Stephen Hays Jecko (January 15, 1940 – June 7, 2007) was the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Florida and the 892nd bishop in the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

, a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...

Early years

Stephen Jecko was born on January 15, 1940, in Washington, D.C. He learned to fly at an early age, unofficially soloed at 13 and was granted a private pilot's license at the minimum required age of 16.Simnacher, Joe
"Stephen Hays Jecko: Gave up engineering for Episcopal clergy"
Dallas Morning News, June 13, 2007 He graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, married his wife, Joan and the couple had two sons, Sean and Bryan.The Right Reverend Stephen Hays Jecko
Episcopal Diocese of Florida Jecko was called to the ministry while working as a draftsman. His workspace was near a window that looked down on a church altar with a painting of Jesus, which was his inspiration to join the clergy.

Parrishes

New York

In 1967, the

General Theological Seminary The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) is an Episcopal seminary in New York City. Founded in 1817, GTS is the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church and the longest continuously operating Seminary in the Anglican Commu ...

granted Jecko a Master of Divinity degree and he began serving in Binghamton, New York as

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at Christ Church. Two years later, he moved to Plainview, New York at St. Margaret's Church for five years as priest-in-charge. He was then hired by St. James' Episcopal Church in Warrenton, Virginia as associate rector for three years, followed by eight years as rector at Zion Church in Rome, New York. During his time there, he finished his dissertation and was awarded a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1982 from

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unite ...

.Bjordal, Joe & Schjonberg, Mary Frances
"Bishops Stephen Jecko, Frederick Putnam die on same day"
Episcopal life online, June 8, 2007

Florida

Reverend Jecko was called to be rector St. Michael's Church in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

, in 1984 and served there until he was named Assistant to Bishop Cerveny in 1990. When Bishop Cerveny announced his plans to retire, Reverend Jecko was elected

Coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "c ...

on December 11, 1993, and

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on May 7, 1994, as the 7th Bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Florida The Episcopal Diocese of Florida is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). It originally comprised the whole state of Florida, but is now bounded on the west by the Apalachicola River, on the north by the Geor ...

. Diocese of Florida, Previous Bishops-Frank Cerveny Soon after his consecration as bishop, he was awarded a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

from the General Theological Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary, then a third D.D. from Sewanee: The University of the South less than a year later.

Episcopacy

During his 10 years as bishop of Florida, Bishop Jecko served as board chairman for ''Episcopal Children's Services Inc.'', board member for Episcopal High School of Jacksonville and Trustee at

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

, the official

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

of the Episcopal Church, USA. He supported ''Christian Healing Ministries'', created by Doctors Francis and Judith MacNutt in 1981, which was nurtured by his predecessor, Bishop Cerveny."JCF Staff & Board, Trustees"
Community Foundation of Jacksonville The bishop has an obligation to visit every parish in the diocese each year. He used his pilot's license to help fulfill that duty by flying to distant parishes. Bishop Jecko was a member of the

Order of the Holy Cross The Order of the Holy Cross is an international Anglican monastic order that follows the Rule of St. Benedict. History The order was founded in 1884 by the Rev. James Huntington, an Episcopal priest, in New York City. The order moved to Maryl ...

serving as a priest associate, and the International Order of St. Luke the Physician, volunteering as a chaplain. The election and consecration of

Gene Robinson Vicky Gene Robinson (born May 29, 1947) is a former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor in 2003 and succeeded as bishop diocesan in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he served as Canon to the ...

, an openly gay priest in the Episcopal church, was controversial, resulting in heated debate and intense feelings throughout the Episcopal Church in the United States. Bishop Jecko conducted a series of discussions and meetings for clergy, vestries and parishioners in an attempt to resolve the issue that was dividing conservative and liberal Christians. Privately, he was opposed the church's position on the issue, and decided to leave the diocese rather than enforce the will of the national church.

Retirement

In 2004, he "retired" as Bishop of Florida and moved to

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, where he accepted an offer to be Assistant Bishop at the

Episcopal Diocese of Dallas The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas is a diocese of the Episcopal Church (United States) which was formed on December 20, 1895, when the Missionary District of Northern Texas was granted diocesan status at the denomination's General Convention ...

. The Jessie Ball duPont Fund named Bishop Jecko as their Clerical Trustee. He was also a member of the National Advisory Board for ''Christian Healing Ministries'' and assisted the American Anglican Council by acting as liaison for congregations wanting to break away from the Episcopal Church and Global South Anglican bishops offering to provide oversight.ANGLICAN USA BRIEFS
Christian Challenge Bishop Jecko was also a leader in the creation of the Anglican Communion Network in 2004.Brumley, Jeff
"Bishop led without losing his humanity"
Florida Times-Union, June 9, 2007 Bishop Jecko was diagnosed with cancer in early 2007, and the treatments appeared to be successful. However, complications developed quickly and he died on June 7, 2007, at Baylor Regional Medical Center.

References

External links

Episcopal Diocese of Florida-Bishop JeckoJessie Ball duPont Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jecko, Stephen Hays 1940 births 2007 deaths People from Washington, D.C. Syracuse University alumni General Theological Seminary alumni 20th-century American Episcopalians Episcopal bishops of Florida Episcopal bishops of Dallas 20th-century American clergy