Episcopal Diocese of Chicago elects the Rev. Paula Clark, its first Black and first female bishop
Clark, a native of Washington, D.C., is canon to the ordinary and chief of staff in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. The Rev. Canon Paula E. Clark. Photo courtesy the Diocese of Chicago
December 14, 2020
CHICAGO (RNS) The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago has elected the Rev. Canon Paula E. Clark, its first Black bishop and the first woman to lead the diocese.
Clergy and lay delegates from the diocese elected Clark unanimously on the fourth ballot, Saturday (Dec. 12), during an Electing Convention held on Zoom.
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A Washington D.C. priest made history in Chicago Saturday, becoming the first Black person and the first woman ever elected bishop of the city’s local arm of the Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Canon Paula E. Clark was unanimously selected among four candidates on the fourth ballot of a virtual convention to take the helm of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, church leaders said.
“We Episcopalians are strong people who can model for the rest of this country and the world what it looks like to walk the way of love,” Clark said. “God is calling us to a new day and a new way of being.”