John Brooke Mosley Jr. (October 18, 1915 – March 4, 1988) was bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Delaware The Episcopal Church in Delaware, formerly known as the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, is one of 108 dioceses making up the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It consists of 33 congregations or parishes in an area the same as the St ...

, serving as diocesan from 1955 to 1968.

Early life and education

Mosley was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on October 18, 1915. the son of John Brooke Mosley, a chemist, and Bertha Alice Urwiler. He was raised in

Willow Grove, Pennsylvania Willow Grove is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. A community in Philadelphia's northern suburbs, the population was 15,726 at the 2010 census. It is located in Upper Dublin Township, Abington To ...

. He graduated high school in 1932 and worked as a salesperson and then as a laborer in a cemetery. He then studied at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, where he also worked at the university library and as a watchman. 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 ...

in 1937. Later, he then also studied at the Episcopal Theological Seminary from where he graduated in 1940 with a Bachelor of Divinity. In 1941 he also studied psychiatry at the Washington School of Psychiatry. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...

in 1954 and another from Colgate University in 1971, a

Doctor of Sacred Theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Roman Catholic C ...

from Hobart University in 1956 and another from Dickinson College in 1973, and a

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1971.

Ordained Ministry

Mosley was ordained deacon in June 1940 and became assistant at the Church of St Barnabas in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. In May 1941 he was ordained priest and a year later he became rector of St Barnabas'. In 1944, he became director of the Department of Social Relations of the Diocese of Washington, while in 1948 he was appointed Dean of St John's Cathedral in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, where he remained till 1953.

Bishop

Mosley was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Delaware on June 29, 1953, during a special convention which took place at Immanuel Church in

. He was consecrated on October 28, 1953, in St John's Cathedral by Presiding Bishop

Henry Knox Sherrill Henry Knox Sherrill (November 6, 1890 – May 11, 1980) was an Episcopal bishop. He was the 20th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1947 to 1958, having previously served as Bishop of Massachusetts (1930-1947). Biography Henry Kno ...

, co-consecrated by

Henry Hobson Henry Wise Hobson II (May 16, 1891 - February 10, 1983), was the bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. When he was consecrated at the age of 38 in 1930, he was the youngest Episcopal bishop in the United States, and at his death, he ...

of Southern Ohio and Arthur R. McKinstry of Delaware. He succeeded as diocesan bishop on January 1, 1955, and was installed on January 16, 1955. He resigned his see on October 1, 1968. Between 1968 and 1970 he served as deputy of the Executive Council for overseas relations. He then served as president of Union Theological Seminary from 1970 to 1974, where he strove to increase the student body with minority people and women. He was the first president of the seminary to come from a non-Calvinist tradition. He also served for a time as Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania from 1975 till 1982 and then as chairman of Planned Parenthood in Southeastern Pennsylvania from 1984 to 1987. Mosley was an early, vocal supporter of the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

in the 1950s and an early critic of the

Vietnam war The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

in the 1960s. He died of a heart attack in

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

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 ...

whilst boarding a train for Philadelphia, on March 4, 1988."Bishop Brooke Mosley, 72, Dies; Ex-Head of Theological Seminary"
''

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, 06 March 1988. Retrieved on 03 November 2019.

Personal and family life

He married Betty Mary Wall at St. Thomas Church, Whitemarsh, Fort Washington, PA, on 6 June 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosley, J. Brooke 1915 births 1988 deaths Clergy from Philadelphia Temple University alumni Episcopal Divinity School alumni 20th-century American Episcopalians Episcopal bishops of Delaware 20th-century American clergy