The Rt. Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely
Bishop of Rhode Island
The Rt. Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely was ordained bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island in November 2012. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and met his wife Karen while they were both students at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. Later, as a graduate student at the University of Delaware, he decided to leave behind his studies of physics and astronomy and attended Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University to study for the priesthood. He completed his Masters of Divinity and was ordained to the diaconate in Delaware in 1991, then to the priesthood in 1992. In 2013 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity, also from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.
Bishop Knisely served as a priest in the Dioceses of Delaware, Bethlehem and Pittsburgh before being called to be dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, Arizona in 2006. He has been active in a number of ministries with particular focus in the areas of homelessness, communications, college and youth, finance, and ecumenical relations. He taught physics and astronomy for nearly seven years at Lehigh University while he was serving in Bethlehem.
The bishop was the first chair of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Communications and Technology and was part of the Moravian-Episcopal Dialog that drew up the full communion agreement between the two denominations. He serves as chair of the Disciplinary Board for Bishops and as a member of the General Board of Examining Chaplains.
Bishop Knisely was appointed as the “Lead Science Bishop” for the Episcopal Church following the 2022 Lambeth Conference and serves as a liason to the Anglican Communion Science Commission. He is a member of the dispersed religious order of the Society of Ordained Scientists and author of several books including Lent is Not Rocket Science. The bishop is an avid reader and a prolific blogger.
Karen and Nicholas Knisely have been married for 30 years and have an adult daughter, Kenney.
From the Bishop’s Blog
- Entry 2: A Meditation for the Earth Today is Earth Day. Exactly two weeks ago, in the middle of Holy Week, Holy Trinity Church in Tiverton hosted an Earth Tenebrae for the Endangered & Extinct. (This is the second installment of our Dear Rhode Island Church series.) There’s more info about the service and its […]
- From Hormuz to Asia’s Cradles – Tom McDermott The world’s primary monitors of food security are now on “red alert.” Within the last 48 hours, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have labeled the conflict a “crisis multiplier.” The FAO warns that the loss of urea and ammonia shipments […]
- Twenty years ago I was on a late-night radio program in Phoenix with a rabbi and a Christian host who insisted the Bible was simple — just open it and read. The rabbi stiffened. So did I. What followed was one of the most clarifying conversations I’ve had about faith and reason. This Sunday I’m […]
- I stand with the Pope in call for peace, says Archbishop of Canterbury “I urge Anglicans across the Church of England and the Anglican Communion to join with His Holiness in raising our voices for peace and justice throughout the world,” Archbishop Mullally said in the statement, released on Thursday afternoon. “I stand with my […]
- Today marks the beginning of a new communications initiative for the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island: “Dear Rhode Island Church” Over the next couple of years we’ll be working a team of talented communicators to share stories and images of the common life of our congregations across the state. I’ve seen some of the previews […]
