Browning, Edmond Lee

(b. Mar. 11, 1929). Twenty-fourth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. Browning received his B.A. in 1952 and his B.D. in 1954 from the University of the South. He was ordained deacon on July 2, 1954, and priest on May 23, 1955. Browning was an assistant at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, 1954-1956; rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Eagle Pass, Texas, 1956-1959; and priest-in-charge of All Souls Church, Okinawa, 1959-1963. From 1963 to 1965, he and his wife studied at the Language School in Kobe, Japan, before returning to Okinawa to serve St. Matthew's Church in Oruku until 1968. On Jan. 5, 1968, Browning was consecrated the first Missionary Bishop of Okinawa. He resigned on May 16, 1971, to become the Bishop-in-Charge of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe. He resigned this position on June l, 1974, to return to the United States and become executive for national and world mission at the Episcopal Church Center. On Aug. 1, 1976, he became the sixth Bishop of Hawaii. At the General Convention of 1985 Browning was elected Presiding Bishop and assumed that office on Jan. 1, 1986. He resigned as Bishop of Hawaii to become Presiding Bishop. His tenure as Presiding Bishop was characterized by a very strong international dimension and by a commitment that the Episcopal Church would have no outcasts. Browning retired as Presiding Bishop on Dec. 31, 1997.