Anthony Taylor

Anthony Basil Taylor (born April 24, 1954) is an American Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Little Rock since 2008. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma from 1980 to 2008, interrupted by studies in New York at Fordham University. Much of his career has focused on service to the Hispanic community.

Biography Early life and education Anthony Taylor was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 24, 1954,

Taylor attended parochial and public schools in Ponca, graduating from high school in 1972. He attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, for two years and then entered Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in history. From 1976 to 1980, Taylor attended the seminary at the Pontifical North American College in Rome while studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Taylor served as chair of the presbyteral council, the personnel board and the retirement board. He was a member of the archdiocesan finance council and a board member of the Mount St. Mary High School in Oklahoma City.

Bishop of Little Rock Taylor was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock by Pope Benedict XVI on April 10, 2008. He received his episcopal consecration on June 5, 2008, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock from Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran of Oklahoma City.

In June 2009, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) elected Taylor to the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), which provides legal services to low-income immigrants in the U.S. In 2010, he was a representative for the USCCB at a conference of regional bishops who endorsed a joint statement on immigration reform. In 2012, as member of the USCCB Committee on Migration, he led a delegation to the Middle East that reported on the plight of Syrian refugees. In 2014, the bishops elected Taylor to serve on the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

Taylor and the diocese were sued in April 2011 by a woman who alleged being manipulated into a sexual relationship by Reverend Charles U. Kanu, a Nigerian priest, at St. Peter the Fisherman Parish in Mountain Home, Arkansas. The plaintiff accused Taylor and the diocese of failing to protect her. Taylor had suspended Kanu in January 2011 when the accusations were reported.

In 2012, Taylor delivered a homily on how Catholics should approach the 2012 US presidential elections. Journalist Michael Sean Winters criticized some details but praised Taylor's ability to frame the issues without partisanship. In September 2018, Taylor released the results of a third-party review that identified 12 former priests of the diocese (one previously known) with credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. An update in February 2019 included priests accused elsewhere who had served in Little Rock.

Taylor in January 2018 declined to attend the March for Life in Little Rock, a protest event against abortion rights for women. He opposed the selection of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge as the keynote speaker due to her support of capital punishment.

At the annual USCCB meeting in November 2019, Taylor was elected to the board of Catholic Relief Services. He was elected to a second three-year term in 2022. Following the July 2021 release of Traditionis custodes, an apostolic letter from Pope Francis, Taylor announced that the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in his diocese would be limited to two parishes administered by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.