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He is dean of Washington National Cathedral
The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, dean of Washington National Cathedral, will deliver the sermon at Lafayette’s annual Baccalaureate service at 10:30 a.m. on Commencement day, Saturday, May 24.
Information for parents on Commencement
At the College’s 173rd Commencement exercises, to be held at 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, Lloyd will be awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Journalist and author Juan Williams will deliver the commencement address and will receive an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree.
Both the baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies will be held on the Quad. In case of rain, they will be held in Allan P. Kirby Sports Center.
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Lloyd was installed as the ninth dean of Washington National Cathedral in April 2005. Officially named the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the National Cathedral serves a three-fold mission, set forth in 1893 in a charter granted by Congress, as a national house of prayer for all people, a great church for national purposes, and the chief mission church of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. The cathedral celebrated its centennial in 2007.
Lloyd previously served as rector of Trinity Church in Copley Square, Boston, for 12 years. His work in Boston focused on preaching, teaching, and developing Christian community, with emphases on lay leadership, wide-ranging styles of worship, and engagement in a broad array of direct and social justice ministries.
A native of Canton, Miss., Lloyd received his B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 1971, then served three years as a personnel officer in the Air Force, stationed at Cape Charles, Va., and in Washington, D.C.
He earned an M.A. in English literature from Georgetown University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Virginia in 1978. In 1981, Lloyd received a master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and began his ministry as an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia while also serving as assistant to the rector and chaplain at St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville.
In 1984 Lloyd became rector of the Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer in Chicago. In 1988 he became chaplain of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., a position he held until moving to Trinity Church in 1993.
Lloyd has taught in seminaries and has frequently spoken at conferences and conventions. He has preached on the “Protestant Hour” on radio and offered courses in the area of Christianity and literature, including Flannery O’Connor, Dante, contemporary fiction, C.S. Lewis, and the parables.
Lloyd’s writing and reviews have appeared in the Sewanee Theological Review, Forward Movement, Anglican Digest, and Journal of Religion, among other publications. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from the University of the South, where he currently serves as a regent, and Virginia Theological Seminary.