The late Rt. Rev. Robert E. Terwilliger influenced the lives of thousands of clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Church, first as the founding director of Trinity Institute in New York City and later as Bishop Suffragan of Dallas.

The Rt. Rev. Michael Marshall, assisting Bishop of London, who had been the preacher at Bishop Terwilliger's consecration in 1975, called attention to that formative influence during his opening address at a gathering Dec. 29-30 in Dallas to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his consecration. Bishop Terwilliger died on June 4, 1991.

Bishop Terwilliger enjoyed significant parish ministries on both the west and east coasts before launching the Trinity Institute, a new pioneering ministry sponsored by Trinity Parish, New York City. It was through his work as the founding director of the institute that he rose to national prominence. He influenced generations of young priests and many bishops, as he preached and taught at a number of conventions and conferences.

The annual conferences of Trinity Institute brought thousands of Episcopal clergy to New York, where they heard the leading theologians of the day from Europe, including Archbishop Michael Ramsey, Cardinal Suenens, Prior Roger Shutz of Taizé,.

The commemoration began with Solemn Evensong sung by the choir of the Church of the Incarnation. On Saturday, the event moved to St. Matthias' Church in Dallas, where the Rev. Charles Miller, rector of Church of the Transfiguration, New York City, spoke on "The Man and His Mind."

Formerly on the faculty of Nashotah House, Fr. Miller, who has been doing research for a biography on Bishop Terwilliger, traced the bishop's formative years, as the son of a Methodist minister and in theological studies under the mentorship of Richard Niebuhr. Following a sung Eucharist, participants visited the mausoleum at the Bishop Mason Center, where Bishop Terwilliger's ashes are interred, for prayers and thanksgivings. The late bishop's only daughter, Anne, was an honored guest at the weekend commemoration.

(The Rt. Rev.) Jack Iker