Retired Bishops in Residence
We are blessed to have the ongoing support of four retired Bishops in Residence in the Diocese of Virginia.
Click each name to read more.
The Rt. Rev'd Susan E. Goff
The Rt. Rev’d Susan E. Goff is Retired Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Virginia. She was elected Bishop Suffragan and consecrated in 2012. She became Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese in 2018, upon the retirement of the Rt. Rev’d Shannon Johnston, Thirteenth Bishop of the Diocese. She retired in 2022 after the consecration of the Rt. Rev’d E. Mark Stevenson, Fourteenth Bishop of the Diocese, and is now serving as Visiting Bishop.
During her time as Bishop Suffragan and Ecclesiastical Authority, Bishop Goff oversaw the mission and ministry of the diocese in all its multiple dimensions during the interim time between Bishops Diocesan, with a particular focus on strengthening relationships between God, congregations, diocesan leadership and related organizations. She has a particular passion for justice ministries and for the full inclusion of all of God’s beloved in the faith community. In addition to her work in the diocese, Bishop Goff is licensed as a visiting bishop in our companion Diocese of Liverpool in England. She also represents The Episcopal Church in relationships with the Anglican Church in Central America (IARCA).
Since she was ordained in 1980, Bishop Susan has ministered in the Diocese of Virginia. She began her service as a school Chaplain, first at St. Margaret’s in Tappahannock, then at St. Catherine’s in Richmond. From there she was called to be Rector of Immanuel, Old Church, and later as Rector of St. Christopher’s, Springfield. She became Canon to the Ordinary in 2010, and from that position she was elected bishop.
Bishop Susan received her Master of Divinity degree with distinction from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, Magna Cum Laude, from Douglass College (Rutgers University) in New Jersey. While a seminarian, she directed Eagle’s Nest Camp, the summer camp of the Diocese of Newark. During a two-year leave of absence from seminary, she lived and worked among Arapaho people on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
Bishop Susan is a visual artist who creates mixed media canvasses and sculptures that include found objects. She and her husband, the Rev. Tom Holliday, share their colorful, art-filled home in Richmond, Virginia, with their Amazon parrot, Jasper.
The Rt. Rev’d Edward (Ted) Gulick
The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. “Ted” Gulick Jr., became the assistant bishop on January 1, 2011. Bishop Gulick returned to his native Virginia from the Diocese of Kentucky, where he served as diocesan bishop from 1994-2010. He retired at the end of 2017 and is now serving the Diocese of Virginia as a visiting bishop.
A native of northern Virginia, Bishop Gulick received a bachelor of arts degree from Lynchburg College in 1970 and a master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1973. He also holds honorary doctor of divinity degrees from Virginia Seminary and the University of the South.
From 1965 to 1970 Bishop Gulick worked at Shrine Mont, first as a counselor-in-training, then cabin counselor, and finally as assistant director of St. George’s camps.
Bishop Gulick served as a parish priest for 20 years before his election as a bishop. Ordained to the Diaconate in 1973 and the priesthood in 1974, he became assistant rector of Trinity Church, Towson, Md., in 1973 and rector of Grace Church, Elkridge, Md., in 1976. In 1982, he was called to serve St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Newport News, Va., where he was rector for 11 years until elected bishop.
As the Diocese of Kentucky’s bishop, Gulick was chief pastor to its clergy and 34 congregations. Speaking of his tenure in Kentucky, Bishop Gulick said he was particularly proud of the caliber of clergy he has recruited. Because of the excellence of their leadership, he said, the attendance in the diocese’s churches has grown 30 percent since 1993. He also highlighted the diocese’s commitment to youth and young adult ministries and the formation of seminarians.
In 2008, Gulick earned the distinction as the first Episcopal bishop to head two dioceses simultaneously when he was asked by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to serve part time as the provisional bishop of Diocese of Fort Worth, which was being reconstituted after the prior bishop and diocesan convention separated from the Episcopal Church.
In the wider church, Bishop Gulick undertook a particularly active role in ecumenism. He has served two terms on the SCEIR (Standing Committee on Ecumenical and Inter Religious Relations) and served as one of the Episcopal Church’s representatives on the Consultation on Church Union 1995-2000. In 2001, he was also appointed by Archbishop George Carey to serve on IARCCUM (International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission), an ongoing commitment.
In addition, Bishop Gulick served on Committee 22 of the General Convention in 2000, which dealt with all questions related to human sexuality; co-chaired General Convention cognate committee on Ecumenical Concerns; and served the Member Advisory Committee for the College of Bishops, the Staff College of Bishops and the Staff College of Bishops conference for new bishops and spouses/partners.
The Rt. Rev’d Shannon S. Johnston
The Rt. Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston became the XIII Bishop of Virginia on October 1, 2009, after having been bishop coadjutor for two and one-half years. He resigned earlier than expected for personal reasons, officially stepping down on November 3, 2017.
Consecrated bishop at the Washington National Cathedral on May 26, 2007, Bishop Johnston (he likes to be called “Bishop Shannon”) came to the Diocese of Virginia from Tupelo, Miss., where he had been rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church for 13 years. One of five nominees for the election of a bishop coadjutor on January 26, 2007, he was elected on the third ballot. His investiture and recognition took place on January 29, 2010, at St. Paul’s, Richmond during the 215th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia. Bishop Johnston lead one of the largest dioceses of the Episcopal Church, with oversight of more than 450 clergy and some 80,000 parishioners in 181 congregations. Special responsibilities included leadership of the diocesan centers at Roslyn and Shrine Mont. While uncomfortable with the “labels” in the Episcopal Church, Bishop Johnston is a vocal centrist, although he freely admits to being “on the Left” for the personal and societal questions besetting the Church, while standing “on the Right” for Anglicanism’s ecclesial life and present concerns. Holding such positions simultaneously is a testament to his commitment to a preeminent theology of community in the Church’s life—a community in which our commitment is to one another in the Lord Jesus Christ rather than to like-mindedness in our own associations, even as disagreements over the nature and interpretation of Scripture continue.
Bishop Johnston was born in Florence, Ala., on October 20, 1958. After attending public schools in Florence, he entered the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honorary societies and graduated Magna cum Laude in 1981 with degrees in both philosophy and music.
His first employment was in programming for young adults and youth, first at the University of North Alabama and then with the Boys’ Club of Glynn (now the Boys’ and Girls’ Club) in Brunswick, Ga. In 1985 Bishop Johnston entered Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill. His studies during this period included two terms of study at Westcott House Theological College at Cambridge University in England where he engaged in independent research as well as the regular course curriculum. He returned to Seabury-Western in 1988 to receive the M.Div. degree, graduating first in his class. Bishop Johnston was then ordained to the diaconate on June 11, 1988 and moved to Selma, Ala. where he became curate of St. Paul’s Church. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 14 of the same year.
In 1990, Bishop Johnston accepted the call to become rector of Church of the Advent in Sumner, Miss. (in the Mississippi Delta region). Within a year, he led the establishment of the Kairos prison ministry at the nearby Parchman State Penitentiary. He was intensely committed to this work for the next four years, until his move to All Saints’, Tupelo in 1994. There, he led dramatic congregational healing and growth as he also became noted for his leadership in the Diocese of Mississippi.
Over the years All Saints’ became a leading presence in outreach ministries, most notably in an HIV/AIDS ministry and education program that won a national award. Bishop Johnston’s diocesan ministries over the years included two terms on the Standing Committee (president), a term on the Diocesan Executive Committee (vice president) and nine years as a diocesan dean. He also served in a variety of leadership roles in the Diocese of Mississippi.
Always maintaining a passion for liturgy and music, he has served on the faculties of two LPM national conferences. Bishop Johnston has also been featured in several roles for the annual Mississippi Conference on Church Music and Liturgy, a national conference directed since 1994 by Ellen Johnston who is a professional church musician and clinician. The Johnstons met at this conference in 1992 and were married on May 20, 1995.
In addition to his work in liturgy, Bishop Johnston promotes dialogue from classic and academic theology as a foundation for the Church’s present doctrinal and theological debates. Accordingly, he happily served the Episcopal Church nationally on the Committee for Theological Education.
Bishop Johnston enjoys several hobbies, especially traveling with Ellen as time allows. They also support various animal welfare projects while spoiling their own house pets absolutely rotten. Bishop Johnston is an avid collector of recordings of classical music, stemming from his own days as a performing musician. An extensive personal library covering many interests can only thinly disguise the fact that Bishop Johnston maintains his life-long obsessions with the Green Bay Packers and the Alabama Crimson Tide football teams.
Even so, both Seabury-Western and the Virginia Theological Seminary have bestowed honorary doctorates on Bishop Johnston.
The Rt. Rev’d David Colin Jones
The Rt. Rev. David Colin Jones was ordained Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Virginia on June 24, 1995, at the Washington National Cathedral. He retired in 2012 and is now serving the Diocese of Virginia as a visiting bishop.
David Jones was born on June 20, 1943, in Youngstown, Ohio, and grew up in West Virginia. He earned an A.B. in history from West Virginia University in 1965, a M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1968, and a D.Min. from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1991. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary. The Rt. Rev. Wilburn C. Campbell, a former Bishop of West Virginia, ordained Bishop Jones to the diaconate and to the priesthood in 1968.
Bishop Jones began his ordained ministry as Vicar of St. James’ Church in Lewisburg, West Virginia, in 1968. He served that congregation until 1972, when he accepted a call to become Rector of St. Stephen’s in Beckley, West Virginia. In 1978, he came to the Diocese of Virginia to become Rector of Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, where he served until his election as Bishop Suffragan on January 27, 1995.
He has served the Diocese of Virginia in a number of leadership roles: as Dean of Region 7; as a member and Secretary of the Standing Committee; as Chair of the Evangelism Committee; as a member, then Chair, of the Council Budget Committee; as a member of the Executive Board; as Chair of the Commission on Congregational Missions; as a member of the Commission on Church Planting; and as a member of the East Africa Committee of Region 7. In addition, he has hosted a radio broadcast in Northern Virginia featuring Episcopal clergy.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, Bishop Jones represented the Diocese of Virginia to the Virginia Council of Churches. He served as President of the Council from 1998-2000.
Bishop Jones’s national involvement in the church includes service as a Deputy to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church and as a member of two committees of the House of Deputies (the Committee on the Church in Small Communities and the Ministry Committee) and as a Secretary of the Committee on Structure of the House of Bishops. He served on the Board for Theological Education from 1995-1997. He served as Secretary of the Standing Commission on Stewardship and Development from 1997-2000. Bishop Jones served as Chair of the Communications Committee of the House of Bishops at the 2003 General Convention.He also served as a Trustee of the Episcopal Media Center and a member of the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism.
Church growth was a particular passion of Bishop Jones throughout his ministry. As a parish priest, he helped found two new congregations: All Souls, Daniels, West Virginia (1974), and St. Peter’s in the Woods, Fairfax, Virginia (1988). As Bishop Suffragan, Bishop Jones had oversight of mission congregations and Church Planting.
Bishop Jones has represented the Diocese of Virginia as a member of a delegation to the Diocese of Jerusalem in 1991, and as a participant in the Leaders of Leaders Conference in 1983 in Nairobi, Kenya.
He has been married since 1965 to Mary Kennedy Biddle (“Kay”). They have two children, David Jr. and Elizabeth DeVoll, and four grandchildren.