Episcopal Press and News
Coburn Consecrated Bishop of Massachusetts
Episcopal News Service. October 12, 1976 [76309a]
BOSTON, Mass. -- As 5,000 persons looked on, the Rev. John Bowen Coburn was consecrated Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts on October 2.
Held in McHugh Forum at Boston College, the consecration came 16 months after his election May 31, 1975. Bishop Coburn had postponed his consecration so he could remain president of the House of Deputies through the General Convention of the Church which was held in Minneapolis in September. He served as president of the house of clerical and lay deputies for nine years.
Humberto Cardinal Medeiros and Boston College offered the Episcopalians the use of the college's gymnasium so that Bishop Coburn's desire that as many of his people as possible share in his consecration might be fulfilled.
For eleven years Dr. Coburn was dean of the Episcopal Theological (now Divinity) School in Cambridge, Mass., followed by a year as a teacher in the Street Academies in Harlem in a program of the Urban League of New York City. In 1969 he became rector of St. James' Episcopal Church in New York City where he served until his election to the episcopate.
In addition to the current Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. John M Allin, participants in the services included two former Presiding Bishops -- the Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill and the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines.
In his sermon, Bishop Hines cited Dr. Coburn's qualifications: "You have served as dean of a radical theological school that has deservedly influenced the theology and social teachings of the Church. You surrendered that to literally walk the streets of Harlem. And for seven years you guided the complex relationships of a durable Church, all the while spewing out creative books."
As president of the House of Deputies for nine years, Bishop Hines said, Dr. Coburn "cajoled deputies out of their petulance and on occasion shamed bishops out of their preoccupations."
After the sermon, Bishops Hines and Coburn embraced and the congregation applauded, as it did when Presiding Bishop Allin, chief consecrator, formally presented the new bishop to the diocese.
Born in Danbury, Conn., in 1914, Bishop Coburn received his B.A. degree from Princeton University and his B. D. degree from Union Theological Seminary. He taught for three years at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey.
Following his graduation from seminary, Bishop Coburn served at Grace Church, New York City; a chaplain in the U.S. Naval Reserve; Grace Church, Amherst, Mass.; and as dean of Trinity Cathedral, Newark, N.J.
Bishop Coburn is married to the former Ruth Alvord Barnum whom he met in Turkey, and they have four children.
There are 120,000 members and 189 churches in the Diocese of Massachusetts.