1. Sean Walter Rowe was born on February 16,1975 and is an American bishop who has served as the 28th Presiding Bishop and primate of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America since 2024.
15 Facts About Sean Rowe
1. 2.
Sean Rowe has served as a provisional bishop for both the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem and the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.
3.
Sean Rowe was the youngest Episcopal priest in the United States at the time of his ordination to the priesthood in 2000, and was the youngest member of the House of Bishops upon his consecration as a bishop in 2007 at the age of 32.
4.
Sean Rowe was active in the boy scouts and was elected class president in his final year at Hickory High School in Hermitage.
5.
Sean Rowe was elected Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania in 2007 at the age of 32, making him the youngest member of the House of Bishops.
6.
Sean Rowe's consecration took place on September 8,2007, and the consecrators included Katharine Jefferts Schori, Robert D Rowley, Mark Dyer, Ralph E Jones of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Arthur Williams and Wayne P Wright.
7.
In 2008, Sean Rowe was appointed to the theology faculty at Gannon University.
8.
In 2014 Sean Rowe was elected to serve as Provisional Bishop of Bethlehem in eastern Pennsylvania, receiving all 64 clergy votes and 99 of the 100 lay votes in the election.
9.
Sean Rowe continued to serve as Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania at the same time, until the Right Reverend Kevin D Nichols became Bishop of Bethlehem in 2018.
10.
In 2017 Rowe sent a letter, along with the Right Reverend R William Franklin of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York and the chairs of the standing committees of the dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, proposing the creation of "a unique partnership in which the two dioceses would share a single bishop, a single staff".
11.
Sean Rowe became Provisional Bishop of Western New York on April 7,2019, upon the retirement of the Right Reverend William Franklin, and in 2022 the two standing committees voted to extend the partnership by two years.
12.
Sean Rowe's election was later ratified by the laity and clergy in the House of Deputies.
13.
Sean Rowe was the youngest person to serve as presiding bishop when his nine-year term began on November 1,2024.
14.
On January 9,2025, Sean Rowe officiated at the state funeral of President Jimmy Carter, held at Washington National Cathedral.
15.
Sean Rowe is married to Carly Sean Rowe, with whom he has one daughter.