Anthony Taylor

Anthony Basil Taylor (born April 24, 1954) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas since 2008. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma from 1980 to 2008, interrupted by studies in New York at Fordham University. Much of his career has focused on service to the Hispanic community. Biography Early life and education Anthony Taylor was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 24, 1954, the oldest of seven children born to Basil and Rachel (Roth) Taylor. His parents and grandparents on both sides were long-time residents of Fort Worth. Two of his grandparents are converts to Catholicism (his mother's father from Judaism and his father's mother from Protestantism). The family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1960. Taylor attended parochial and public schools in Ponca, graduating from high school in 1972. He attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, for two years and then entered St. Meinrad Seminary College in St. Meinrad, Indiana, graduating with a Bachelor of History degree. From 1976 to 1980, Taylor trained for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome while studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.