Bennett Sims

File:Bennet J Sims.jpg

The Right Reverend Bennet J. Sims

The Right Reverend Bennett Jones Sims was the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, being consecrated as Diocesan Bishop in 1972. He retired from office in 1983.

Background

Son of Lewis Raymond and Sarah Cosette Sims, Bennett was born August 9, 1920 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. In 1943, he earned a B.A. from Baker University. On September 24 of that year, he married Beatrice Wimberly.

He then attended Virginia Theological Seminary, earning his Master of Divinity in 1948. In June of that year, he was ordained as deacon. In April 1950 he was ordained as a priest. Both times he was ordained by The Rt. Rev Noble Powell, bishop of Maryland. Bennett became Curate Church of the Redeemer, Baltimore, Maryland in 1949 and two years later became its rector where he served until 1962. That year he served as priest-in-charge at St. Alban's Church in Tokyo, Japan.

From 1963 to 1964, he served as Rector of Christ Church in Corning, New York. From 1964 to 1965 he was a Harvard Fellow. He returned to VTS, receiving a Doctorate in Divinity in 1966. From 1966 to 1972 he was Director of the Continuing Education Department at Virginia Theological Seminary. During which, in 1969, Bennett served as priest-in-charge at St. Alban's Church in Tokyo, Japan, and studied systematic theology at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. (1969-1971).

In 1972, he was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. During his episcopacy, he was in strong opposition to the rising divorce rate, and spoke about his preference for the integrity of marriage vows. From 1980 to 1988, Sims held a visiting professorship at Candler Seminary at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1983, Bishop Sims retired from Bishop.

Despite having been so adamant against divorce, Bishop Sims found himself entering a second marriage on August 25, 1988, when he married Mary Page Welborn. In open diologue with the clergy of the Diocese, Sims expressed his experience of forgiveness, healing and grace shown to him.

The spiritual pilgrimage of Bennett Sims intersects with tumultuous events of the twentieth century — the Great Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, and the recent rise of the extreme political and religious Right. He remains a perennially hopeful human being in the face of his turning approaching 86 in the year 2006, his own life sorrows, and the aggressive mentality that regards violence as the solution to conflict while ignoring the plight of the poor and the Earth.

Fresh out of theological seminary in 1949, Bennett Sims had the good fortune to be called as rector of a large and prestigious Episcopal parish. There he was afforded the opportunity to be stretched in his competence and values. Because his intellect and sensibilities would not allow him to remain safely in the grip of the status quo, his leadership aroused healthy and clarifying controversies. His participation in the 1963 March on Washington led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proved a life-changing moment and started an inner pilgrimage that moved his life in a new and deeper direction. Both as a parish priest and as a bishop, his prophetic leadership challenged his people to heightened involvement in issues of social justice. Among the issues receiving his support and leadership were racial integration of the public schools, revision of the Episcopal prayer book, the ordination of women, and, ultimately, the moral legitimacy of homosexual identity.

Through all these experiences, Bishop Sims grew in his ability to articulate a fresh theology that understands the sovereignty of God as a divine Servanthood disclosed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus: “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). His work led him to a new understanding of power as empowerment rather than as domination and control. Upon retirement from the Diocese of Atlanta, he founded the Institute for Servant Leadership at Emory University in 1983 as an instrument for sharing the true meaning of power and its use for the enablement of effective leadership. Bishop Sims dreams of a world at peace where all creation is valued and the human community has developed the moral strength to disavow the forces of violence.

Bishop Sims retired to Hendersonville, North Carolina with his wife, Mary Page.

Consecrators

• The Most Reverend John E. Hines, 22nd Presiding Bishop
• The Right Reverend Randolph Claiborne, 5th Bishop of Atlanta
• The Right Reverend William Davidson

Bennett Sims was the 676th bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church.

See Also...

• Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
• List of Bishops in the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
• List of Bishop Succession in the Episcopal Church

References

• Atlanta Diocese Centenial History page on Bishop Claiborne.
• The Episcopal Church Annual. Morehouse Publishing: New York, NY (2005).

---

[[Category:Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Sims, Bennett]