Community Corner

Southwest Atlanta's own, Rev. Robert Wright, to be ordained the New Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta on Saturday

Rev. Robert Wright from St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Peyton Rd., becomes the first African-American Atlanta diocese bishop.

Saturday morning inside Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, Reverend Robert Wright becomes the first African-American bishop of the Atlanta Episcopal diocese, and the 10th bishop overall. 

The Atlanta diocese covers middle and north Georgia, has 96 parishes and 52,000 members.

Reverend Wright had been at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Peyton Road in Southwest Atlanta for 10 years and in that time he is credited for raising the churches attendance numbers to some of the highest among all U.S. Episcopal churches.

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When Reverend Wright was first elected as bishop, early this past summer, Cascade Patch attended St. Paul's and recorded portions of his sermon.  Saturday at 10 a.m. will be the next phase of a long journey for Rev. Wright, and as he told his church this summer, "leaders come and go, but God is here always."

“I think the biggest challenge for us and all of mainstream Christianity is to begin to talk about the good news of Jesus Christ and what his message means in the 21st century.  I will be ready to partner with Episcopalians across the diocese and to reach out to all generations, especially the young," Wright said 

Find out what's happening in Cascadewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College
830 Westview Dr. S.W.
10:30 a.m.

Related:
Video: Rev. Wright's Sermon to his St. Paul's Congregation

According to Day1.org:

Bishop Wright was born in a Catholic orphanage in Pittsburgh, PA.  He is a product of the Pittsburgh Public School system. He served in the U. S. Navy as a helicopter Crew-Chief and Search and Rescue Diver. He was educated at Howard University, the Virginia Theological Seminary and Ridley Hall, Cambridge England.

He has worked as a child advocate, first for the Children's Defense Fund and later for two mayors of Washington D.C. He served as Canon Pastor and Vicar at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City. He is married to Dr. Beth-Sarah Wright and they have five children.

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