Gray Temple


Charles Gray Temple was eleventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, serving from 1961 to 1982.

Early Life and Education

Temple was born on March 13, 1914 in Lewiston, Maine, the son of the Reverend Charles Hosea Temple, a minister of the First Universalist Church of the Redeemer, and Mary Eleanor Gray. He was educated at the Warren, Rhode Island high school, and then at Brown University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1935. He graduated from the Virginia Theological Seminary with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1938.

Ordained Ministry

Temple was ordained deacon on May 29, 1938 by Bishop James De Wolf Perry of Rhode Island, and priest in June 1, 1939 by Bishop Edwin A. Penick of North Carolina. From 1938 till 1940, he served as curate at Calvary Church and the Edgecombe County missions in Tarboro, North Carolina. On January 29, 1940, he married Maria Louisa Drane, and together had three sons. From 1940 till 1941 he served as rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia. In 1941, he became priest-in-charge of St John's Church in Battleboro, North Carolina, and rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He retained the former post till 1947 and the latter till 1953. In 1953, he transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina to serve as rector of St Peter's Church. Between 1955 and 1961, he served as rector of Trinity Church in Columbia, South Carolina.

Bishop

On September 27, 1960, Temple was elected on the fifth ballot as Bishop of South Carolina, during a special convention held in the Church of the Holy Comforter in Sumter, South Carolina. He was consecrated on January 11, 1961, in St Luke's and St Paul's Church, Charleston, South Carolina, by Presiding Bishop Arthur C. Lichtenberger. Bishop Temple's episcopacy is well known for its progressive moves in the Diocese of South Carolina, notably regarding racial equality, and the ceasing of segregated churches and the archdeaconry for black people. He also intertwined the ordination of women in the diocese and adapted the new prayer book for the diocese. He also worked in securing the ties of the diocese with the Episcopal Church, something which was challenged after Temple's retirement in 1982. In 1963, he choose the Parish Church of St Luke and St Paul in Charleston, South Carolina as the diocesan cathedral. Temple died on October 27, 1999, at the South Carolina Episcopal Retirement Community at West Columbia, South Carolina.