Bishop Anthony Taylor is the bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was an interviewee in EthicsDaily.com’s documentary on faith and immigration, “Gospel Without Borders.”
1. Where did you grow up?
I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, when I was 6 years old.
2. What is your favorite Bible verse, book or story? Why?
Psalms 37:11, “The humble shall inherit the earth,” which is also my episcopal motto, cited also by Jesus in the Beatitudes.
The “humble” referred to in the Hebrew are the people of humble circumstances (not just the “meek”) and speaks to the preferential option for the poor.
3. What is your favorite movie? Why?
I don’t have a favorite movie.
Why? For the same reason the TV I inherited in the bishop’s house is not even hooked up. I find passive entertainment tedious.
4. Who are three of the people you admire?
Father Stanley Rother (an Oklahoma priest who was martyred in Guatemala during the Civil War), Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope Francis.
5. What is one little known fact about yourself?
I am the product of marriages that would have been impossible in the old country. My mother is half Polish Jewish and half German Catholic. My grandfather lost 20 first cousins in the Holocaust, while my grandmother had first cousins in Hitler’s army (one of whom miraculously survived the battle of Stalingrad). And then my father is English Catholic and Irish Protestant. Only in America!