Sean Rowe (bishop)

Sean Walter Rowe (born February 16, 1975 ) is the eighth and current Episcopal Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. He is also bishop provisional of the Diocese of Western New York. On June 26, 2024, he was elected to succeed Michael Curry as the 28th Presiding Bishop-elect of the Episcopal Church, the youngest person ever elected to that role.

Education and early career
Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rowe earned a B.A. in history from Grove City College, an M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in organizational learning and leadership from Gannon University. He was, at the age 25, the youngest Episcopal priest in the United States at the time of his ordination, in December 2000. He was rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Franklin, Pennsylvania in the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2007.

Election and consecration
At the time of his election, Rowe was 32 years old, and would become the youngest member of the House of Bishops. Rowe was elected on the first ballot from a slate of four candidates, with 64 lay votes and 29 clergy votes. The election was at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Erie, Pennsylvania on May 19, 2007. In October 2009, Rowe was granted an honorary doctorate in divinity from the Virginia Theological Seminary. Rowe received an appointment to the Theology faculty at Gannon University in 2008.

Rowe was consecrated on September 8, 2007. The consecrators included Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Rowe's predecessor Bishop Robert D. Rowley, retired Bishop Mark Dyer of the Diocese of Bethlehem, Ralph E. Jones, bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Arthur Williams, retired Bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Ohio, and Wayne P. Wright, bishop of Delaware.

In 2022, Rowe was awarded the House of Deputies Medal by House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings.

Diocese of Bethlehem
In March 2014, Rowe was elected as the Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem in the eastern part of the state. An election for bishop requires a two-thirds majority: Rowe earned 64 of 64 clergy votes and 99 of 100 layperson votes. He continued to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania during his time as bishop provisional of Bethlehem, which ended when Bishop Kevin Nichols was consecrated as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem on September 15, 2018.

Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania & Diocese of Western New York partnership
On September 22, 2017 Rowe, along with Bishop R. William Franklin of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York and the chairs of the standing committees of the Dioceses Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, sent a letter presenting an idea to "create a unique partnership in which the two diocese would share a single bishop, a single staff."

Following a process of listening sessions held across the region, both standing committees approved an arrangement to "share a bishop and staff for five years while exploring a long-term relationship" in May 2018. A joint convention of dioceses was held on October 26, 2018 in Niagara Falls, and the plan was approved by a wide margin.

Rowe became provisional bishop of Western New York on April 7, 2019, upon the retirement of Bishop Franklin. In 2022, the Standing Committees of the Dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania voted to extend the partnership by two years.

Presiding Bishop
On April 2, 2024, Rowe was announced as a candidate to succeed Michael Curry as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, at the election to be held at the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 26, 2024.

Meeting at Christ Church Cathedral, Louisville, the House of Bishops elected Rowe with 89 of 158 votes cast on the first ballot. His election was later ratified by the laity and clergy in the House of Deputies. He will be the youngest person to serve as Presiding Bishop when his nine-year term begins on November 1, 2024. In a break with tradition, Rowe announced that his installation will be held at the Episcopal Church's headquarters in New York, rather than at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.