The Right Reverend

Chilton R. Knudsen
Assistant Bishop of Chicago
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DioceseChicago
Installed2021
Other post(s)VIII Bishop of Maine
Interim Bishop of Lexington
Assistant Bishop of New York
Assistant Bishop of Long Island
Assisting Bishop of Maryland
Assisting Bishop of Washington
Orders
OrdinationFebruary 24, 1981
by James W. Montgomery
ConsecrationMarch 28, 1998
by Frank T. Griswold
Personal details
Born
Chilton Abbie Richardson

(1946-09-29) September 29, 1946
NationalityAmerican
DenominationAnglican
SpouseMichael J. Knudsen (d. 2021)
Children1
Previous post(s)Assistant Bishop of Washington
Alma materChatham College
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

Chilton Abbie Richardson Knudsen (born September 29, 1946) [1] is a bishop of the Episcopal Church. Knudsen served as the diocesan bishop of Maine for a decade (1997-2008). Upon retiring from that position, she then served as interim bishop in the Diocese of Lexington (2011- 2012) and as assistant bishop in the Diocese of New York (2013-2014) and the Diocese of Long Island (2014-2015).[2] In May 2015, she began serving as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Maryland. On December 6, 2018, Knudsen announced her resignation from that temporary position after accepting a position as assisting bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington as of February 20, 2019.[3] In August, 2021 she was appointed assisting bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago due to Bishop Paula Clark having to delay her consecration for health reasons.[4]

Early life and education

Knudsen is the eldest of four siblings. Growing up in a U.S. Navy family, she spent a large part of her childhood overseas, including Guam, Japan, and the Philippines. She studied biology and ecology at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. She then attended the University of Pittsburgh for graduate studies and taught at her alma mater. Knudsen then taught in a nursing program at a community college and worked as a counselor at women's health clinics in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Ministry

As a young woman, Knudsen felt a calling to the priesthood, but at that time the Episcopal Church was not ordaining women. Following the decision of the church to ordain women, Knudsen attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Illinois, earning a M. Div. degree in 1980. She was ordained a deacon on June 9, 1980, and ordained to the priesthood on February 24, 1981. She first served in Bolingbrook, Illinois, working to establish a new mission there. She later worked as Pastoral Care Officer/Canon for Pastoral Care in the Diocese of Chicago.

Knudsen was elected the 8th Bishop of Maine in 1997 and remained in that post until retiring in September 2008. Presiding bishop Frank T. Griswold, former Maine bishop Frederick Wolf, and bishop Geralyn Wolf of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island were among the bishops consecrating Knudsen as the 938th bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church. Following her retirement, she served as a missionary in Haiti, as well as interim bishop in Lexington, Kentucky and assisting bishop in the dioceses of New York and Long Island.[5]

Following the resignation of Heather Cook as suffragan bishop to the Bishop of Maryland, the diocesan convention authorized diocesan bishop Eugene Sutton and the standing committee to hire an assisting bishop until a suffragan bishop could be nominated and elected.[6] Following the convention, the diocese announced that Knudsen had been hired as assisting bishop. The choice was seen as bold in that, like Cook, Knudsen also struggled with alcohol addiction and is a recovering alcoholic.[7] Knudsen became known for her expertise in conflict resolution and congregational development, as well as addiction and recovery, having worked as an addiction recovery counselor and also written two books.[8]

Knudsen assumed her post as Maryland's assistant bishop in late 2015, expecting to serve for one to two and a half years until a suffragan bishop was named.[9] In fact, her ministry in Maryland lasted three years before her "hail and farewell" notice (following Navy tradition) on December 6, 2018.[10] Bishop Knudsen served the Episcopal Church as one of the trustees of the Church Pension Fund, as well as a delegate to several General Conventions. During the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in July 2018, Chilton announced the readmission of the Episcopal Diocese of Cuba.[11]

On February 20, 2019, Knudsen began serving as the Assisting Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.[12]

Personal life

Knudsen lived with her husband, retired computer scientist Michael J. Knudsen in Catonsville, Maryland. Michael died on March 9, 2021. Their adult son lives in Portland, Maine.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Episcopal Café — Celebrating 25 years of Barbara Harris (Accessed 26 June 2015)
  2. ↑ "Maryland diocese names Chilton R. Knudsen as assistant bishop", Episcopal News Service, The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, 2015-05-14, archived from the original on 2015-05-29, retrieved 2015-05-21
  3. ↑ "Homepage".
  4. ↑ Bishop Chilton Knudsen Called as Assisting Bishop/Obispo Chilton Knudsen llamado como Obispo Asistente, Chicago: Episcopal Diocese of Chicago (published August 3, 2021), 3 August 2021, retrieved August 5, 2021
  5. ↑ "Bishops - the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland". Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  6. ↑ "Assistant Bishop Resolution" (PDF). Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. 2015-05-09. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  7. ↑ Ritter, Rick (12 May 2015), Episcopal Diocese Announces New Bishop After Cook Ousted, Baltimore: CBS Local Media (published 2015-05-12), retrieved 2015-05-21
  8. ↑ "Bishops - the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland". Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  9. ↑ Conner, Cheryl (2015-05-12), New assistant bishop hired to replace Heather Cook also struggled with addiction, Baltimore: Scripps Media, Inc, archived from the original on 2015-06-07, retrieved 2015-05-21
  10. ↑ "Bishop Chilton Knudsen bids the diocese farewell, announces post-retirement call - the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland". Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  11. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Bishop Knudsen speaks on Cuba. YouTube.
  12. ↑ "Chilton Knudsen appointed assisting bishop in Washington". 7 December 2018.
  13. ↑ http://episcopaldiocesemaryland.myworshiptimes22.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2016/03/CK-Long-Bio.pdf
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