James W. Montgomery

James Winchester Montgomery (May 29, 1921 – October 23, 2019) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church in Chicago from 1971 to 1987. He served in the US Navy during World War II, before entering Seminary and serving the church in the Chicago area from 1949 to his retirement in 1987.

Early life and education Montgomery was born on May 29, 1921, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of James Edward Montgomery and Evelyn Lee Winchester. Raised in the Rogers Park neighborhood, he graduated from Sullivan High School, then attended Northwestern University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1943.

During World War II, Montgomery served as a lieutenant in the US Navy. In 1946, he entered the General Theological Seminary, and earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology in 1949. He received degrees of Doctor of Sacred Theology from his alma mater and Doctor of Divinity from Nashotah House in 1963. In 1969, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Shimer College.

Ordination Montgomery was ordained deacon on June 18, 1949, by Bishop Wallace E. Conkling of Chicago at the Church of St. Paul by the Lake in Chicago, near his parents' Rogers Park home. He was ordained a priest a few months later. Appointed as curate of St. Luke's Church in nearby Evanston, Illinois, Montgomery served two years, then accepted a position as rector of St. John the Evangelist Church in Flossmoor, Illinois, where he remained eleven years. Montgomery did not support the ordination of women, which began in the Episcopal church during his tenure, but did allow for women to be ordained in the Chicago diocese by the bishop suffragan, Quintin E. Primo Jr. Bishop Montgomery served as a deputy to two General Conventions, as well as a trustee of the Church Pension Fund and navigated his diocese through significant liturgical revisions. The community room of the historic Episcopal Church of the Atonement and Parish House, of which he was a longtime parishioner, is named in his honor.