Mary Gray-Reeves (born July 5, 1962) was the third bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real The Diocese of El Camino Real is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, located in northern and central California. The diocese includes the cities of San Jose (the see city), Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Luis Obispo ...

Early life and education

Mary Gray-Reeves was born in

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

, in 1962 and grew up in the Miami neighborhood of

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

, where she attended St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. After high school, she attended

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, from which she received 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 years ...

degree in history in 1987. After her decision to seek holy orders, she and her husband, Michael Reeves, went to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

because she could attend theological school at

St John's College, Auckland The College of St John the Evangelist or St Johns Theological College, is the residential theological college of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The site at Meadowbank in Auckland is the base for theological educatio ...

, while he could attend to his business which involved much travel in the western

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. In 1994 she graduated from St John's and received the equivalent of the American

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...

degree.

Career

After she and her husband returned to California, she was ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

and then

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in the

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is a community of 48,874 Episcopalians in 147 congregations, 40 schools, and 18 major institutions, spanning all of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and part of Rive ...

. After being assistant rector of two churches in that diocese, she and her husband returned to the Miami area where she became rector of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in

Miami Lakes Miami Lakes is a suburb of Miami, an incorporated town and former census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. US Census, 31,628 people live in Miami Lakes. History The development was constructed by Sengra (now the ...

. After six years at St. Margaret's she was appointed archdeacon for deployment for the

Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida The Episcopal Church in Southeast Florida is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) which extends from Key West, Florida on the south, to Jensen Beach on the north and inland to Clewiston on the west. Major ci ...

. On June 16, 2007, the Diocese of El Camino Real at convention in

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

elected Mary Gray-Reeves its third bishop. She was consecrated on November 10, 2007. At the 2008 meeting of the

Lambeth Conferences The Lambeth Conference is a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place at Lambeth in 1867. As the Anglican Communion is an international associati ...

of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, Bishops Mary Gray-Reeves of El Camino Real,

Michael Perham Michael Perham (born 16 March 1992) is an English sailor and adventurer from Potters Bar. In 2007 at the age of 14 he became the youngest person in the world to successfully sail across the Atlantic Ocean single-handedly, beating the record se ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, and Gerard Mpango of Western Tanganyika formed a partnership of their dioceses. This successful companion diocese relationship has resulted in an annual round of visits between the bishops and delegations to each other's home countries and the 2011 book ''The Hospitality of God'' by Mary Gray-Reeves and Michael Perham. On 30 June 2010, the three bishops wrote a joint letter to

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

, then

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, about what they were learning. In 2010, Bishop Sadock Makaya succeeded Bishop Gerard Mpango in the partnership. On March 15, 2018, Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves announced her intention to end her ministry as Bishop of El Camino Real on January 11, 2020.

Family

Mary Gray-Reeves and her late husband, Michael Reeves, have two children, Katherine and Dorian.

References

External links

Diocese of El Camino Real website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray-Reeves, Mary Women Anglican bishops 1962 births Living people People from Coral Gables, Florida People educated at St John's College, Auckland Religious leaders from Florida 20th-century American Episcopalians 21st-century Anglican bishops in the United States California State University, Fullerton alumni Episcopal bishops of El Camino Real

Early life and education

Career

Family

See also

References

External links