First Woman Elected to Head Episcopal Diocese

BURLINGTON, Vt. —  In a historic first, the Rev. Mary Adelia McLeod of Charleston, W.Va., has been elected the first woman to head a diocese of the Episcopal Church.

McLeod, formerly rector of St. John’s Church in Charleston, was chosen by clergy and lay delegates to head the Diocese of Vermont--a vote that, pending confirmation of other dioceses, elevates her to the rank of bishop.

If her election is approved, leading to a consecration in October, McLeod will become the third woman ever elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church but the first to head a diocese. She will succeed Bishop Daniel L. Swenson, who retired in February.

Bishop Barbara Harris is a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Massachusetts, elected in 1988, and Bishop Jane Dixon, elected last year, is suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Washington.

Bishop Penelope Jamieson of New Zealand is the first woman ever elected to head a diocese of the Anglican Communion--churches which, like the Episcopal Church in the United States, view the Church of England as their mother church.

In a statement released after her June 5 election, McLeod, who has been a candidate for bishop four times previously, said she believes the election of a woman is an important step for the diocese. But she added that she feels delegates chose her not because of her gender but because they were “led by the Holy Spirit.”

“I think that because I just happen to be a woman is incidental,” she said.

The Diocese of Vermont, with about 10,000 Episcopalians, is based in Burlington.