The Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan is the Episcopal

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 ...

in the western half of the

Lower Peninsula The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the S ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. The diocese was founded in 1874. The diocese is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan and covers a 33-county area that stretches from the Straits of Mackinac southward to the Indiana border and from Lake Michigan to approximately the middle of the state. the website of the diocese describes it as having 15,000 communicants organized in 58 communities of faith, of which 54 are parishes and 4 are seasonal chapels. It is organized into three regions, centered in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

. The Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan is somewhat unusual in that it has no

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 ...

. From 1969 to 2007, the bishop and the diocesan offices were located at the Cathedral Church of Christ the King, a prominent edifice near Interstate 94. However, this building was sold in 2007, and the congregation of the Parish Church of Christ the King moved to Texas Corners where it remained until January 2012, when the congregation disbanded. The first bishop of the diocese was George D. Gillespie. Robert R. Gepert, was elected on October 19, 2001, and was consecrated as the 8th diocesan bishop on April 27, 2002. His episcopacy, which spanned 11 years, concluded with his retirement in 2013. Whayne M. Hougland, Jr., was elected as the 9th diocesan bishop in September 2013. Hougland was suspended in June 2019 after admitting to an extra-marital affair. Hougland resigned his position as bishop on July 1, 2021. The Rt. Rev. Skip Adams, a retired bishop of Central New York, served the Diocese in the capacity of assisting bishop on an interim basis. Bishop Prince Singh now presides as Bishop of the Dioceses of Western and

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

Bishops

# George D. Gillespie (1875-1909) # John N. McCormick (1909-1937) # Lewis Bliss Whittemore (1937-1953) # Dudley B. McNeil (1953-1959) # Charles E. Bennison Sr. (1960-1984) # Howard Meeks (1984-1988) # Edward L. Lee (1989-2002) # Robert R. Gepert (2002-2013) # Whayne M. Hougland, Jr. (2013-2021) # Prince G. Singh (2022 - Present)

References

External links

Official web site of the Diocese of Western Michigan
*
Journal of the Annual Convention, Diocese of Western Michigan
' Western Michigan, Episcopal Diocese of Diocese of Western Michigan Religious organizations established in 1874 1874 establishments in Michigan Province 5 of the Episcopal Church (United States) {{anglican-diocese-stub