The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, pro ...

of the Episcopal Church covering

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and nearby counties of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of Washington, Mariann Budde. It is home to

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

, which is the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of both the diocesan bishop and the

Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church This is a list of the Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Initially the position of Presiding Bishop rotated geographically. After 1795 the Presiding Bishop was the senior bishop in order of consecration. Starting in 1 ...

History

Since its creation in 1895 from the

Episcopal Diocese of Maryland The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland forms part of Province 3 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Having been divided twice, it no longer includes all of Maryland and now consists of the central, northern, and western Maryland c ...

, the territory has included the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, adjacent suburban Maryland counties of Prince George's and Montgomery, and the southern

counties of

Charles County Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata, Maryland, La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Charle ...

and

St. Mary's County St. Mary's County may refer to: * St. Mary's County, Maryland *St. Mary's County, Utah Territory There are 29 counties in the U.S. state of Utah. There were originally seven counties established under the provisional State of Deseret in 1849: ...

. The land now known as the

was once part of Prince George's County, Maryland. A congregation which later became known as Rock Creek parish was founded in 1712, and by seven years later had built a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

for ( Broad Creek Parish), which was the spiritual counterpart to secular government in Prince George's County. The congregation built a larger, Georgian style building in 1775, which is now known as St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish (Washington, D.C.). It is the oldest religious institution within the District of Columbia. The former

glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

(farm to support the parish priest) became the non-denominational

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stree ...

, now also home to the

InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington The InterFaith Council of Metropolitan Washington (IFC or IFCMW) is an interfaith non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. The organization was founded in 1978 and the Reverend Clark Lobenstine served as the first Executive Director fr ...

. As European settlement moved westward and the area's population increased, additional congregations began and built chapels within what Maryland's General Assembly in 1776 designated Montgomery County. These congregations had split off from Broad or Rock Creek parish and became Prince George's Parish in 1726 (later

Christ Episcopal Church (Rockville, Maryland) Christ Episcopal Church may refer to the following similarly named churches or parishes in the United States: Alabama * Christ Episcopal Church (Tuscaloosa, Alabama), a historic church building in Tuscaloosa, Alabama California * Christ Epis ...

) and Eden or Sugarland Parish in 1737 (which later became St. Peter's Church (

Poolesville, Maryland Poolesville is a U.S. town in the western portion of Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 5,742 at the 2020 United States Census. It is surrounded by (but is technically not part of) the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, and is ...

)), only to be reassigned to the newly formed diocese of Washington over a century later. After the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, both Maryland and Virginia donated land to form the new federal District of Columbia. Additional congregations which ultimately became parishes formed much nearer the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

at this time, including

Christ Church, Washington Parish Christ Church — known also as Christ Church, Washington Parish or Christ Church on Capitol Hill — is a historic Episcopal church located at 620 G Street SE in Washington, D.C., USA. The church is also called Christ Church, Navy Yard, beca ...

(a/k/a Navy Yard; 1794),

Christ Church (Georgetown, Washington, D.C.) Christ Church, founded in 1817, is a historic Episcopal church located at 31st and O Streets, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Georgetown neighborhood. Its first rector was Reuel Keith (1792–1842), who with William Holland Wilmer rector ...

, and

St. John's Episcopal Church, Georgetown St. John's Episcopal Church, Georgetown, is a parish of the Episcopal Church located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Original plans for the church date to 1769, and the parish church was officially founded by Walter Dulany ...

(1796). After the destruction of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, with the

Burning of Washington The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington, D.C.), the capital of the United States, during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812. It is the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a ...

in August 1814,

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square is an historic Episcopal church located at Sixteenth Street and H Street NW, in Washington, D.C., along Black Lives Matter Plaza. The Greek Revival building, designed by Benjamin Latrobe, i ...

(1815) was built facing historic Lafayette Square across from the rebuilt "President's House", at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., (in the historic Lafayette Square Historic District) which later became known as the "Executive Mansion" and later the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. St. John's has been long known as the "Church of the Presidents", visited frequently by neighboring chief executives and is the traditional site for an early morning prayer service and mass during inauguration days on March 4 and later January 20. Another historic episcopal church formed in the capital city, and which hosted nearby Maryland diocesan conventions, is the

Church of the Epiphany (Washington, D.C.) The Church of the Epiphany, built in 1844, is an historic Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal church located at 1317 G Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Septemb ...

. Parishes formed during the 19th Century's "

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

" included St. Paul's Church on K Street, and St. James' Church on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

. At least six historic African-American parishes formed in the capital city during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Construction of the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

"Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington" (usually known as the

) on Mount Saint Albans at the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues in northwest Washington began with a charter issued by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in 1893 and on September 29, 1907, the cornerstone was laid in the presence of 26th President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and a crowd of 20,000 and continued with fits and starts until its general completion in the early 1990s, with a ceremony attended by 41st President,

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

, serving as a "national house of prayer for all people" and becoming a national landmark for the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and icon for the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

in the world.

Bishops

The first African-American bishop for the Diocese was elected and ordained with John Thomas Walker as the sixth prelate in 1977 who served until his death 12 years later. After the eighth bishop of Washington,

John Bryson Chane John Bryson Chane (born May 13, 1944) is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Church. The eighth diocesan bishop of Washington, he was consecrated at Washington National Cathedral on June 1, 2002, leading the Episcopal Diocese of Washington until ...

, announced his intention to retire in the fall of 2011, a diocesan convention on June 18, 2011 elected

Mariann Edgar Budde Mariann Edgar Budde (born December 10, 1959) is the diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She was consecrated as the ninth Bishop of Washington in the Washington National Cathedral on November 12, 2011. Prior to her election as ...

as its first female diocesan bishop. She was ordained and consecrated on November 12, 2011.

List of Bishops of Washington

Assistant, Suffragan and Coadjutor bishops

Paul Moore, Jr. Paul Moore Jr. (November 15, 1919 – May 1, 2003) was a bishop of the Episcopal Church and former United States Marine Corps officer. He served as the 13th Bishop of New York from 1972 to 1989. During his lifetime, he was perhaps the best know ...

(1919-2003), Bishop Suffragan, 1964-1970 (subsequently Coadjutor Bishop of New York 1970-1971 and 13th Bishop of New York 1972–1989) * John Thomas Walker (1925-1989), Bishop Suffragan, 1971-1976 and Bishop Coadjutor, 1976 to 1977 (subsequently Bishop of Washington ''pro tempore'' and 6th Bishop of Washington) * William Benjamin Spofford Jr. (1921-2013), Assistant Bishop, 1979–1984, 1990 (previously Bishop of Eastern Oregon, 1969–1979) * George Theodore Masuda (1913-1995), Assisting Bishop, 1985-1986 (previously Bishop of North Dakota 1965–1979) * Ronald Hayward Haines (1934-2008), Bishop Suffragan 1986-1989 (subsequently Bishop of Washington ''pro tempore'' and 7th Bishop of Washington) * William Benjamin Spofford Jr. (1921-2013), Assistant Bishop, 1979–1984, 1990 (previously Bishop of Eastern Oregon, 1969–1979) * Jane Hart Holmes Dixon (1937-2012), Bishop Suffragan 1992–2000, Bishop of Washington 'pro tempore' 2001-2002 * Allen Lyman Bartlett Jr. (1929-), Assisting Bishop 2001-2004 (previously Coadjutor Bishop of Philadelphia 1986-1987 and Bishop of Pennsylvania 1987–1998) *

Barbara Clementine Harris Barbara Clementine Harris (June 12, 1930 – March 13, 2020) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. She was the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion. She was elected suffragan bishop of the Epi ...

(1930-2020), Assisting Bishop 2003-2007 (previously Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts 1989–2003) * Chilton Abbie Richardson Knudsen (1946-), Assisting Bishop 2019–present (previously Bishop of Maine 1997–2008; Interim Bishop, Diocese of Kentucky 2011- 2012; Assistant Bishop, Diocese of New York 2013–2014; Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Long Island 2014–2015; Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Maryland 2015–2018.)

References

External links

Episcopal Diocese of WashingtonWashington National Cathedral
*
Journal of the Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Washington
' at the

Online Books Page The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several feat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Diocese of Washington Diocese of Washington 1896 establishments in Washington, D.C. Province 3 of the Episcopal Church (United States)