The Rt. Rev. David Charles Bowman

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Elected coadjutor in May 1986, the Rt. Rev. David Charles Bowman was consecrated on September 14 of that year, and became WNY’s ninth bishop upon Robinson’s retirement. Though Bishop Bowman feels history will be the best judge of his episcopacy, he says he always tried, first and foremost, to be a pastor to his people. For the Episcopal Church, the late 80s and 90s were fraught with internal division around questions of human sexuality. Bishop Bowmansays his greatest challenge was  “helping the Diocese to focus on its mission and ministry rather than on internal issues that divide us and divert attention from the Church’s real purpose.” During this time, WNY faced a declining population and struggling economy. Yet for the most part, the Diocese held its own. The number of adult communicants remained stable, but  two parishes were closed. The 150th Anniversary Celebration held at Chautauqua in 1988 and Belonging to God in 1995 were two of the high points of Bowman’s term. “At the Anniversary Service, I issued a challenge to the Diocese which resulted in the Special Convention of 1988, and ultimately in the Forward in Faith Campaign.” Forward in Faith raised $4 million, half of which stayed in local congregations and was used by many to make their buildings handicapped accessible. The other half was used by the Diocese to establish seminarian scholarships, help clergy in crisis and establish the Episcopal Campus Ministry at UB, among other things. The Campus Ministry was recognized nationally as one of the strongest programs reaching blacks and other minorities on campus. When Forward in Faith ended, the Diocese turned to the discernment process in order to learn the direction in which the Holy Spirit desired the Diocese to proceed. The result of that process was the Word & Vision Declaration, the focus of which had impact upon the election of the next bishop. Bishop Bowman worked to dispel racism and made it a policy to have minorities and women a part of every Diocesan decision making body. He was also an active member of the Buffalo Area Metropolitan Ministries and was honored by the group in December 1996 for his ecumenical work. He supported the Episcopal-Lutheran Concordat. Its initial defeat by the Lutherans was a major disappointment to him. He took much satisfaction when the agreement was finally approved, even though this took place after he had retired. Bishop Bowman often said that the Church’s greatest sin was parochialism. One of the primary goals of his episcopacy was to “give the Diocese a broader vision of what the Church is about and to make it feel a part of that greater whole.” The growth of Episcopal Community Services and Horns of Plenty during his episcopacy, and the decision to join in the Episcopal Life Wrap-Around Program are perhaps evidence of the success of that goal. Bishop Bowman announced his intention to retire on December 31, 1998, at Diocesan Conveniton in 1997, and a committee was soon formed to draft a profile of the diocese and initiate the search for the next Bishop of Western New York.

 

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