The Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina 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 ...

in the Episcopal Church. It consists of 28 counties in western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and its episcopal see is in Asheville, North Carolina, seated at

Cathedral of All Souls The Cathedral of All Souls, also referred to as All Souls Cathedral, is an Episcopal cathedral located in Asheville, North Carolina, United States of America. All Souls was built by George Washington Vanderbilt II, the grandson of the famous ...

. The first recorded worship from the Book of Common Prayer west of the Catawba River was in 1786. Valle Crucis, where one of the two conference centers is located, began as a missionary outpost in 1842. In 1894, a resolution was adopted in the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina that the Western part of the state be set aside and offered to the General Church as a Missionary District. The following year, in November 1895, the first Convention of the District of Asheville was held at Trinity Church in Asheville. In 1922, after all the requirements had been fulfilled, a petition from the Jurisdiction of Asheville to become the Diocese of Western North Carolina was presented at the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. It was accepted on September 12, 1922. The Ravenscroft Associate Missions and Training School of the North Carolina Episcopal Diocese and the former residence of the Bishop was once housed at Schoenberger Hall in Asheville. Diocesan offices are located at the Bishop Henry Center in Asheville. The diocese consists of 63

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es, six summer chapels, a diocesan school (Christ School, Asheville), a retirement community (Deerfield, Asheville), two conference centers (Lake Logan and Valle Crucis), a summer camp (Camp Henry), and over 15,000 members. The diocese is divided into six

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

.Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina Website Its

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 ...

is the

in Asheville, located in

Biltmore Village Biltmore Village, formerly Best, is a small village that is now entirely in the city limits of Asheville, North Carolina and near the town of Biltmore Forest. It is adjacent to the main entrance of the Biltmore Estate, built by George W. Vande ...

. The diocese is a proponent of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

, especially in issues concerning immigration, poverty and the marginalized. The diocese is notable for having two small mountain parishes that contain frescoes created by Ben Long, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

-trained artist: the fresco of the ''

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

'' at Holy Trinity church in Glendale Springs and ''

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

Great with Child'' and ''

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

'' at Saint Mary's Episcopal Church in Beaver Creek, both part of the Holy Communion Parish of Ashe County. In another, much larger parish, St. Paul's Episcopal located in the foothills of Wilkesboro, two recent Long frescoes can be seen. These frescoes depict Paul the Apostle in prison and his conversion of the Damascan Road. They were completed in 2003. The diocese has historically practiced a higher churchmanship than most dioceses in the Fourth Province, and particularly the other two dioceses of the state.

Bishops

# Junius Horner (1922-1933) # Robert E. Gribbin (1934-1947) # M. George Henry (1948-1975) # William G. Weinhauer (1975-1990) #

Robert H. Johnson The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

(1990-2003) # G. Porter Taylor (2004-2016) # José Antonio McLoughlin (2016–Present) The 7th and current diocesan bishop is The Right Reverend José Antonio McLoughlin, who was ordained and consecrated on October 1, 2016 and is the first bishop of Western North Carolina of Hispanic descent. Prior to his election as bishop of the Diocese of Western North Carolina, Bishop José served as the canon to the ordinary and chief-of-staff for the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma since 2008. Previously, José served congregations in the dioceses of Southeast Florida and Virginia. Bishop José earned his Master of Divinity from

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

and Bachelor of Arts from the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. Prior to his call to the priesthood, the Bishop worked in the criminal justice field serving in the State of Florida as a police officer and in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., in various capacities, most recently as the special assistant to the assistant attorney general. Bishop José was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

and raised in Florida. Bishop Jose' has been married to Laurel Lynne (McFall) since 1993 and together they have two children, Alexander and Alyson.

List of parishes

Asheville Deanery

, Asheville * Church of the Advocate * Grace Episcopal Church, Asheville * Redeemer Episcopal Church, Asheville * Saint George's Episcopal Church, Asheville * Saint James Episcopal Church, Black Mountain * Saint John's Episcopal Church, Asheville * St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Asheville, North Carolina) *

St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Asheville, North Carolina) St. Mary's Episcopal Church is an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish in Asheville, North Carolina in the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina Its historic redbrick Gothic Revival church was designed by Richard Sharp Smith and Chauncey B ...

* St. Matthias Episcopal Church, Asheville * Trinity Episcopal Church, Asheville * Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Mars Hill

Foothills Deanery

* Church of the Ascension, Hickory * Church of the Epiphany, Hickory * Grace Episcopal Church, Morganton * Saint Alban's Episcopal Church, Hickory * Saint James Episcopal Church,

Lenoir Lenoir may refer to: Locations: * Lenoir, North Carolina, United States * Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States * Lenoir City, Tennessee In Universities: * Lenoir-Rhyne University * Lenoir Dining Hall, a dining hall at the University of N ...

* Saint John's Episcopal Church,

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

* Saint Mary & Saint Stephen Episcopal Church, Morganton * Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Wilkesboro * Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Morganton

Hendersonville Deanery

* Calvary Episcopal Church,

Fletcher Fletcher may refer to: People * Fletcher (occupation), a person who fletches arrows, the origin of the surname * Fletcher (singer) (born 1994), American actress and singer-songwriter * Fletcher (surname) * Fletcher (given name) Places United ...

* Church of the Holy Family, Mills River * Church of the Transfiguration, Saluda * Episcopal Church of Saint John in the Wilderness, Flat Rock * Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross, Tryon * Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration

Bat Cave The Batcave is a subterranean location appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the headquarters of the superhero Batman, whose secret identity is Bruce Wayne and his partners, consisting of caves beneath his persona ...

* Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Tryon * La Capilla De Santa Maria, Hendersonville * Saint James Episcopal Church, Hendersonville * Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Edneyville * Saint Philip's Episcopal Church, Brevard

Mountain Deanery

* Christ Church,

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

* Church of the Holy Cross, Valle Crucis * Church of the Resurrection, Little Switzerland * Church of Our Savior, Newland * Holy Communion Episcopal Parish, Ashe County, Glendale Springs and West Jefferson * Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, Boone * Saint Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church,

Blowing Rock Blowing Rock may refer to: * The town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina ** The rocky outcropping Blowing Rock (land feature), near the town of the same name * Blowing Rock, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Caribbean island belonging to Anguil ...

* Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, Burnsville * Trinity Episcopal Church, Spruce Pine

Piedmont Deanery

* All Saints Episcopal Church, Gastonia * Church of the Redeemer, Shelby * Episcopal Church of Saint Peter by the Lake,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

* Episcopal Church of Our Savior, Lincolnton * Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, Bessemer City * Saint Francis Episcopal Church, Rutherfordton * Saint Gabriel's Episcopal Church, Rutherfordton * Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, Lincolnton * Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Gastonia

Western Deanery

* All Saints Episcopal Church

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

Church of the Good Shepherd (Cashiers, North Carolina) __NOTOC__ The Church of the Good Shepherd is a historic Episcopal church located at 1448 Highway 107 South in Cashiers, Jackson County, North Carolina. It was built about 1895, and is a Gothic Revival style rectangular frame church. It is sheat ...

Church of the Incarnation (Highlands, North Carolina) The Church of the Incarnation built in 1896 is a historic Carpenter Gothic Episcopal church building located at 111 North 5th Street in Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina. The Rev. John A. Deal, the first Episcopal missioner in Macon Coun ...

* Church of the Messiah, Murphy * Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Hayesville * Grace Church in the Mountains, Waynesville * Grace Mountainside Church, Robbinsville * Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, Canton * Saint David's Episcopal Church,

Cullowhee Cullowhee
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the

* Saint Francis Episcopal Church, Cherokee, NC/Cullowhee * Saint John's Episcopal Church, Sylva * Saint John's Episcopal Church - Cartoogechaye, Franklin

References

External links

* *
Journal of the Annual Convocation, Missionary District of Asheville
' complete serial archive of the Dioceses predecessor organization. {{DEFAULTSORT:Western North Carolina

Western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United ...

Diocese of Western North Carolina Province 4 of the Episcopal Church (United States)