Walter Cameron Righterwas a
bishop in the
Episcopal Church in the United States of America died he was 87.. He served the
Diocese of Iowa from 1972 to 1988. He then served as assistant bishop for the
Diocese of Newark from 1989 to 1991.
(October 23, 1923 – September 11, 2011)
Early life and Ministry
Righter was born in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He served with the field artillery in the
United States Army in
World War II where he saw action in the
Battle of the Bulge.
[2] He earned a bachelor’s degree from the
University of Pittsburgh in 1948 and a
Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from
Berkeley Divinity School in 1951. Righter married Nancy Tolbert
[2] and together they raised four children.
[3] He was ordained a
deacon on April 7, 1951 and a
priest on October 6 of the same year.
[4] The Rev. Righter served parishes in
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and
Georgetown, Pennsylvania [disambiguation needed 
] and then the Church of the Good Shepherd in
Nashua, New Hampshire. While in Nashua he also served as the Ecumenical Relations Chairman for the
Diocese of New Hampshire and on the Standing Committee on Structure of the National Convention.
[5]
Diocese of Iowa
Rev. Righter was elected the seventh Bishop of Iowa October 8, 1971 at a Special Convention held at
St. Paul’s Church in
Des Moines. He was consecrated a bishop by the
Most Rev. John Elbridge Hines, and the
Rt. Rev.s Charles F. Hall and
Gordon V. Smith on January 12, 1972. The consecration was an ecumenical service held at
St. Ambrose Cathedral of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines and the service used came from the
Services for Trial Use. He was the
671st bishop consecrated in the United States, and served as the Bishop of Iowa for 16 years.
When Bishop Righter came to Iowa there were 21,618 baptized people in
33 parishes, 36 organized missions and two unorganized missions. There
were 70 clergy serving the diocese. The numbers of people in the church,
like other mainline Protestant Churches, started to decline after that
time.
[5]
Because of the decline Righter conceived of a program called the Second
Mile, which he proposed to the Diocesan Convention in 1976. It was a
five year plan for renewal and evangelization in the church. The
culmination of the program in 1981 was a visit by the
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Robert Runcie.
The Diocese of Iowa developed relationships with Companion Dioceses
during Bishop Righter’s episcopate. In 1975 it initiated an informal
relationship with the
Diocese of the Central Philippines but the connection lapsed. In 1983 Righter appointed a Companion Diocese Committee and it developed a relationship with the
Diocese of Brechin in
Scotland. In 1990 another link was developed between the Dioceses of Iowa and Brechin with the
Diocese of Swaziland in
Africa.
Bishop Righter ordained the first woman in Iowa, the Rev. S. Suzanne Peterson, as a deacon on December 18, 1976 at
St. Paul’s Church in
Des Moines. The Rev. Anne Wagner Baker was received in 1978 from the
Diocese of Missouri to serve as assistant rector at
Trinity Church in
Iowa City and chaplain at the area hospitals.
[6]
In the later years of his episcopate in Iowa the diocese started a
program called Responding in Ministry and Mission, which provided funds
for social justice projects in Africa and across the diocese. Bishop
Righter retired as the diocesan bishop on December 31, 1988.
Diocese of Newark
Following his retirement Righter served as the assistant bishop to the Rt. Rev.
John Shelby Spong of the
Diocese of Newark from 1989-1991. While he was serving in
New Jersey he ordained Barry Stopfel a deacon in 1990. Rev. Stopfel was openly
gay
and living with his partner. Bishop Righter had also signed a statement
saying he supported the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.
[7]
This was a change of opinion for Bishop Righter. Shortly after becoming
a bishop he wrote that homosexuality was an illness that could be cured
and voted against the ordination of homosexuals in 1979.
[3]
Ten bishops brought a presentment, or a formal accusation, against
Bishop Righter accusing him of violating a doctrine of the church and
his own ordination vows. The presentment was supported by a quarter of
the church’s 300 bishops.
[7] On February 27, 1996 a hearing was held at the Cathedral Church of St. John in
Wilmington, Delaware. It was presided over by the Rt. Rev. Edward Jones of
Indianapolis and eight other bishops.
[7]
In an 7-1 decision on May 15, 1996 the court dismissed the charges
against Bishop Righter stating that the Episcopal Church "has no
doctrine prohibiting the ordination of homosexuals," and that Bishop
Righter did not contradict the "core doctrine" of the church.
[4][8] In 1998 Righter wrote a reflection on the trial and his life in a book titled
A Pilgrim's Way.
Later life and Death
Bishop Righter and his wife Nancy retired to Allstead, New Hampshire before moving to
Export, Pennsylvania. He was invited by the rector of Calvary Church in
Shadyside to celebrate weekday Eucharist and to be listed as part of the parish clergy. Bishop
Robert Duncan of the conservative
Diocese of Pittsburgh objected.
[3]
After the diocese split from the Episcopal Church in 2008 Righter
applied for canonical residency and was immediately welcomed. He was in
poor health in the months before his death from heart and lung ailments.
His funeral was held at Calvary Church and his interment was in the
parish's
columbarium.
[3]
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