RIP: Former Kansas and New York Bishop Richard Grein dies at 92
The Rt. Rev. Richard Grein, seventh bishop of Kansas and 14th bishop of New York, died Oct. 8. He was 92.
[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Richard Grein, the seventh bishop of Kansas and the 14th bishop of New York, died Oct. 8 at his home in Portland, Oregon. He was 92.
The announcement was made on Oct. 16 by New York Bishop Matthew Heyd via email.
A native of Bemidji, Minnesota, Grein was a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He then earned a Master of Divinity degree and a master’s degree in pastoral theology from Nashotah House Theological Seminary, where he later taught. He was an associate of the Order of the Holy Cross and served as a priest in churches in Minnesota and Kansas before he was elected bishop of Kansas in 1981 – the first person since 1895 to be elected bishop from the ranks of diocesan clergy.
There he ordained the first woman in the diocese and oversaw a revitalization of the diaconate. He also revamped the diocesan organizational structure, creating regional convocations, and he organized priests into a Gathering of Presbyters to offer advice. He also offered the first Chrism Mass during Holy Week in 1982 and led the diocese’s successful participation in the churchwide Venture in Mission fundraising campaign, resulting in the creation of Episcopal Social Services (now Breakthrough/ESS) in Wichita.
He left Kansas after he was elected bishop coadjutor of New York in 1988, and he became diocesan bishop there in 1989. During his 12 years as bishop of New York, he emphasized local ministry, creating Episcopal Charities and the congregational support plan.
He also focused on financial stewardship of the diocese by creating the diocesan trustees and expanding the diocesan endowment. He renewed the permanent diaconate, ordaining the first of these deacons in 1993.
He also was committed to ecumenical relationships and strengthened connections with the Orthodox Church, with special support to the Russian Orthodox Church and a friendship with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
Heyd noted that Grein, throughout his life, shared a deep connection with Benedictine spirituality and told the New York Times when he was installed, “I wish we could retrieve that spirituality with its sense of permanence and its love of creation.”
Heyd added, “Bishop Grein made a big difference in my own life. I came to New York to help start Episcopal Charities in 1995. His love of Benedictine spirituality deeply shaped my own experience of a balanced life of faith.”
Grein is survived by his children David, Margaret, Mary Leslie and Sara; his former wife Joan Atkinson; and two half sisters, Barbara and Diane. He is predeceased by his second wife, the Rev. Anne F.C. Richards.
A memorial service will take place in January in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
