The Diocese of El Camino Real is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

, located in northern and central

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The diocese includes the cities of San Jose (the see city),

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

, Santa Cruz, and

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...

. The diocese includes all Episcopal congregations in the counties of Santa Clara (except for some in Los Altos and

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

), Santa Cruz, San Benito,

, and

. El Camino Real is a member of Province 8, which comprises 17 dioceses and the

Navajoland Area Mission The Navajoland Area Mission, also known as the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, is an Area Mission of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is in Province 8 and its diocesan offices are located in Farmington, New Mexico. Esta ...

in the western United States. There were 51 congregations and more than 16,000 members reported in 2003, down from 18,000 in 1994. Diocesan offices are at the 1896-built Sargent House located at 154 Central Avenue, Salinas, California 93901. Following the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the diocese established an informal triangular relationship with the Anglican

Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Provinc ...

in England and the Diocese of Western Tanganyika in Tanzania.

History

The diocese, named for the historic El Camino Real, the ''King's Highway'', was created from the

Episcopal Diocese of California The Episcopal Diocese of California is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) in Northern California. The founding Episcopal diocese in the state, once encompassing all of Californi ...

in 1980. The youngest Episcopal diocese in California, El Camino Real's

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

, Trinity Cathedral in San Jose, built in 1863, is the oldest Episcopal cathedral in the state. Bishop Richard L. Shimpfky resigned in March 2004 and the diocese was administered from 2005 until 2007 by Assisting Bishop Sylvestre Romero-Palma, formerly the bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of Belize The Anglican Diocese of Belize was established in 1883. The current bishop is Philip Wright. Established in 1883 as a member of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, the Diocese of Belize now comprises 31 churches spread throughout t ...

. On 10 November 2007, Mary Gray-Reeves was consecrated third bishop of the diocese.EL CAMINO REAL: Mary Gray-Reeves ordained as diocesan bishop in festive celebration
Posted 12 November 2007 Elected 16 June 2007, Gray-Reeves, 44, was previously archdeacon for deployment for the Diocese of Southeast Florida. She is the 15th female Episcopal bishop and the 1,022nd bishop in the American succession. On 11 January 2020,

Lucinda Ashby Lucinda Beth Ashby is the fourth and current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real in the Episcopal Church. Biography Prior to ordination Ashby had a career in education, teaching music and Spanish in grades 7 to 12 and was later he ...

was consecrated fourth bishop of the diocese, the second female bishop to succeed a female bishop in Episcopal Church history. Ashby had previously served as canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Idaho, a position she held since 2011. She is the 1125th bishop in the American succession.

Bishops of El Camino Real

C. Shannon Mallory Charles Shannon Mallory (September 9, 1936 – April 4, 2018), styled C. Shannon Mallory, was the inaugural Bishop of Botswana, consecrated in Gaborone in 1972; and afterwards inaugural Bishop of El Camino Real.

(1980–1990) # Richard L. Shimpfky (1990–2004)
* Sylvestre Romero-Palma (Assisting) (2005–2007) # Mary Gray-Reeves (2007-2020) #

(2020- )

References

External links

Diocese of El Camino Real website

Trinity Cathedral

Official Web site of the Episcopal Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:El Camino Real El Camino Real Culture of San Jose, California Diocese of El Camino Real Christian organizations established in 1980 Province 8 of the Episcopal Church (United States)

History

Bishops of El Camino Real

See also

References

External links