The Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells was selected Saturday as the new Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi in an historic election at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Ridgeland.
Wells was selected on the fourth ballot and becomes the first woman and first Black person to become the Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi.
This continues a trend in Mississippi as Sharma Lewis was elected as the first Black woman to become bishop of the Mississippi United Methodist Church in November of 2022.
Wells will replace Brian Seage, who led the diocese through the COVID-19 pandemic and Jackson water crisis. Seage was elected in 2014 and succeeded Bishop Duncan Gray in 2015, upon Gray’s retirement.
“This is a historic moment and this marks a new chapter in our history,” Seage said. “It’s the first time we have elected a woman and the first time we have elected an African American as the bishop of the diocese. I think this speaks dramatically for this movement within our church.”
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