The Diocese elected a liturgist, ecumenist, and the son of a bishop to become the ninth Bishop of Georgia. Henry I. Louttit, Jr. was born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1938, to the last bishop of the Diocese of South Florida before it was divided into three new dioceses. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of the South who married Jayne Arledge Northway in 1962. Louttit was ordained a deacon in 1963 on graduation from the Virginia Theological Seminary and a priest in 1964. He served first as the Vicar of Trinity Church in Statesboro, then as the rector of Christ Church in Valdosta where he served from 1967 until his election to the episcopacy in 1995. Louttit became the 9th Bishop of Georgia on January 21, 1995.
In his first address as bishop to Diocesan Convention, Bishop Louttit stated he believed the ministry of the bishop to be: an encourager, friend, and prayer supporter; the link between congregations in our diocese, throughout the world, and back through time to the apostles; the chief administrator, planner, and visioner; trouble-shooter, and reconciler; the sharer of family stories, like the grandfather of the family; an icon model of Christian service.
Long involved in liturgical renewal of the Episcopal Church, the bishop also had served a term as President of the Georgia Christian Council. He attended the Lambeth Conferences of 1998 and 2008 in Canterbury, England.
Bishop Louttit’s convention addresses focused on evangelism and church growth, conveying a firm concept of the ministry of “all the baptized.” Bishop Louttit promoted congregational development and fostered church planting. In Evans County, Holy Comforter was established from Saint Paul’s, Augusta; King of Peace was established in Kingsland, and St. Luke’s started in Rincon. A mission congregation, Our Savior, met for a time in the Chapel at Honey Creek. That mission and another, St. Stephen’s in Lee County, eventually closed.
In order that congregations which could not support a full-time priest would have the Eucharist every Sunday, Bishop Louttit initiated the training and formation of persons locally for ordination as bi-vocational priests, without seminary degree. 45 priests since have been raised up for ministry, formed in a variety of ways other than three years of residential seminary. Those priests have served faithfully in parishes and in significant leadership roles in the Diocese. The number of deacons also increased greatly in the diocese during his episcopate.
In 2001 he and the Companion Diocese Committee recommended establishment of a Companion Diocese relationship with the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, the third such relationship for the Diocese of Georgia, Guiana and Belize being the previous two.
A major concern for the diocese, during Bishop Louttit’s episcopacy was the division that occurred in Christ Church in Savannah after the congregation voted in 2007 to separate from the Episcopal Church while continuing to possess the historic building on Johnson Square. Bishop Louttit assisted parishioners in founding a continuing Christ Church congregation to meet on Sunday evenings at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. The property matter would be decided by the Georgia Supreme Court in favor of the Diocese during Bishop Scott Benhase’s episcopacy (2010-2020). On December 18, 2011, Christ Church Episcopal moved back to the Johnson Square property with a grateful and joyful liturgy during which Bishop Louttit celebrated the Eucharist. Bishop Louttit had kept the diocese largely united during a period of controversy.
Pictured: (top) Bishop Louttit at his consecration in Roman Catholic Cathedral, St. John the Baptist in Savannah, (upper middle) Bishop Henry and Jan Louttit, (lower middle) Julias Ariail’s photo of Bishop Louttit preaching to the 2009 electing convention for his successor, and (bottom) as we close out this series on our history, the 9th, 10th, and 8th Bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, the Rt. Revs. Henry Louttit, Scott Benhase, and Harry Shipps, sharing a laugh before the convention Eucharist in 2016 in a photo taken by Canon to the Ordinary who would become the 11th Bishop, Frank Logue.
