wfn.org | Perry receives honorary degree from Virginia Theological Seminary

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2001-128

Perry receives honorary degree from Virginia Theological Seminary

     The Rev. David W. Perry, retired deputy for Ecumenical Relations of the 
Episcopal Church, was awarded an honorary Doctor in Divinity degree at the annual 
commencement ceremony of the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria on May 
17. The announcement was made by the Rev. Martha J. Horne, dean and president of 
the seminary.

     The citation noted his movement back and forth from the East Coast to the 
West Coast but cited his ecumenical role in the church as particularly important. 
"Among many duties, you cared for the increasingly complex and diverse ecumenical 
dialogues in which our church was engaging," the citation said.

     Perry is widely acknowledged to have been one of the most effective 
participants in helping to bring about the signing of the historic "Called to 
Common Mission," an agreement that inaugurated a full communion relationship 
between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on 
January 1. The citation noted his "patient shepherding of the long dialogue and 
intricate negotiations."

     Many people worked to achieve that goal, "but if there is one person above 
all others who really kept the process moving, it was David," noted a member of 
the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations. That view is 
shared by the former Presiding Bishop, Edmond L. Browning, who appointed Perry , 
and the current presiding bishop, Frank T. Griswold, who asked Perry to continue 
in the position.

     A graduate of the University of Oregon in Eugene and the General Theological 
Seminary in New York City, Perry spent most of his career in the service of the 
national Episcopal Church, serving as the church's Religious Education 
Coordinator, the Executive for Education, Evangelism and Ministry Development, 
and in his final national post in the ecumenical office. He interspersed his work 
for the national church with service in missions for the Diocese of Oregon, as 
assistant rector at Christ Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and as associate rector 
at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California.

     Virginia Theological Seminary is the largest of the 11 accredited seminaries 
of the Episcopal Church and was founded in 1823.

-based on a release by Alix Dorr