James R. Moodey Explained

Type:Bishop
Honorific-Prefix:The Right Reverend
James Russell Moodey
Honorific-Suffix:D.D.
Bishop of Ohio
Church:Episcopal Church
Diocese:Ohio
Elected:December 11, 1982
Term:1983–1993
Predecessor:John H. Burt
Successor:J. Clark Grew II
Ordination:January 5, 1958
Ordained By:Henry Hobson
Consecration:June 18, 1983
Consecrated By:John Allin
Birth Date:9 December 1932
Religion:Anglican
Parents:John Reginald Moodey & Matil Cochran
Children:3
Previous Post:Coadjutor Bishop of Ohio (1983)
Alma Mater:Hamilton College

James Russell Moodey (December 9, 1932 – September 5, 2005) was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio from 1983 to 1994.

Early life and education

Moodey was born on December 9, 1932, in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of the Reverend John Reginald Moodey and Matil Cochran. He was educated in the Long Island public schools, before enrolling at Hamilton College, from where graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1954. He also studied at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1957. Whilst there, he served one summer in Haiti. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Kenyon College, where he served as a trustee from 1984 to 1994, and another from Hamilton College in 1988.[1]

Ordained ministry

Moodey was ordained deacon on June 22, 1957, by Bishop Anson Phelps Stokes of Massachusetts.[2] He was ordained priest on January 5, 1958, by Bishop Henry Hobson of Southern Ohio. He then became assistant at Christ Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. During that time, he met and married Penelope Wallace Hall in 1959. In 1960 he became rector of the Church of the Nativity in New Castle, Delaware, while in 1965, he moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania to serve as rector of St Luke's Church. Between 1976 and 1983, he served as rector of St Paul's Church in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.[3]

Episcopacy

On December 11, 1982, during a special diocesan convention, Moodey was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Ohio.[4] He was consecrated on June 18, 1983, by Presiding Bishop John Allin, and succeeded as diocesan bishop. He founded the Episcopal Community Services Foundation, to provide funds for community ministry. He retired in 1993. In 1996, he became Assistant Bishop of Maine, and served in the diocese till 1997. Moodey died at his home in Damariscotta, Maine on September 5, 2005, after years suffering from metastatic kidney cancer.[5]

Notes and References

  1. 1990. MOODEY, JAMES R.. Who's Who in the Midwest . 448.
  2. 4 August 1957. Ordinations. . 135. 29.
  3. https://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_number=090605-01 "Retired Bishop Moodey of Ohio and Maine Dies of Cancer"
  4. 23 January 1983. Ohio Elects Coadjutor. . 186. 6.
  5. Goodman, Rebecca "Bishop James Moodey led Episcopal Diocese", The Cincinnati Enquirer, 8 September 2005, Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved on 21 November 2020.