Right: The Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn, who served as bishop suffragan in Connecticut from 1987 to 1993 and then as bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe through 2001, right, and his wife, Anne Long Wheeler Rowthorn, left. Photo: Yale University Institute of Sacred Music
[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn, who served as bishop suffragan in Connecticut from 1987 to 1993 and then as bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe through 2001, died on July 23. He was 91.
His death was announced by the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.
“Bishop Rowthorn is remembered by many in Connecticut for his wisdom, humor, kindness, and grace,” the diocese said in its announcement.
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe also posted a statement marking Rowthorn’s death. “We give thanks to God for Jeffery’s passionate service to our church; for his graceful manner and poetic life; and most of all for his wise guidance that leads us still on the path toward the future into which God is calling us,” the convocation said.
Rowthorn was born April 9, 1934, in Newport, Gwen, Wales. After graduating from Cambridge University in England with a degree in modern languages, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1961, graduating magna cum laude. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1962 and to the priesthood in 1963 in the Church of England’s Diocese of Southwark.
After ordination, he served his curacy at St. Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, from 1962 to 1965. He then served as rector of the Benefice of Garsington in the Diocese of Oxford until 1968. While in parish ministry, Rowthorn was a lecturer at Ripon College Cuddeston, a theological college in Oxford.
In 1968, Rowthorn moved to New York City to serve as chaplain and dean of Union Theological Seminary’s Master of Divinity ministerial training program. He then became the first Bishop Goddard Chair in Pastoral Theology at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and served in that position for 14 years. While at Yale, he served as a founding faculty member of Yale’s Institute for Sacred Music.
Rowthorn was consecrated as Connecticut’s bishop suffragan in 1987. Six years later, he was appointed by the House of Bishops as bishop of the Paris, France-based Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. He also served as assistant bishop of the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe from 1995 until retiring in 2001.
As bishop in Europe, he led the diocesan pilgrimage to Canterbury in 1997 to celebrate the 1,400th anniversary of St. Augustine’s arrival there, starting the diocese’s Canterbury Cross tradition. He also prioritized providing resources for baptisms and elevating young Christians to serve in the church and worldwide.
After retiring, Rowthorn moved back to Connecticut.
Rowthorn also served on the advisory board of “Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life,” a journal that included the voices of Christian leaders worldwide that remained in publication until 2017.
Rowthorn was married to his wife, Ann Long Wheeler Rowthorn, for 60 years until she died in 2023. They married in 1963 in Salem, Massachusetts. The Rowthorns, both passionate about environmental justice, co-wrote a book of prayers for the environment, “God’s Good Earth: Praise and Prayer for Creation,” in 2018.
In his spare time, Rowthorn wrote many hymns, most notably “Lord, You Give the Great Commission.”
Rowthorn died in Bloomfield, Connecticut. He is survived by three children and seven grandchildren. His burial service is scheduled for Aug. 9 at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Connecticut.
“May God – whom Jeffery was certain spoke Welsh as a first language – receive him into the chorus of eternal praise that rings across the ages,” the convocation’s statement said.