The Related Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi selected the Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells as its new bishop Feb. 3, making her the primary girl and first Black individual elected to guide the church.
Wells was chosen from a area of 5 candidates by delegates from 87 congregations. She is going to substitute Brian Seage, who was elected in 2014 because the diocese’s tenth bishop. Seage stated the historic vote mirrored constructive modifications inside the church.
“It is a historic second and this marks a brand new chapter in our historical past,” Seage instructed the Clarion Ledger. “It’s the primary time now we have elected a lady and the primary time now we have elected an African American because the bishop of the diocese. I feel this speaks dramatically for this motion inside our church.”
Wells ascends to the place after serving as rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, Tennessee, the place she was additionally the chaplain of the church’s preschool. A local of Cellular, Alabama, Wells graduated from Rhodes Faculty in Memphis with a level in vocal efficiency. She additionally holds graduate levels in legislation and divinity.
Wells shall be ordained on July 20. After the vote, she instructed the Ledger she can be centered on public service amid stories of declining church attendance.
“I’m actually humbled by the boldness that the council has positioned in me, and I’m so trying ahead to working with the nice folks of the Diocese of Mississippi,” Wells stated.
