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Bishop Robert Duncan’s biography:            September, 2006

Robert William Duncan became the Bishop of Pittsburgh on August 1, 1997. He was elected Bishop Coadjutor on December 2, 1995, and was consecrated in Saint Paul's Catholic Cathedral, Pittsburgh, on the Fourth Saturday of Easter, April 27, 1996. Bishop Duncan was recognized, invested and seated as diocesan in Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, on the Feast of Saint Cyprian, September 13, 1997.

Bishop Duncan was born on July 5, 1948, and raised in Bordentown, New Jersey. The eighteenth priest (and second bishop) to be ordained from Christ Church in Bordentown, Bishop Duncan graduated as valedictorian of the Bordentown Military Institute in 1966. He graduated with honors from Trinity College in Hartford in 1970 and from the General Theological Seminary in 1973. He also undertook advanced research in Scottish History at Edinburgh University in 1972-73. Sabbatical study in 1987 focused on "Healing and Miracles in their Biblical, Historical and Contemporary Contexts."  Sabbatical leave in 1997 focused on “God’s Vision for the Diocese.”  In 2003, Bishop Duncan was Bishop in Residence of Nashotah House and did sabbatical study in Liturgics and French conversational.  Ordained deacon on April 22, 1972 during his Middler Year at General Seminary, and priested on the Feast of Ss. Simon and Jude the following October, Bishop Duncan served the Chapel of the Intercession in Manhattan, Christ Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Grace Church in Merchantville, New Jersey, during his first years in holy orders. He was assistant dean of General Seminary from 1974-78, Episcopal chaplain of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1978-82, and rector of Saint Thomas's Parish in Newark, Delaware, from 1982-92. In 1992, he became canon to the ordinary for Bishop Alden Hathaway in Pittsburgh.

Bishop Duncan has devoted himself to mission and evangelism throughout his years of ministry, with a special passion for reaching adolescents and young adults. He has also led short-term missions in Haiti, Trinidad, and Rwanda. He is a champion of the poor and dispossessed of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, encouraging creative urban church-planting, as well as many other church-plants. He is active in the Cursillo and Happening movements and served as an elected member of the General Board of Examining Chaplains from 1991 until 1997. Bishop Duncan is a trustee of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and of Nashotah House.

Recognized internationally for his commitment to capacity-building in the two-thirds world, Bishop Duncan served on the Programme Committee of the Network for Anglicans in Mission and Evangelism, an agency created at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. In 2004 Bishop Duncan was a driving force in the creation of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, and multi-million dollar enterprise for which he continues to serve as President.

Best known beyond Pittsburgh for his role as Moderator of the Anglican Communion Network since its inception in 2003, and as Chairman of the Common Cause Partnership (gathering ten orthodox Anglican bodies in the United States and Canada) since its creation in 2004, Bishop Bob (as he is known globally) has proved himself an extraordinary leader, as well as a “brave heart,” at a critical moment in Church history.

Bishop Duncan married Nara Dewar on August 16, 1969. They are a dynamic team.  They share a love of gardening, travel, hospitality and music. They have one married daughter, Louise Elizabeth, for whom, with her husband Mark and with their numerous nieces, nephews and godchildren, they are intensely thankful.

God's vision for the Diocese of Pittsburgh under Bishop Duncan is "One Church of Miraculous Expectation and Missionary Grace." The Bishop believes this vision will be accomplished in five areas: building congregations, making disciples, establishing partnerships, gathering resources and recruiting youth. When successes, triumphs or challenges are pointed to, the Bishop's response is predictable: "It's 90% prayer, 10% all the rest."