The Reverend Dr. Kwasi Thornell is a member of the Diocese of Southeast Florida’s staff and is the Bishop’s Deputy for Special Ministries. Father Thornell oversees anti-racism and racial justice ministries, works with ecumenical and interfaith partners and is involved in the school’s ministry.
The Rev. Dr. Kwasi Thornell is one of the most respected and experienced leaders in the Episcopal Church. Having trained at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, he was ordained a deacon in 1972 and a priest in 1973. Over a lengthy and multi-faceted ministry, he has served as a parish priest, a cathedral canon, a diocesan staff member, and a seminary teacher. He was instrumental in founding the Bishop John Walker School for Boys in Washington, DC, in 2007, and he was Vice President (1984-1988) and then President (1988-1990) of the National Union of Black Episcopalians. He served on the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church from 2000 to 2006.
The Episcopal Church under the leadership of the Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry who is also the Primate of The Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church is one of 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion, under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. and Right Honorable Justin Welby.
Historical note: In January 1943, Captain Harold Thornell (Rev. Dr. Kwasi Thornell’s father) and Captain Basom Waugh of the Tuskegee Station Hospital became the first two African American flight surgeons trained in residence at the School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. They graduated in March 1943. Drs. Thornell and Waugh were the “two Negro physicians” as described by Brig. Gen. Reinartz in his oral history. Tuskegee documents written after the war mention that the eight Tuskegee medical officers including Captains Thornell and Waugh, attending the Randolph school did well there. All eight graduated as Aviation Medical Examiners .
Rev. Dr. Kwasi Thornell is the nephew of the late L.O.P. Perry, MD and Tribune Publisher Rosetta Miller-Perry.
