The Most Reverend Edmond L. Browning |
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24th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church | |
Orders | |
Ordination | May 23, 1955 |
Consecration | January 5, 1968 by John E. Hines |
Personal details | |
Born |
Corpus Christi, Texas |
March 11, 1929
Died | July 11, 2016 Hood River, Oregon |
(aged 87)
Nationality | United States |
Edmond Lee Browning (March 11, 1929 – July 11, 2016) was an American bishop. He was the 24th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Browning received his seminary education from the University of the South, commonly known as Sewanee. While there he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1952, followed by the postgraduate Bachelor of Divinity in 1954. On July 2, 1954, he was ordained to the diaconate. His ordination to the priesthood took place on May 23, 1955, in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. He was married to Patricia Alline Sparks on September 10, 1953. Together they had five children; Mark, Paige, Philip, Peter, and John. Browning began his ministry as a priest in Corpus Christi, Texas as an assistant at the Church of the Good Shepherd from 1954 to 1956, followed by a period as the Rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Eagle Pass, Texas from 1956 to 1959.
In 1959, Browning and his wife moved to Okinawa and began what would become a 12-year span in Japan. He was priest-in-charge of All Souls Church, Okinawa, until 1963 when he and his wife went to Kobe to study at the Language School; they remained in Kobe until 1965. On returning to Okinawa, Bishop Browning served at St. Matthew's Church in Oruku until 1968. On January 5, 1968, Browning was consecrated the first Missionary Bishop of Okinawa.