In a milestone for the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Sarah K. Fisher has been consecrated as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina, becoming the first openly lesbian bishop to lead an Episcopal diocese headquartered in the Southern United States.
Fisher, 54, was consecrated at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern in a service presided over by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe. Her consecration follows her election on the third ballot at the diocese’s annual convention, where she earned a majority of votes from both clergy and lay delegates.
Fisher was formally ordained and consecrated recently as the ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina, during a service at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern, North Carolina.
The service was led by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, who served as chief consecrator, with Bishop Robert Wright of the Diocese of Atlanta preaching. The ceremony was attended by clergy and lay leaders from across the denomination.
A spokesperson for the Episcopal Church told The Christian Post that Fisher is believed to be “the first openly lesbian Episcopal Church bishop for a diocese based in the South.” She is also the first woman to serve as chief pastor of the Diocese of East Carolina.
Fisher, 54, was elected last November at the diocese’s convention in Goldsboro. She secured election on the third ballot with 36 votes among clergy and 70 votes among laity, achieving the required simple majority in both orders.
The other nominees were the Rev. Brian Cannaday, rector of St. Christopher Episcopal Church in League City, Texas, and the Rev. Caleb Lee, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, who withdrew after the second ballot. Fisher succeeded Bishop Rob Skirving, who retired after 11 years of leadership.
Prior to her election, Fisher served as rector of St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church in Marietta, Georgia. She was ordained in 2005 in the Diocese of Atlanta after earning a B.A. from Agnes Scott College and a Master of Divinity from The General Theological Seminary.
She now oversees 66 parishes and two college campus ministries stretching from Interstate 95 to North Carolina’s coast.
Fisher is married to the Rev. Mandy Brady, also an Episcopal priest, for 25 years. She is the third partnered lesbian to be elected bishop in the Episcopal Church, following Bishop Mary Glasspool (2009) and Bishop Bonnie Perry of Michigan (2019), and the seventh openly LGBT bishop since Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003.
Ahead of her election, Fisher described herself as leading a “very purple congregation” and emphasized relationship over division.
“I serve a very purple congregation. We are not unanimous in politics or in how much noise children should make in church or what brand of coffee to serve,” she wrote in responses to the diocese. “My approach is to dive into a relationship with Christ, relationship with one another. Getting proximate to those who differ from us is vital to seeing the inherent dignity and divinity that dwells in every person.”
In a statement after her election, she said: “I am in awe that y’all have elected me. I am beyond honored… My friends, as we stand on the precipice of this new adventure together, may we hold fast to the promise that God’s power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”
The Episcopal Church has increasingly embraced LGBTQ+ inclusion in recent decades, voting in 2015 to allow same-sex marriage in Episcopal churches.
