Episcopal Press and News
Northwestern Pennsylvania Elects Coadjutor
Episcopal News Service. November 22, 1988 [88252]
NEW YORK (DPS, Nov. 23) -- On Saturday, November 5, clergy and lay delegates meeting at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Erie, in the 78th annual Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, elected Rev. Canon Robert Deane Rowley, Jr., Bishop Coadjutor. Election came on the second ballot.
Rowley, 47, was diocesan administrator and canon to the Bishop of Bethlehem. He ran against a slate that included the Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, rector of St. Mary's Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; the Rev. John J. Coble, Jr., rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Bethlehem; the Rev. Richard L. Fenn, rector of St. Luke's Church, Jamestown, New York; the Ven. Henry H. Hoover, II, archdeacon of the Diocese of Minnesota; and the Rev. John W. Kline, rector of the Church of the Ascension, Bradford, Pennsylvania.
The Bishop-elect, who holds law degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and George Washington University, holds a master of divinity degree from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest.
Beginning his ministry in the Diocese of Hawaii in 1977, Rowley served first as diocesan youth minister, dean of students, and chaplain of St. Andrew's Priory School, Honolulu, and was subsequently appointed canon of St. Andrew's Cathedral. He was rector of St. Timothy's Church, Aiea, Hawaii, before going to the Diocese of Bethlehem in 1983. During his time in Hawaii, Rowley worked closely with the Rt. Rev. Edmond L. Browning, then Bishop of Hawaii, and now Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
In a statement released prior to his election, Rowley stated that: "My ministry is to share the Good News of God in Jesus Christ as a pastor, priest, and teacher, and to call others to ministry."
Married to the former Nancy Roland, the Rowleys are the parents of two children, ages 18 and 20.
A consecration date has not been set.