Loading...The first to head two dioceses simultaneously, Bishop Ted Gulick made another bit of history last month just as his dual episcopacies ended. He became the first bishop in the history of the Fort Worth diocese to ordain a woman to the priesthood.
On Sunday, Nov. 15, Gulick ordained the Rev. Susan Slaughter a priest during a service at St. Luke’s in the Meadow in Fort Worth, where she has served as a deacon since 2002. She also has become the first woman in her diocese to serve as the rector of a parish.
Her ordination represents one of Gulick’s final acts of service as a bishop in the Diocese of Fort Worth. It comes one day after he, acting on behalf of the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, installed his successor, the Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas. No longer the provisional bishop of Fort Worth, Gulick presided over Slaughter’s ordination at Ohl’s request. The new provisional bishop will serve Fort Worth for at least one year, possibly two, according to the diocese’s Web site.
Gulick became Fort Worth’s provisional bishop on Feb. 7 to help reconstitute the diocese, which had been split since November 2008 when its diocesan convention decided to leave the Episcopal Church. Commuting between Fort Worth and Kentucky, Gulick served each diocese half time.
Except for a couple of trips involving litigation in Fort Worth, Gulick once again is serving the Diocese of Kentucky full time until his retirement in August.
