The Rt. Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells was ordained and consecrated as the eleventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi on July 20, 2024 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Ridgeland. She was seated in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Jackson, on July 21, 2024.

Bishop Wells was elected on February 3, 2024 at the 197th Annual Council of the Diocese, and succeeds the Rt. Rev. Brian R. Seage, tenth bishop, who served from 2014 until his passing of the crozier to Bishop Wells.

Bishop Wells, who was ordained to the transitional diaconate and priesthood in the Diocese of West Tennessee, served as rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Germantown, Tennessee, from 2013 until arriving in the Diocese of Mississippi in May, 2024. 

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Bishop Wells completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Rhodes College, and her Juris Doctor degree from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. She practiced employee benefits law for 18 years, at FedEx Corporation, and at Waring Cox, PLLC, before she left the practice of law to follow God's call to ordained ministry. She received her M.Div. from Memphis Theological Seminary, and her D.Min. from Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

Bishop Wells has been committed to the work of community dialogue, racial healing, and justice and equity for all of God's people. She is an award-winning freelance essayist, and many of her works can be found at https://muckrack.com/ dorothy-wells.

Bishop Wells and her husband, Herb, have two daughters.

[Back to Top]