The Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, ‘78 M.Div.

At the heart of YDS is the commitment to train women and men for the lay and ordained ministries of the Christian church. The award for Distinction in Congregational Ministry is awarded to a lay or ordained individual who has shown exceptional pastoral competence in the work of developing the ministry and mission of local congregations.

SPECIAL UPDATE: On June 27, 2015, the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry was elected the 27th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church at the 78th General Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Elected on a first-ballot vote, Bishop Curry will be installed in his position as Presiding Bishop on November 1, 2015.

Currently, Michael Bruce Curry is the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.He was ordained to the diaconate in June 1978 at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, New York, and to the priesthood in December 1978, at St. Stephen’s, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

He began his ministry as deacon-in-charge at St. Stephen’s, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1978 and was rector there 1979-1982. He next accepted a call to serve as the rector of St. Simon of Cyrene, Lincoln Heights, Ohio, where he served 1982-1988. In 1988 he became rector of St. James’, Baltimore, Maryland, where he served until his election as bishop.     

In his three parish ministries, Bishop Curry was active in the founding of ecumenical summer day camps for children, the creation of networks of family day care providers and educational centers, and the brokering of millions of dollars of investment in inner-city neighborhoods. He also sat on the Commission on Ministry in each of the three dioceses in which he has served.

During his time as Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina, Bishop Curry has taken the Diocese into 21st-century Galilee, the complex modern world that churches must engage in order to continue spreading the Gospel. He instituted a network of canons, deacons, and youth ministry professionals dedicated to supporting the ministry that already happens in local congregations, and he refocused the diocese on the Episcopal Church’s Millennium Development Goals through a $400,000 campaign to buy malaria nets that saved over 100,000 lives. Throughout his ministry, Bishop Curry has also been active in issues of social justice, speaking out on immigration policy and marriage equality.