John Allin

The Most Reverend John Maury Allin
23rd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
Church	Episcopal Church
In office	1974-1985
Predecessor	John E. Hines
Successor	Edmond L. Browning
Personal details
Born	(1921-04-22)April 22, 1921 Helena, Arkansas
Died	March 6, 1998(1998-03-06) (aged 76) Jackson, Mississippi
Nationality	American
Previous post	Bishop of Mississippi (1966-1974)

John Maury Allin (April 22, 1921 – March 6, 1998) was an American Episcopal bishop. He was the 23rd presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was married to Ann and the couple had one son and three daughters.

Biography

Allin was born in Helena, Arkansas. He graduated from the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, and its divinity school, then called St. Luke's Seminary, in 1945. He received a Master of Education degree in 1962 from Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. He was ordained a deacon in 1944 and a priest in 1945.

He was bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Mississippi, with his consecration taking place at St. James Church in Jackson, Mississippi, from 1961 to 1966. He was elected bishop in 1966 and would serve until 1974. He was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, helping to create the Committee of Concern, an alliance of ecumenical and civic leaders that helped rebuild more than 100 black churches that had been bombed by white suprematistcs in Mississippi.

He served until he was elected Presiding Bishop in 1974. A theological conservative, he opposed women's ordination and offered to resign because of his opposition, in 1978. He was the last Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church to have opposed women's ordination and to have been pro-life on abortion. He retired in 1985.^[1]

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