Dear Siblings in Christ,
We write to you today with the news of the Right Reverend Jeffery Rowthorn’s death. Bishop Rowthorn entered into Eternal Life on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Bishop Rowthorn served as Bishop Suffragan in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut from 1987-1993.
Bishop Rowthorn was born April 9, 1934, in Newport, Gwent, Wales. A graduate of Cambridge University, he received his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1961. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1962 and to the priesthood in 1963 in the Diocese of Southwark of the Church in England.
After ordination, he held the Bishop Goddard Chair in Pastoral Theology at Yale and Berkeley Divinity School for 14 years. He was the first to hold this chair. He was also a founding faculty member of Yale Divinity School’s Institute for Sacred Music. From 1994-2001, he served as the last bishop of the Convocation to be elected by the House of Bishops to serve in Europe.
Bishop Rowthorn was an Advisory Board Member of Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life. He, along with his wife Anne, was a champion of environmental justice, together writing God’s Good Earth: Praise and Prayer for Creation in 2018. He was also a prolific writer of hymns, his most well-known being “Lord, You Give the Great Commission.”
Bishop Rowthorn is remembered by many in Connecticut for his wisdom, humor, kindness, and grace. We are comforted in this time by the words of Bishop Rowthorn: “Lord, you bless with words assuring: ‘I am with you to the end.’ Faith and hope and love restoring, may we serve as you intend, and, amid the cares that claim us, hold in mind eternity.”
The rite of the Burial of the Dead will be celebrated at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, CT, on August 9, 2025 at 11 AM.
Yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello, Bishop Diocesan & The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan
Notices of Condolence
Please send notices of condolence to:
Perry Rowthorn
43 Walbridge Road
West Hartford, CT 06119