The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry this week shared the news that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer several months ago. In a letter released by The Episcopal Church Bishop Curry shared the news that he will undergo surgery on Tuesday, 31 July to remove the prostate gland, saying that:
“After a variety of tests, consultations and conversations with my wife and daughters, I decided on a surgical treatment course. I am happy to say that the prognosis looks very good and quite positive. I have spoken with several others who have gone through this, and who have offered both encouragement and helpful advice. I will be in the hospital for at least a day, then at home to recuperate.”
Bishop Curry is expected to need between four and six weeks to recover from the operation but he has said that he does not anticipate that this will cause significant changes to his present commitments. The bishop is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser for Day1 Media Ministry in Atlanta on 6th September and Peter Wallace, president of the Alliance for Christian Media and executive producer of Day1 has said “we hold him in our prayers”.
Curry has been the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church since he was elected in 2015 and is the first African American bishop of the spiritual body. He became known worldwide on 19th May 2018 when he delivered the sermon at the royal wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Curry’s rousing 14-minute sermon emphasised the redemptive potential of love and included quotations from Martin Luther King Jr., the New Testament Epistles and French Jesuit priest and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Curry’s enthusiastic and impassioned delivery was much commented on and received mixed reviews from around the world.
