J. Terry Steib

Styles of J. Terry Steib
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop
Posthumous style	not applicable

James Terry Steib, S.V.D. (born May 17, 1940) is an African American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the fourth and current Bishop of Memphis.

Biography

The oldest of five children, J. Terry Steib was born in Vacherie, Louisiana to Rosemond and Vivian (née Jones) Steib. He worked alongside his father in the sugar cane fields of Louisiana, and was inspired to become a priest by his doctors, ministers and community leaders. He attended St. Augustine Divine Word Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi from 1953-57, and graduated from Divine Word Seminary in Conesus, New York in 1961. He completed his philosophical studies also at Divine Word Seminary in Techny, Illinois in 1963, and earned a theological degree from Divine Word Seminary in Bay St. Louis in 1967.

Steib was ordained a priest of the Society of the Divine Word on January 6, 1967, and served as Assistant Dean of Students at Divine Word Seminary in Bay St. Louis until 1969. He was a professor at Saint Stanislaus College, a Catholic high school in Bay St. Louis, from 1967-76, and earned a Master of Arts degree in Guidance and Counseling from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1973. In 1976, he was elected to the first of three terms (1976–1983) as the provincial superior of the Society of the Divine Word's Southern Province. He was also Vice-President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men from 1979 to 1983.

On December 6, 1983, Steib was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and Titular Bishop of Fallaba by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on February 10, 1984 from Archbishop John L. May, with Bishops Gottwald and Koester, serving as co-consecrators. He was later named to succeed Daniel M. Buechlein as the fourth Bishop of Memphis on March 24, 1993.

During the 2008 presidential election, Steib declared, "We cannot be a one issue people ... If our conscience is well formed, then we will make the right choices about candidates who may not support the Church's position in every case."

References

Preceded by Edward Joseph O'Donnell

Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Louis December 6, 1983 – May 5, 1993

Succeeded by Paul Albert Zipfel

External links

• National Black Catholc Congress bio of J. Terry Steib
• National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus bio of J. Terry Steib