Bishop Michael Curry has surgery to insert pacemaker

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the first African American leader of The Episcopal Church, has undergone surgery to insert a pacemaker and is recovering at home.

Curry, who turns 71 this month, had the surgery on Friday, which the Episcopal Church’s Office of Public Affairs reported on Monday was a success. The bishop was discharged from the hospital on Saturday.

“Bishop Curry will continue tending to light-duty work tasks until released to travel and increase his duties. Updates will be provided as necessary,” explained the Public Affairs Office. “Please continue praying for Bishop Curry, his family, and his medical team.”

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The pacemaker came as part of the treatments Curry is receiving for atrial fibrillation and has been the latest in a series of health issues that has befallen the denominational leader over the past year.

Last September, the presiding bishop underwent surgery to remove his right adrenal gland and an attached mass, which had been the source of two past instances of internal bleeding.

In January, Curry had surgery to handle a reoccurrence of subdural hematoma that he had been experiencing, with doctors using a catheter to implant a metal coil that prevents blood from pooling within the brain.

“Up to this point, we have been responding to emergency situations, but this is a positive and proactive approach designed to get these bleeds under control. The procedure has a very good success rate, and I am hopeful this will address the underlying issues,” explained Curry in a statement earlier this year.

“I continue to be so thankful for all your prayers, which have been working in tandem with my medical team’s excellent care. I count it a blessing to be in an area with good research hospitals and in a loving church with such faithful, prayerful support.”

Curry was installed as presiding bishop in November 2015, becoming the first African American to hold the position in the Episcopal Church’s history.

At his 2015 consecration, which was held at the Washington National Cathedral in the District of Columbia, Curry declared that “God is not finished with” the denomination.

“What God has done in the past, God can do again. God, Who parted Red Seas, can do it all over again. The God Who raised the dead to life can do it all over again,” Curry stated.

Curry garnered global attention when he preached at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, making it one of the most-watched sermons in human history.

“We were made by a power of love,” Curry said at the time. “Our lives were meant and are meant to be lived in that love. That’s why we are here. Ultimately the source of love is God Himself. The source of all of our lives.”

“Jesus did not get an honorary doctorate for dying. He wasn’t getting anything out of it. He gave up his life; He sacrificed His life for the good of others, for the well-being of the world, for us. That’s what love is.”

Curry’s series of health issues come as he’s nearing the end of his nine-year term as presiding bishop, with a successor slated to replace him this summer.