The Right Rev. Dean Wolfe

Denomination: The Episcopal Church (TEC)
Organization: Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

The Right Reverend Dean Elliott Wolfe, D.D.  is the Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, founded in 1859. He oversees forty-six congregations, two campus ministry centers, one secondary school and the Kansas School for Ministry.  He is the Vice President of the House of Bishops, Chair of the House of Bishops Planning Committee, delegate to the World Council of Churches, member of the Pastoral Development Committee and the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice.  Bishop Wolfe also serves as a coaching bishop, faculty member, and member of the Board of Directors for the College for Bishops.

Within the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, he is a member of the boards of Episcopal Community Services in Kansas City, Episcopal Social Services in Wichita, and Bishop Seabury Academy in Lawrence.  Bishop Wolfe became the diocesan bishop on January 1, 2004.  Over the past decade he has focused on innovative diocesan leadership and the creative use of parish resources. He initiated an ambitious plan to expand the Kansas School for Ministry and strengthened youth and campus ministries throughout the diocese.

Bishop Wolfe is an Associate of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, Chaplain of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, and serves as Bishop Visitor to the Companions of Saint Luke, O.S.B. 

He is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (B.A. in Political Science and Religion, 1987) and Virginia Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity degree, 1992; Doctor of Divinity degree, Honoris Causa, 2004).  He completed a year-long Clinical Pastoral Counseling residency at the Washington Hospital Center and Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Before being elected bishop, Wolfe served as Vice Rector of Saint Michael and All Angels in Dallas, Texas; one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country.  Prior to that, he served as Associate Rector for Community Life at Trinity Church, Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts.  Following his ordination at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, he began his ordained ministry as Assistant and then as Associate Rector at Saint Clement's Episcopal Church in Berkeley, California.

He is married to Ellen Frantz-Wolfe, a mother, businesswoman and active church volunteer. They have a son, William, who a student of Philosophy at Sewanee; The University of the South.