 Between 1955 and 1961, he served as rector of Trinity Church in Columbia, South Carolina.On September 27, 1960, Temple was elected on the fifth ballot as Bishop of South Carolina, during a special convention held in the Church of the Holy Comforter in Sumter, South Carolina.He was consecrated on January 11, 1961, in St Luke's and St Paul's Church, Charleston, South Carolina, by Presiding Bishop Arthur C. Lichtenberger.