Episcopal Press and News
John S. Spong Elected Bishop Coadjutor of Newark
Episcopal News Service. March 9, 1976 [76090]
Newark, N.J. -- The Rev. John Shelby Spong, rector of St. Paul's Church, Richmond, Va., was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Newark at a Special Convention on March 6. The forty-five-year-old native of Charlotte, N.C., upon his acceptance of the election and his subsequent consecration, will succeed the Rt. Rev. George Edward Rath as Bishop of Newark upon Bishop Rath's retirement.
Father Spong became Bishop Coadjutor-elect in the seventh ballot of the Special Convention, receiving 90 of the 161 clergy votes cast and 233 of the 351 lay votes cast. A majority of the votes cast in each order was necessary for an election. He had attained the necessary majority in the lay order in the fifth ballot.
The Diocese of Newark, with 135 congregations in the eight northern counties of New Jersey, is one of the largest and most highly urbanized in the nation. But a number of the parishes in the western part are distinctly small-town and rural. There are 70,000 Episcopalians in the Diocese of Newark.
The Rev. John S. Spong was born June 16, 1931, the son of John Shelby Spong and Doolie Griffith. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina (1952). He received his Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary (1955), and has taken post-graduate work at St. Luke's, Sewanee, Tenn., and Yale Divinity School.
He was ordained deacon June 24, 1955, by Bishop Richard H. Baker and was ordained priest December 28, 1955, by Bishop Edwin A. Penick.
The new Bishop Coadjutor-elect's first charge was as rector of St. Joseph's, Durham, N.C., which he describes as "a mill congregation and a college chapel" (1955-57). He was rector of Calvary Church, Tarboro, N.C. (1957-65), which parish was also yoked with four small rural missions. He then became rector of St. John's Church, Lynchburg, Va. (1965-69), and served a 1200-communicant, suburban, affluent congregation. In 1969 he was called as rector of St. Paul's Church, Richmond, Va., a downtown congregation of 1800 communicants.
While in the Diocese of North Carolina, Fr. Spong was involved as follows: member, Executive Council; chairman, Department of Christian Education; editor of the North Carolina Churchman; chairman, Commission on Evangelism; and deputy of Provincial Synod, 1958-59.
In the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, he acted as president of the Standing Committee; chairman, MRI, Ecuador Project; chairman, New Forms of Ministry Commission; trustee, Virginia Episcopal School; examining chaplain; and deputy to General Convention, 1969.
In the Diocese of Virginia, he was a member of the Standing Committee, 1971-74, and a deputy to General Convention in 1973.
Some of his other areas of service include: member of the Board of Trustees, lecturer and director of Kanuga Conference, Inc.; member of the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Theological Seminary; president of the VTS Alumni Association; member of the Theological Advisory Committee, Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation; consultant to the Standing Liturgical Commission; consultant to the Overseas Department; member of the Overseas Review Committee of the House of Bishops; and member of the Executive Council of the national Church, 1973 to the present.
Fr. Spong has written extensively. His articles have appeared in such publications as The Episcopalian, The Virginia Seminary Journal, and The Living Church. He has written three books which have been published by Seabury Press: Honest Prayer, This Hebrew Lord, and (with Spiro) Dialogue: In Search of Jewish-Christian Understanding. His latest book, Christpower, was published by Thomas Hale Company.
"Jack" Spong has appeared as a lecturer on local television stations in Virginia, his Bible Class has been carried on WRFK-FM, and he has worked as a play-by-play sports announcer for radio stations in Tarboro and Lynchburg.
Fr. Spong is married since 1952 to the former Joan Ketner. They have three children ranging in age from 16 to 20 years.
The other candidates in the March 6 election for Bishop Coadjutor of Newark were: the Rev. Thomas H. Carson, rector, Christ Church, Greenville, S.C.; the Rev. Herbert A. Donovan, Jr., rector, St. Luke's Church, Montclair, N.J.; the Rev. David M. Gillespie, rector, St. Paul's Church, Englewood, N.J.; the Rev. Donald M. Hultstrand, Executive Director, Anglican Fellowship of Prayer, Lancaster, Pa.; the Rev. Robert H. Maitland, Jr., vicar, Church of the Saviour, Denville, N.J.; and the Rev. Joseph A. Pelham, Dean of Students, Colgate-Rochester/Bexley/Crozer Divinity School, Rochester, N.Y.