Mary Adelia Rosamond McLeod was the first womanDiocesan Bishop in the Episcopal Church. She was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Vermont on June 5, 1993 at a Special Convention held at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington. Clergy and Lay Delegates selected her from among five nominees.
Mary Adelia Rosamond McLeod was born in Birmingham Alabama. Following high school, she attended the University of Alabama where she majored in History and was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. Following college, she married and raised five children. During this period, she was a member and Officer of the Junior League of Birmingham Alabama and a community volunteer. She was an active member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook Alabama. At age 39, she entered seminary. McLeod received an L.Th. degree from The School of Theology, in 1980. She ranked second in her class. She was ordained a deacon in June 1980 and ordained a priest in December of that same year. After ordination, she was Co-Rector of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Athens Alabama from 1980-1983 and Co-Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Charleston, West Virginia from 1983-1993. She also served as Archdeacon for southern West Virginia. Bishop McLeod holds honorary degrees from Smith College, Episcopal Divinity School, and the University of Charleston.
Accomplishments as Bishop
The Rt. Rev. Mary Adelia Rosamond McLeod served as Bishop of the Diocese of Vermont from 1993 until 2001 when she retired. Accomplishments during her Episcopacy include: On her retirement, one Vermont Episcopalian described Bishop McLeod as “Firm, Friendly, Focused, Fiscal, Funny, and of course Feminine.”
Her national Episcopal Church ministries included; Secretary of the House of Bishops, one of three Bishops appointed by the Presiding Bishop to respond to alleged Bishop misconduct, Board of Pastoral Development, Board of the Episcopal Women’s Caucus, Dialogue on Human Sexuality Committee, Board of Kanuga Conference Center, Board of Visitors for Episcopal Divinity School, Stewardship Consultation Committee, Vice-Chair of the Canons Committee, General Convention Planning Committee, Rules of Order Committee, Ad Hoc Committee to Study Insurance Issues, Judge, House of Bishops Trial Court, College for Bishops Committee, and Dispatch of Business Committee.
Bishop McLeod is a long-time supporter of full inclusion and rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender persons both in the church and in society. When the Vermont General Assembly debated proposed legislation to extend marriage benefits to gay and lesbian couples, she testified before the House Judiciary Committee urging approval of the Bill. "Such action will serve to strengthen social fabric and is not a threat to traditional marriage", she said to the Committee. She enunciated her views on LGBT rights in a Pastoral Letter titled, “Let the Church Be the First to Issue an Emancipation Proclamation.” In it, she stated, “Heterosexual and homosexual people are equally capable of entering into life-long unions of love, mutual support and fidelity.” Further, “God's great gift of love and the expression of that love cannot and should not be denied to those among us who happen to be homosexual.” She requested the letter be read in every Episcopal Church in Vermont.
Personal
Her published writings include a major piece in A Voice of Our Own: Leading American Women Celebrate the Right to Vote and a poem, “Granny’s Treasure,” in Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated. She is married to the Rev. Henry M. McLeod III and has five children and eight grandchildren.
