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Retired Episcopal Bishop Lipscomb Joining Catholic Church

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 21, 2007

TAMPA - Retired Bishop John Lipscomb is leaving the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida to join the Catholic Church.

Lipscomb, 57, was spiritual leader of about 33,000 Episcopal congregants from Brooksville to Marco Island from 1997 until this spring. He announced late last year that he would be stepping down because of health issues. He has Parkinson's disease and malaria.

In a letter to the diocese, Lipscomb said, he had asked the diocese "to be released from my ordination vows and the obligations and responsibilities of a member of the House of Bishops. I have taken this step in order to be received into the Catholic Church….Through a long season of prayer and reflection Marcie and I have come to believe this is the leading of the Holy Spirit and God's call to us for the next chapter of our lives."

Robert Lynch, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, said in a statement, "I have had the blessing to accompany Bishop Lipscomb on this journey for some time as have two of our senior priests with whom he has been in close contact. It is my fervent hope and prayer that both he and his wife will find spiritual peace among us."

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