crosier (1999), Episcopal Diocese of California

The Coming United Religions (1998), CoNexus Press

Building Wisdom’s House (1997), Addison Wesley Longman, co-authored with Rabbi Stephen Pearce, John Schlegel, S.J., and Bonnie Menes, KahnPublisher

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Kemper</span> American bishop

Jackson Kemper in 1835 became the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Especially known for his work with Native American peoples, he also founded parishes in what in his youth was considered the Northwest Territory and later became known as the "Old Northwest", hence one appellation as bishop of the "Whole Northwest". Bishop Kemper founded Nashotah House and Racine College in Wisconsin, and from 1859 until his death served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert V. Taylor</span>

Robert V. Taylor is a priest in the Episcopal Church USA and an activist for social justice. He was installed in 1999 as dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, making him the first openly gay Episcopal dean in the United States and, at the time, the highest-ranking openly gay priest in the Episcopal Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randolph Roque Calvo</span>

Randolph Roque Calvo is an America prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Calvo served as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Reno in Nevada from 2006 until 2021

Wilbur Wong Yan Choy was an American bishop in the United Methodist Church, elected in 1972. He was the first Asian American elected as a bishop in the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Andrus</span> American bishop of the Episcopal Church (born 1956)

Marc Handley Andrus is an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. He is the current and eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Prior to his election as Bishop of California, Andrus served as a suffragan bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

Chester Lovelle Talton was the Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin in the Episcopal Church.

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

The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC). It encompasses all 55 counties of West Virginia. The diocese has 66 congregations, including 38 parishes, 26 missions, and 2 other churches. The diocese is headquartered in Charleston and led by The Rt. Rev. Matthew Davis Cowden who was consecrated as bishop coadjutor in March, 2022 and became bishop diocesan in October, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Joseph Mitty</span> American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church

John Joseph Mitty was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the third Bishop of Salt Lake City (1926–1932) and the fourth Archbishop of San Francisco (1935–1961).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Alexander McGuire</span> American physician

George Alexander McGuire was the founder of the African Orthodox Church, and a prominent member of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Vincent Whelan</span> American prelate

Richard Vincent Whelan was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia (1841–1850) and as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling in West Virginia (1850–1874).

Joseph Howard Hodges was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston from 1962 until his death in 1985. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia from 1952 to 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas John McDonnell</span>

Thomas John McDonnell, D.D., was the Roman Catholic coadjutor bishop, cum jure successionis, of what is now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia.

Bavi Edna "Nedi" Rivera is a bishop of the Episcopal Church who has been a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Olympia and appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon. She was the first Hispanic woman elected to become a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Her late father, Victor Rivera, was also a bishop in the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George F. Regas</span> American Episcopalian priest (1930–2021)

George Frank Regas was an Episcopal priest. He served as rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, California, from 1967 until his retirement in 1995.

John McGill Krumm was an American bishop and author. He was the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George William Peterkin</span> Episcopal Bishop of West Virginia

George William Peterkin was the first Bishop of West Virginia in the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Henry Herbert Shires was an American cleric who served as suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California from 1950 to 1958.

John Harris Burt was an American prelate, civil rights activist, and social worker, who served as the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio from 1967 to 1983.

Stanley Fillmore Hauser was a suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. He was consecrated on August 4, 1979, and retired in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick D. Goodwin</span> Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

Frederick Deane Goodwin was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, serving from 1944 to 1960. He served as coadjutor from 1930 to 1944.

References

  1. ↑ Banerjee, Neela (5 May 2006). "Episcopalians Divide Again Over Electing Gay Bishop". The New York Times. p. 16. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "SWING, WILLIAM EDWIN". Who's Who in Religion: 509. 1992. ISBN   9780837916040.
  3. ↑ "SWING, WILLIAM EDWIN". Who's Who in the West. 28: 625. 2001. ISBN   9780837909325.
  4. ↑ "Bishop Swing Consecrated in California". The Living Church . 179: 6. October 28, 1979.
  5. ↑ Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America by Gustav Niebuhr
  6. ↑ “We’re Trying to Change World History” published by Fast Company Magazine, November 2000
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.