Episcopal Press and News

Former Dallas, Fort Worth and Europe Convocation Bishop Donald Davies dies at 91

Episcopal News Service. October 18, 2011 [101811-01]

ENS staff

The founding bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, Archibald Donald Davies, died peacefully on Oct. 16 aged 91.

A requiem will be held at 11 a.m. on Oct. 21 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, located at 3600 Fall Creek Highway in Granbury, Texas.

Davies served as the bishop of the Diocese of Dallas from 1970 to 1982 and bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth from 1983 to 1985. After he retired from Fort Worth, then-Presiding Bishop John Allin appointed him bishop of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe from 1986 to 1988.

In 1992, Davies left the Episcopal Church to help form the Episcopal Missionary Church, actions which prompted the House of Bishops to give its consent to his deposition in 1994, according to a release from Suzanne Gill, communications officer for the breakaway Fort Worth diocese.

Born in Pittsburgh on April 15, 1920, Davies earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Tulsa in 1944 and a master's degree from Western Theological Seminary (now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) in Pittsburgh in 1947. While earning his doctorate he joined the faculties of Huron College and the University of Tulsa, teaching philosophy and religion for three years.

He was ordained in 1950 and initially served as a rector in the Diocese of Kansas and as campus chaplain at Kansas State University.

Davies served as a chaplain in the Army Reserve and worked in the Department of Christian Education at the Episcopal Church Center in New York.

Davies also served as rector of Grace Church in Monroe, Louisiana; a fellow of the College of Preachers at Washington National Cathedral; chaplain on active duty at Fort Hood, Texas; sub-dean at Seabury-Western Seminary; and dean of Trinity Cathedral in Omaha.

In 1970 he was elected bishop of the Diocese of Dallas – which at that time included the 24 Central Texas counties that became the Diocese of Fort Worth as well as the area that makes up the Diocese of Dallas today. While a bishop, Davies served as president of the Episcopal Church's Province VII; a trustee of the University of the South, Seabury Western Seminary, and Southern Methodist University; a member of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council; and chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission.

From 1982-83, Davies oversaw the formation of the Diocese of Fort Worth out of the Diocese of Dallas. The church's canons allowed Davies the choice of continuing with either diocese, and he chose Fort Worth.

Davies supported the Episcopal Synod of America (ESA), a traditionalist movement founded in 1989 in Fort Worth. He served as its first executive director and later became the bishop of a missionary diocese for ESA.

In 1992, Davies founded a continuing Anglican church, which he called the Episcopal Missionary Church. This branched later into the Christian Episcopal Church of America and Canada, of which he was named archbishop and primate.

Davies was preceded in death by his wife of almost 70 years, the former Mabel Roberts, and a son, Allan David Davies. He is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.