Metro Roundup: Homewood rector to become 1st female bishop in Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

The Rev. Glenda Curry didn’t set out to pursue becoming the first female bishop-elect for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama — but through the years, people persistently told her to think about it.

At first she dismissed these comments, she said. Then, out of the blue, she decided to pursue it.

She had already hit a “first female” mile-stone earlier in her life when she became the first female in Alabama history to lead a four-year university. She was president of Troy University in Montgomery for more than eight years. She then became a rector leading one of the larger parishes in the diocese — there are about 1,800 people at All Saints Episcopal Church in Homewood, she said.

“I had a lot of administrative experience and had led a big parish,” she said. “I think that’s what motivated a lot of people to say, ‘Hey, you’d be a natural at this.’”

She prayed about it, she said, and decided to let the church nominate her. She would just see how it goes, she said — she would need a majority vote from both the clergy and lay delegates to be elected.

When she received the majority vote, she said she was shocked and humbled.

“I’ve never run for anything or been in any kind of election. It was a weird, strange experience to have people endorse my leadership that way.”

The church in the 21st century already has a lot of challenges, she said. But with the recent outbreak of COVID-19, Curry said she will step into this role facing a new set of challenges.

“The coronavirus has created all kinds of possibilities, opportunities and challenges that I don’t think anybody thought we were going to have when they voted for me,” she said. “But people have said, ‘We’re glad we have someone coming into the seat who has administrative capability, because we’re obviously going to need it.’”

On the other hand, the pandemic has introduced the church to new opportunities. A lot of churches in the diocese have “jumped into” online offerings during this time, Curry said.

“It’s great,” she said. “It’s creative. We’ve reintroduced morning prayer, evening prayer and noonday prayer — the kind of praying that the Episcopal church is built on.”

As the bishop, Curry will oversee the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, which has 87 parishes. It stretches over an area from the Alabama-Tennessee line to just south of Montgomery.

Having a full-time job that is connected to her faith is the best way for Curry to live, she said.

“I had a pretty exciting career, and I still believe my vocation as a college administrator — I was still a Christian then — was tied to my Baptism,” she said. “But when you start working in the church, even as a rector, your heart is close to all the stuff you do.”

Because she’s the first female in Alabama to step into this role, she said she feels an added responsibility to do a good job.

“I feel some pressure or responsibility for not letting the girls down,” she said. “But I think, if I’m true to myself, I would never do that. I would never let them down.”

To Curry’s knowledge, only about 39 other women in the country have been elected into this role. 

“I think it’s important for the young women and the little girls that see it in real life that women can do the same thing men do,” she said. “It’s important that I represent myself well.”

Her last day as a rector at her church in Homewood will be June 1. She’ll then be ordained June 27 and will fully step into her role next January.