The Most Rev. Curry ΓÇÖ75 on NPR
6 November 2018 The Most Rev. Curry 75 on NPR
The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry 75, the 27thPresiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, discussed what he calls the radical power of love on the daily NPR program 1A, on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Curry began his term as head of the Episcopal Church in 2015, the first African-American to hold the Churchs top office. He currently serves as the Chief Pastor and as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and chair of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.
As he told the Pulteney St. Survey in 2016, creating a profoundly welcoming, profoundly inclusive, profoundly transformative vision not just of the church but of the world [will take] a movement grounded in a real and radical love that seeks the good and welfare for the other before the self. That kind of love can change the world, has done it before, and can do it again.
Born in Chicago, Ill., Curry grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., where his father, the late Rev. Kenneth S. Curry, served as rector of St. Philips Episcopal Church. After graduating from Hobart College with a degree in religious studies, Curry earned his master of divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School.
Ordained a deacon at St. Pauls Cathedral in Buffalo, and to the priesthood later that year at St. Stephens Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., Curry served as rector of St. Stephens and rector at St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights, Ohio. He became rector at St. James Church in Baltimore, Md., serving until his election in 2000 as the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. He served as a member of the Hobart and William Smith Board of Trustees from 1988 until 1992.
In his three parish ministries, Curry was involved in Crisis Control Ministry, the founding of ecumenical summer day camps for children, preaching missions, the Absalom Jones initiative, creation of networks of family daycare providers, creation of educational centers, and the brokering of millions of dollars of investment in inner city neighborhoods.
In 2016, he was recognized with the Hobart Medal of Excellence. He has received several honorary degrees, including one from Yale, and he serves on the boards of a number of organizations including the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church and as Chair and now Honorary Chair of Episcopal Relief & Development. The author of numerous publications, Curry has a national preaching and teaching ministry and has been featured on The Protestant Hour radio show.
Earlier this year, he delivered the address at Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle.