Assisting Bishop Rayford B. High, Jr. served as provisional bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth from November 2012 to June 2015. Prior to that, he served as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Texas from 2003-Spring 2012. He was canon for pastoral ministries and the diocesan liaison to St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital when he was elected bishop suffragan. As bishop suffragan, he oversaw congregations in the Northeast, San Jacinto and Southeast Convocations. Prior to becoming Canon for Pastoral Ministries, Bishop High served in parish ministry for 32 years, most recently as rector of St. Paul’s, Waco.
A native of Houston, Bishop High graduated from Bellaire High School; University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was elected to represent the diocese as a deputy at General Convention on eight occasions and was named Waco humanitarian of the year.
Bishop High is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hunting and fishing. Indeed, he is so well known for this that when he retired, the Skeet Range at Camp Allen in the Diocese of Texas was renamed the Bishop High Skeet Range.
Bishop High recently married the Rev. Canon Ann Dennison Normand. He and his late wife, Pat, had been married for more than 50 years when she died in 2015.
In addition to a home in Fort Worth, Bishop High has a “river house” in Brazoria on the San Bernard River. He continues to oversee the chaplains to the retired clergy and clergy spouses for the Diocese of Texas and is on the board of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in Houston.
Bishop High enjoys his work with our people and our churches! If you’d like to view photos of Bishop High around the diocese, click here.