Michael Curry

Who is Michael Curry?

The Rt. Rev. Michael Bruce Curry is a bishop in the Episcopal Church. He was elected eleventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina on February 11, 2000 and ordained bishop on June 17, 2000, at Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

The first African American bishop to lead a southern diocese of the Episcopal Church, he has a national preaching and teaching ministry, having been featured on The Protestant Hour and as a frequent speaker at services of worship and conferences around the country.

Before his ordination, Bishop Curry attended public schools in Buffalo, New York and graduated with high honors from Hobart College in Geneva, New York in 1975. He received the Master of Divinity degree in 1978 from the Yale Divinity School. He has also done continued study at The College of Preachers, Princeton Theological Seminary, Wake Forest University, the Ecumenical Institute at St. Mary's Seminary, and the Institute of Christian Jewish Studies.

Bishop Curry was ordained deacon in June 1978 and priest in December 1978. He served initially as deacon-in-charge and subsequently as Rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; then as Rector of St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights, Ohio; then as Rector of St. James' Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland.