George West Barrett (May 10, 1908 - September 3, 2000) was an American Episcopal prelate who served as the fourth Bishop of Rochester between 1963 and 1969.

Education

Barrett was born in 1908 in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...

but was raised in Pasadena, California. He studied at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

from where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

and later studied theology at the

Episcopal Divinity School The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) is a theological school in New York City that trains students for service with the Episcopal Church. It is affiliated with the Union Theological Seminary. Students who enroll in the EDS at Union Anglican st ...

and graduated in 1933.

Priest

He was ordained deacon in July 1933 by Bishop W. Bertrand Stevens of Los Angeles, and priest in March 1934 by Bishop Robert Burton Gooden, Suffragan of Los Angeles. He became curate at St Paul's Church in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, where he remained till 1936. Later he served as rector of St Mark's Church in

Upland, California Upland is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States on the border with neighboring Los Angeles County. The municipality is located at an elevation of 1,242 feet (379 m). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 79,040 ...

. In 1942 he moved to

Monrovia, California Monrovia is a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 37,931 at the 2020 census. Monrovia has been used for filming TV shows, movies and co ...

to become rector of St Luke's Church and in 1947 he became rector of St James' Church in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. In 1955 he became rector of Christ Church in Bronxville, New York and professor of Pastoral Theology at the

General Theological Seminary The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) is an Episcopal seminary in New York City. Founded in 1817, GTS is the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church and the longest continuously operating Seminary in the Anglican Communi ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Bishop

Barrett was elected Bishop of Rochester during the second ballot on February 5, 1963, during a special convention in Rochester. He was consecrated on May 11, 1963, by Horace W. B. Donegan, Bishop of New York in Christ Church in Bronxville, New York. He retained the post till his retirement in 1969. After retirement he served as Assistant Bishop of Los Angeles and was bishop in residence at the Church of St Alban in

and Trinity Church in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

Ordination of women

Barrett is best remembered for ordaining four women to the priesthood on September 7, 1975, before the Episcopal Church had approved the ordination of women. The ordination took place at the St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church in

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The four women were Lee McGee (Street), Alison Palmer, Betty Rosenberg (Powell), and Diane Tickell, four women who became known as the Washington Four. After the ordination, Barrett was temporary banned from performing his duties. The General Convention approved the ordination of women a year later.Pace, Eric
"Bishop George W. Barrett, 92; Fostered Women's Ordination"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', New York, 07 December 2000. Retrieved on 11 March 2019.

Family

Barrett married his first wife Emma Dee Hanford in 1936 but the marriage ended in divorce. They had a daughter and a son together. He remarried in 1970 to Bettina Tvede.

Death

Barrett died in

on December 3, 2000, after stopping kidney dialysis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, George W. 1908 births 2000 deaths People from Iowa City, Iowa People from Pasadena, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni Episcopal Divinity School alumni Episcopal Divinity School faculty 20th-century American Episcopalians Episcopal bishops of Rochester 20th-century American clergy