Barbara Clementine Harris

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The Rt. Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris (born 12 June 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was the first woman ordained a bishop in the Anglican Communion and in any branch of Christianity that believes in Apostolic Succession.

Prior to her ordination to the priesthood, Harris served as head of public relations for the Sun Oil Company.

Harris has long been active in civil rights issues, participating in freedom rides and marches in the 1960s. Throughout her various careers, she has been noted for her liberal views and her outspokenness.

She served as an acolyte in the service in which the first eleven women were ordained priests in the Episcopal Church on 29 July 1974. She herself was ordained a deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1980.

She was ordained Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts on 11 February 1989. She retired from her post in Boston in 2003. She was succeeded as bishop suffragan by another African American woman, Gayle Elizabeth Harris.

Currently, Barbara Harris serves as Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, and as president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company, publishers of The Witness magazine.