Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool

The Rt. Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool is the first out lesbian bishop in the Anglican Communion. Her election gained worldwide attention, and controversy, helping shape the international discourse about LGBTQ+ clergy and inclusivity in Anglicanism. She currently serves as Assistant Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York and will be retiring soon.

The Episcopal Church could be considered Mary’s “family business.” Her great-great grandfather Alfred Lee was the first bishop of Delaware and the tenth presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Mary’s parents met and married at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Philadelphia, where her mother was a director of religious education and her father did his deacon work. Her father, Douglas Murray Glasspool, worked in the Diocese of New York so his first job was at yoked parishes in Staten Island, serving as both rector at St. Simon’s and vicar of All Saints Church. Mary was born in early 1954 and three months later her family moved north to the Hudson Valley to live in Goshen, New York, where Mary grew up and attended public school. Her father served as rector of St. James Church in Goshen for 35 years until his death of a heart attack in 1989. He was a traditional Episcopal priest, middle of the road theologically, but there were no girl acolytes and women were not ordained in the Episcopal Church at the time. When the Philadelphia Eleven were ordained in 1974, her father thought that women being ordained illegally, or at least irregularly, meant that the Church was “going down the tubes.” Mary was excited about the news, but did not know what to make of it at that time.

As a young adult, Mary attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, earning her Bachelor’s degree with a major in Music. In the fall of 1974, something unexpected happened. Dickinson hired an ordained woman in the Presbyterian Church: Barbara Chaapel, who was a recent graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, to serve as Assistant Chaplain. When Barbara came onto campus, Mary experienced incarnationally an ordained pastor who was a woman. What was simply an intellectual thought had become a reality in the flesh!

At the time, homosexuality was not “cool” – Mary thought that if she was homosexual/gay/lesbian, that would make it twice as difficult to fulfill her nascent call to ordained ministry. An additional unique challenge was that her father was her rector. Mary was too nervous to approach him about these questions, so she went to the bishop of New York first--which was an irregular practice. She also talked with the inspirational Barbara Chaapel about discerning a call as well as thinking she was gay, and it was all very challenging for her as a college student.

Mary graduated from Dickinson College in 1976 magna cum laude and received the college’s Hofstader Prize for outstanding woman in her class. She entered Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to pursue her Masters of Divinity degree. At the time, legends from the Philadelphia Eleven such as Carter Heyward, Suzanne Hiatt, and Alison Cheek were teaching at EDS. In the mid 1970’s, the Church was still politically and painfully working out their turmoil over women’s ordination. Mary represented EDS at the General Convention in Denver in 1979 and spoke at a large open hearing regarding the ordination of homosexuals. During her short speech, she came out to the 1,500 people in attendance. The Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Jr., then the bishop of New York, encouraged her to come out to her parents next. So she went back to seminary, made an appointment to see her father, and came out to him. She also asked that if the church would not support her for ordination, then to tell her so that she could find one that would. Despite his prior opposition to women’s ordination, her father stated that he would treat her like any other candidate for ordained ministry and supported his daughter’s calling.

After graduation from Episcopal Divinity School, in June of 1981, Mary was ordained a deacon by Bishop Paul Moore, Jr. of New York and was called by The Rev. Jim Moody to serve as assistant to the rector of St. Paul’s Church in Philadelphia. During that time, in March of 1982, she was ordained a priest by Bishop Lyman Ogilby of Pennsylvania. After three years at St. Paul’s, she was called to be rector of St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Church, which was a small urban neighborhood parish in Boston, and served there for seven and a half years. Mary met her spouse of nearly 40 years, Becki Sander, while in Boston. For a regrettably long time, Becki was invisible in the church. Mary’s coming out process was gradual and although she would not lie about who she was, she also would not do people’s work for them. Therefore, someone had to ask directly to receive an answer about Becki or her sexuality. After being at St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s for seven years, Mary was applying to all kinds of jobs and she appeared as a single woman on applications. The Church was going through a horrible stage where being gay and sick with AIDS or being in the closet was fine, but not being gay in a healthy monogamous relationship!

After being rejected by about fifteen jobs, Mary was called to be Rector of St. Margaret’s Church in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1992. St. Margaret’s was a fairly conservative church and some challenging incidences occurred, but in the fullness of time, her rectorship there felt like “one long love affair.” There were painful moments, eventually it was known that she was a lesbian and some people left the church due to that; however, it was more the case that the good people of St. Margaret’s loved her, and she loved them. The love of God in Christ brought them together. After nine and a half years as Rector of St. Margaret’s, Mary was called to be Canon to the Bishops in the Diocese of Maryland and did so for the next nine and a half years. The Bishop of Maryland, who encouraged her to apply, knew that she was a lesbian in a partnered relationship. When the Diocese was looking to replace one of the bishops Mary worked with, she applied for the position yet was rejected in the first round of discernment because the committee needed unanimity and some conservative members were against considering anyone who was gay or lesbian. That was very painful for Mary because she knew them and withdrew for a time to tend to her woundedness. But with the help and support of friends, she was able to come out of it and explore new career avenues.

In 2009, shortly after the Diocese of Maryland rejection, some colleagues put her name in for bishop suffragan of Los Angeles. She had never been to Los Angeles before and asked for time to review the position to consider such a move. They were hiring two bishops suffragan, which would increase her chances some, and she wanted to test out the vocation and thought that her gifts and skills were a match for the profile. She was a finalist in the interview process and she was out during it. Becki came with her for the walkabouts, and throughout the interviewing process, she felt totally herself. Over the course of the two days of the Diocese Convention, they first elected The Rev. Diane Bruce, her sister bishop from Diocese of Los Angeles. The committee knew that they wanted to elect a woman and Diane was their immediate choice. Mary knew that she was the runner-up, but did not think they would elect two women. The other finalists were Latinx men, which made sense for the Spanish-speaking and Latinx community of Los Angeles, and at one point she wanted to withdraw from the ticket altogether. But colleague friends The Rev. John Taylor and the Rev. Susan Russell told her to stick it out because she had believed in the Holy Spirit through this discernment process and was set to see it through. After many ballots, she was finally elected and spent five and a half years in Los Angeles working with fellow bishops Jon Bruno and Diane Bruce.

In this position, Mary was the first open and partnered lesbian in the Episcopal Church to be consecrated bishop. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop, had been consecrated in 2003 to much controversy and stigma seven years prior. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the symbolic and spiritual head of the global Anglican Communion, sent Mary a message quickly after her election stating that she was “destroying the Anglican Communion.” At her consecration, protesters and picketers, aligned with notorious homophobic pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, attended in order to object, wave hurtful signs, and shout slurs. Thankfully Mary was far from alone in these moments. She stands on the shoulders of many men and women in the Church with similar experiences. One highlight was nominating The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris to become the first woman Bishop in the Anglican Communion, who was elected in September 1988 and consecrated in February 1989.

Working in Los Angeles was challenging and it was different for her, but Mary learned a lot and people were very gracious. In 2015-2016, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Dietsche, Bishop of New York, approached her at the General Convention and asked if she would consider being Assistant Bishop in New York. After taking time to pray, discern, and consult with Becki, she accepted the offer, moved back East, and began the new position in New York on April 1, 2016. After nine years in the Diocese of New York and 71 years old, Mary plans to retire at the end of June 2025. The Episcopal Church has a mandatory retirement age of 72, but she desires to retire on her own terms and provide a positive model for how to say goodbye, grieve, and be bittersweet during one’s transition from work. Having been ordained for close to 45 years, she looks forward to at least six months of complete respite to spend time with God, travel with Becki, and heal the deep tiredness in her soul with love and rest.

(This biographical statement was written by Elizabeth Herrick from an interview with Mary Glasspool on March 14, 2025 and supplemented with digital resources shown below and was edited by Mary Glasspool.)

Biography Date: April 2025

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