Larry Gipson
Laurence A. Gipson (born October 23, 1942) is a former Episcopal priest and candidate for Catholic priesthood.
Gipson began attending Episcopal services as a teenager. He pursued theological studies with a Master of Divinity from Yale University.
Gipson served as Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982 to 1994. He left to head St Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas; the denomination's largest parish. While there he oversaw construction of a new $20 million church building. He retired in 2008.
After retirement, Gipson began studying Catholic theology, earning a second master's at the University of St Thomas in Houston. In 2012 Gipson was accepted as a priest candidate in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church whose purpose is to accommodate conversions of former Episcopal priests. He and his wife, Mary Frances, attend the Ordinariate's headquarters church in Houston, Our Lady of Walsingham.
References
- Garrison, Greg (November 29, 2012) "Former dean of Advent Cathedral in Birmingham and ex-rector of nation's largest Episcopal church jumps to Catholic Church" The Birmingham News