Episcopal Press and News

Obituary: Bishop Scott Field Bailey of West Texas Dies at 88

Episcopal News Service. April 12, 2005 [041205-1]

The Rt. Rev. Scott Field Bailey was born in Houston in 1916, graduated from Rice University in Houston, and attended The University of Texas Law School prior to choosing to go into the ministry. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1942, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Quin of Texas. He married Evelyn Louise Williams in November of 1943 and entered the Navy as a chaplain that same year, eventually serving in the South Pacific Theater.

As a priest, Bailey became rector of several Texas parishes as the Baileys raised four children: two daughters and two sons. By 1961 he was Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Texas and was elected Suffragan Bishop in that diocese in 1964. He served as Secretary to the House of Bishops from 1967 until 1986, and served as executive officer of the General Convention from 1974 to 1976. Bishop Bailey was close friends and advisor to presiding bishops John Allin and John Hines, who often disagreed politically, and is often credited with being a reconciler between the two.

Bishop Bailey was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of West Texas in 1977, facing two divisive problems of the day: the final approval of the new Book of Common Prayer and the ordination of women. The new BCP had been tried and tested for 25 years, and Bailey declared it a "grand compromise" in its retention of Rite 1 as the most beloved section of the 1928 Prayer Book, and Rite 2 as offering a new look; with both offering something for everyone. In 1979, when the last hurdle for adoption was passed, he ordered it into use immediately. The ordination of women was a far more difficult problem, and Bishop Bailey insisted that Church unity was far more important than the gender of priests.

Bishop Bailey came into his term at a time when confirmations and receptions were falling across the Episcopal Church. One of his greatest points of accomplishment was that during his 10 years in office, he established 10 new parishes in West Texas.

Bishop Bailey is survived by his wife, four children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, April 13, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio. Inurnment will be in the columbarium at the Bishop Jones Center in San Antonio.