(From a report first appearing on the Diocese of New Orleans Website)
Of your charity, please pray for the happy repose of the soul of the Right Reverend James Orin Mote who entered into the larger life on the Feast Day of St. Paul of the Cross, April 28, 2006 after many weeks of illness. Bishop Mote was born in 1922. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Canterbury College in 1948 and a Master of Arts from Nashotah House in 1951. In 1951, he was ordained a Deacon and priested in 1952 in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Mote served many years as Curate at St. Mary’s church in Denver, Colorado under Fr. Lehman, the founder of the parish, and later succeeded him as Rector. In 1976, on the heels of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention which voted to approve the ordination of women, the newly formed Diocese of the Holy Trinity elected then-Father Mote to be their bishop. He was consecrated in January of 1978 in Denver by Episcopal Bishop Albert Chambers, and Bishop Francisco Pagtagkhan of the Philippine Independent Catholic Church, with letters of suffrage from Korean Bishop Mark Pae and Episcopal Bishop Charles Boynton of New York. He heroically presided over the first Synod of the newly formed Anglican Catholic Church later that same year in Dallas, Texas. He was a gentle and kind pastor (although he could be a fiery opponent of abortion–opposition for which he was jailed several times) and a well beloved leader in the Church. He served as Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity from1978 until his retirement in 1994. Following his retirement he lived in Florida and served as Episcopal Visitor to the Diocese of the Holy Trinity and served at the pleasure of the Metropolitan and Bishop of the Diocese of the South. His last years were spent in Indianapolis where he said mass and regularly attended the Cathedral Church of St. Edward the Confessor with his family. One of his last official acts was to visit Christ Church Cathedral in Metairie, Louisiana for ordinations and a confirmation in conjunction with the Synod in 2000. His Funeral and a Requiem Mass was celebrated on the Feast of St. Monica, May 4, at St. Edward the Confessor. The Right Reverend Rommie Starks was celebrant for the mass. He will long survive on this earth in the memories of those who knew and worked with him.
“I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, from henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours.” May he rest in peace and may the Angels welcome him into Paradise.
Fr Mead, DUK Vicar General Adds: It was one of my ambitions to meet Bishop Mote and I had that honour when I met him last October in Indianapolis during the week leading up to Provincial Synod. Bishop Mote displayed a great knowledge of and love of England and although in later years I have heard it said was a little forgetful, he amazed me with his recall of places and people he had met during his long ministry. I am so pleased to have met him and recall with gratitude in my prayers his faithfulness and witness.