The Diocese of Fond du Lac 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 associa ...

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 ...

, encompassing the northeastern third of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The diocese contains about 3,800 baptized members worshiping in 33 locations. It is part of Province 5 (the upper Midwest). Diocesan offices are in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...

as are the diocesan Archives. Matthew Gunter is its bishop.Matthew Alan Gunter consecrated eighth bishop of Fond du Lac
, Episcopal News Service, April 30, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.

History

The roots of the Diocese of Fond du Lac are in 1822 when the Oneida Indians, removing from New York state, settled ten miles from Green Bay around Duck Creek. The first non-Roman Catholic church building erected in the Northwest Territory and what would become Wisconsin was built by the Oneidas. The history of the Episcopal Church in this area for the next fifty years was filled with many missionary endeavors establishing parishes and missions. When the First Annual Council of the

Diocese of Wisconsin Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, originally the Diocese of Wisconsin is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America located in the southern area of Wisconsin. It is in Province V (for the Midwest region). The Rt. Reverend ...

met in Milwaukee in 1847, there were only three parishes in the northeastern part of the Wisconsin territory: Hobart Church, Duck Creek (now Church of the Holy Apostles, Oneida), Christ Church, Green Bay, and

Grace Church, Sheboygan Grace Episcopal Church located at 1011 North 7th Street in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, is an Anglo-Catholic parish of the Episcopal Church, part of the Diocese of Fond du Lac. It is one of four churches comprising the Downtown Churches Historic Di ...

. With population growth spurred by the abundance of excellent waterways and shipping facilities in the northeastern part of the state, the Diocese of Wisconsin realized a need to create a new Diocese. After a process begun in 1866 and completed by action of the

General Convention of the Episcopal Church The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons, it is the ultimate authority ...

held in the city of New York, October 7, 1874, the Diocese of Fond du Lac was erected from the Fond du Lac Deanery of the

. In 1870, Fond du Lac was the second largest city in Wisconsin. The remaining counties continued as the Diocese of Wisconsin until 1888, when it was renamed the Diocese of Milwaukee. In 1875, after three elections, John Henry Hobart Brown accepted election as first bishop and was consecrated December 15, 1875 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Cohoes, New York. Brown declared the city of Fond du Lac and St. Paul's Church as the episcopal See. The other viable location was Christ Church, Green Bay, but one likely reason Fond du Lac was chosen is it was a ' free-church' and Christ Church, Green Bay still had pew rents. After a tremendous growth and laying the foundation of the newly erected Diocese, its second bishop,

Charles Chapman Grafton Charles Chapman Grafton (April 12, 1830 – August 30, 1912) was the second Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Early life and education Born on April 12, 1830, in Boston, Massachusetts, he became an ardent supporter of the Oxford M ...

, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement and its third, Reginald Heber Weller, continued to build on the successes of those who came before them. Growth, time, and distance led to the erection of a third Wisconsin Diocese. The Diocese of Fond du Lac established its current boundaries when the

Diocese of Eau Claire The Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the northwestern third of Wisconsin. It is part of Province 5 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Province ...

was created in out of counties of both the Diocese of Milwaukee and Diocese of Fond du Lac in 1928, immediately prior to the onset of the Great Depression. On October 22, 2011, the Diocese of Fond du Lac and the

voted to "junction" into one diocese but Russell Jacobus, Bishop of Fond du Lac, withheld his consent due to the closeness and irregularities of the vote. Since its founding in 1875, the Diocese of Fond du Lac has seen congregations come and go, often paralleling the coming and going of the population as towns, villages and cities sprung up and sometimes disappeared with economic opportunities of the area. Some congregations have established themselves deeply in communities and others have closed after many decades of sharing the Gospel. The past two decades have experienced the same decline in members felt by many main-line denominations. Through it all, there have been people of faith in the Anglican and Episcopal tradition who have worshipped God through the liturgies of the Church tracing their roots to the first Apostles and primarily

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

in nature. In 2021 it was announced that the diocese of Fond du Lac, Eau Claire, and Milwaukee would contemplate entering an agreement of greater collaboration. With around 4,000 baptized members, Fond du Lac is among the Episcopal Church's smaller dioceses. In October 2021 it was announced that the three diocese would be actively pursuing reuniting as one diocese in Wisconsin.

Cathedral

The episcopal see is at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The Cathedral Church of St. Paul the Apostle, having been chosen by the first Bishop of Fond du Lac, John Henry Hobart Brown, and confirmed by Article in the diocesan constitution. The congregation was formed in 1848 and built a stone building at its current location in 1866. In 1884 this stone building burned and was replaced with the present structure. Much of the interior of the cathedral is a credit to the effort of the second bishop, Charles Chapman Grafton. There are outstanding examples of late Victorian ecclesiastical art including woodcarvings from the workshop of Balthasar Schmitt, a German artisan who emigrated to the US for the job, the Fond du Lac Church Furnishings Company, and the Svoboda Church Furniture Company of Kewaunee, Wisconsin. The frontal on the St. Augustine chapel altar is an exquisite piece of color-infused marble. The stained glass is by Robert L. Jacoby and the Canadian John Spence Company.

Notable congregations of the diocese

* Algoma - St Agnes Episcopal Church * Appleton - All Saints Episcopal Church * Fish Creek - Church of the Atonement * Fond du Lac - Cathedral Church of St Paul * Manitowoc - St. James' Episcopal Church * Menasha - St. Thomas Episcopal Church

* Oneida -

Church of the Holy Apostles The Church of the Holy Apostles ( el, , ''Agioi Apostoloi''; tr, Havariyyun Kilisesi), also known as the ''Imperial Polyándreion'' (imperial cemetery), was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman E ...

* Oshkosh - Trinity Episcopal Church *

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

- St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Bishops

These are the bishops who served the Diocese of Wisconsin, prior to erection of the Diocese of Fond du Lac. #

Jackson Kemper Jackson Kemper (December 24, 1789 – May 24, 1870) in 1835 became the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Especially known for his work with Native American peoples, he also founded parishes in wha ...

(1847–70) #

William Edmond Armitage William Edmond Armitage (September 6, 1830 – December 7, 1873) was a bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Born in New York City, Armitage graduated from Columbia College in 1849 and the General Theological Seminary in 1852. He ...

(1870–73) # Edward Randolph Welles (1874–88) These are the bishops who served the Diocese of Fond du Lac:''The Episcopal Church Annual''. Morehouse Publishing: New York, NY (2005) # John Henry Hobart Brown (1875–1888) #

(1889–1912)
* Reginald Heber Weller, Coadjutor Bishop (consecrated 1900) # Reginald Heber Weller (1912–1933)
* Harwood Sturtevant, Coadjutor Bishop (consecrated 1929) # Harwood Sturtevant (1933–1956)
* William Hampton Brady, Coadjutor Bishop (consecrated 1953) # William Hampton Brady (1956–1980) # William Louis Stevens (1980–1994) # Russell Edward Jacobus (1994-2013) # Matthew Alan Gunter (2014- )

References

* * *

Notes

External links

Official Website of the Diocese of Fond du LacHistory of the Diocese of Fond du Lac and Its Several Congregations
1925 diocesan history *
Journal of the Annual Council, Diocese of Fond du Lac
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fond du Lac Fond du Lac Episcopal Church in Wisconsin Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin Religious organizations established in 1875 Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century Province 5 of the Episcopal Church (United States)