Mary Glasspool
{{short description|American Episcopal bishop (born 1954)}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Bishop
| honorific-prefix = The Right Reverend
| name = Mary Glasspool
| title = Assistant Bishop of New York
| image = Mary Glasspool (cropped).jpg
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| caption = Glasspool in 2011
| church = Episcopal Church
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| diocese = New York
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| elected =
| appointed = April 2016
| term = 2016–2025
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| ordination = March 1982 (priest)
| ordained_by = Lyman Ogilby
| consecration = May 15, 2010
| consecrated_by = Katharine Jefferts Schori
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|02|23}}
| birth_place = New York City, New York, US
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| religion = Anglican
| residence =
| parents = Douglas Murray Glasspool & Anne Dickinson
| spouse = Becki Sander
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| previous_post = Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles (2010–2016)
| alma_mater = {{ubl | Dickinson College | Episcopal Divinity School}}
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Mary Douglas Glasspool (born February 23, 1954) is an American bishop in the Episcopal Church. She served as assistant bishop in the Diocese of New York from 2016 to 2025, having previously been suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles since 2010. She was the first openly lesbian woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Communion.
Early life and education
Glasspool was born in Staten Island, New York, to the Rev. Douglas Murray Glasspool, rector of All Saints Church and St. Simon’s Church, and Anne Dickinson.[https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2025/02/13/assistant-new-york-bishop-mary-glasspool-to-retire-in-june/ Episcopal News Service, "New York Assistant Bishop Mary Glasspool to retire in June"], February 13, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2025. She later moved to Goshen, New York, where her father served as rector of St. James' Church for 35 years until his death in 1989.[https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2009/12/09/from-goshen-to-global-stage/51776071007/ Times Herald-Record, "From Goshen to global stage: Episcopalians in LA elect lesbian bishop"], December 9, 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
She graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1976 and received a Master of Divinity degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1981.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dioceseny.org/bishop-glasspool/|title=Bishop Glasspool}}
Ordained ministry
Glasspool was ordained a deacon in June 1981 by the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore Jr., Bishop of New York, and a priest in March 1982 by the Rt. Rev. Lyman Ogilby, Bishop of Pennsylvania. From 1981 to 1984 she was the assistant to the rector at St. Paul’s Church in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, before serving as rector of St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Church in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1984 to 1992, then rector of St. Margaret's Church in Annapolis, Maryland, from 1992 to 2001. She was canon to the bishops for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland from 2001 to 2009.
On December 4, 2009, Glasspool was elected as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles on the seventh ballot at the diocese's 115th convention in Riverside, California.Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles: [http://www.ladiocese.org/convention/suffragan_election_results.html "Election of two Bishops Suffragan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529001917/http://www.ladiocese.org/convention/suffragan_election_results.html |date=2010-05-29 }}, December 4–5, 2009, accessed March 20, 2010 On March 17, 2010, the office of the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, certified that her election had received the necessary consents,EpiscopalLife Online: [http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_120933_ENG_HTM.htm "Los Angeles Bishop-elect Glasspool receives church's consent to ordination"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323004358/http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_120933_ENG_HTM.htm |date=2010-03-23 }}, March 17, 2010, accessed March 20, 2010. and on May 15, 2010, she was consecrated by Schori in Long Beach, California.{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2010/21-may/news/uk/lesbian-bishop-is-consecrated-in-us|title=Lesbian bishop is consecrated in US|website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}} She was the first openly lesbian woman to become a bishop in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion, and only the 17th woman elected to as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2010/05/mary_glasspool_anglicanisms_fi.html|title=BBC - Will & Testament: Mary Glasspool: Anglicanism's first lesbian bishop|website=www.bbc.co.uk}} Her election gained worldwide attention in the context of the ongoing debate about gay bishops in the Anglican church.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
In 2016 Glasspool left the Diocese of Los Angeles following her election as assistant bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.{{Cite web|url=https://diocesela.org/bishops-office/past-bishops/|title=Past Bishops|first=Payton|last=Whoegh}}Episcopal Diocese of New York: [http://www.dioceseny.org/news_items/306-bp-mary-glasspool-to-come-to-ny-as-assistant-bishop "Bp Mary Glasspool to Come to NY as Assistant Bishop"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060908/http://www.dioceseny.org/news_items/306-bp-mary-glasspool-to-come-to-ny-as-assistant-bishop |date=2016-03-04 }}, November 14, 2015, accessed February 23, 2016. After nine years in the role, she retired in June 2025.
Personal life
Glasspool is married to Becki Sander, with whom she has been in a relationship since the late 1980s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/way-love-and-lambeth-bishop-mary-d-glasspool-speaks-house-bishops|title=The Way of Love and Lambeth: Bishop Mary D. Glasspool speaks to the House of Bishops|date=March 14, 2019|website=Episcopal Church}}
References
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Category:Religious leaders from Staten Island
Category:People from Goshen, New York
Category:Dickinson College alumni
Category:Episcopal Divinity School alumni
Category:LGBTQ people from New York (state)
Category:Women Anglican bishops
Category:LGBTQ and Anglicanism
Category:LGBTQ Anglican bishops
Category:Episcopal bishops of Los Angeles