The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is one of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The

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 ...

consists of all Episcopal congregations in the southeastern quartile of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, including the cities of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

(the

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

city),

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

and, as of July, 2022

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, and other cities within the former diocese of The

Episcopal Church in North Texas The Episcopal Church in North Texas was a diocese of the Episcopal Church from 1982 to its merger with the Diocese of Texas in 2022. The diocese included a geographic area of 24 counties in the north central part of Texas. As of 2021, it inclu ...

. The 166 congregations in the Diocese of Texas have ministries, locally and abroad. They include: homeless and feeding ministries, clinics, after school programs for at risk youth, ministry to seniors, ESL and citizenship classes and much more. Two new churches
St. Julian of Norwich
(Austin) an
St. Mary Magdalene
(Manor) were planted in 2010. Institutions of the diocese include; St. Vincent's House, a social service agency, in Galveston; St. David's Hospital, a healthcare system, in Austin; El Buen Samaritano, an agency to help

working poor The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...

in Austin; COTS/LOTS, Community of the Streets, outreach to homeless men and women in midtown Houston; Episcopal High School, Houston
St. Andrew's Episcopal School
Austin; and the

Seminary of the Southwest Seminary of the Southwest (formally the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest and informally SSW) is an Episcopal seminary in Austin, Texas. It is one of nine accredited seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Seminar ...

in Austin. The diocese traces its foundation to Christ Church in Matagorda in 1838, when it became the first foreign missionary field of the Episcopal Church (as part of the Republic of Texas). Together with Christ Church, Houston (1839) and Trinity Church, Galveston (1841) it formed the Episcopal Church of Texas, the Episcopal presence in the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

. It formally became a diocese of the Episcopal Church in 1849. The diocese expanded to include the territory of the

in 2022. Christ Church became the

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 denomination ...

of the diocese in 1949. The current

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 ...

is C. Andrew Doyle (born 1966). He succeeded Don Wimberly as diocesan on June 7, 2009, upon Wimberly's retirement.

Previous bishops

Missionary Bishops of Texas include:

Leonidas Polk Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864) was a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Chur ...

and

George Washington Freeman George Washington Freeman (June 13, 1789 – April 29, 1858) was the second Episcopal bishop of Arkansas and Provisional Bishop of Texas. Biography Freeman was born of a Congregationalist family in Sandwich, Massachusetts. He did not initiall ...

(until Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845). The diocese organized in 1849 and elected

Alexander Gregg Alexander Gregg (October 8, 1819 - July 11, 1893), an Episcopal clergyman, was the first bishop of Texas. Early life and education Alexander Gregg was born on October 8, 1819, in Society Hill, South Carolina, Darlington County, South Carolina, ...

its first bishop in 1859. He served until 1893 when his coadjutor (elected to succeed),

George Herbert Kinsolving George Herbert Kinsolving (April 28, 1849 – October 23, 1928) was an American religious leader who was the second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, serving from 1893 to 1928. Early life and family Kinsolving was born on April 28, 1849 ...

, became Bishop of Texas. Kinsolving's coadjutor, Clinton Simon Quin, succeeded him 35 years later in 1928. John Hines served as bishop coadjutor under Quin for ten years and became diocesan in 1955. Nine years later, in 1964, Hines was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church where he served for a decade.

James Milton Richardson James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

was consecrated the fifth Bishop of Texas on February 10, 1965, and served as diocesan until his death in 1980. The sixth Bishop of Texas, Maurice M. Benitez, was elected in 1980. In June 1993

Claude E. Payne Claude Edward Payne (born June 19, 1932) was the seventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas in The Episcopal Church between 1995 and 2003. Early life and education Claude Payne was born on June 19, 1932, in Abilene, Texas. He earned a ba ...

was elected the fourth bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Texas and became the seventh Bishop of Texas February 10, 1995. Don Wimberly became the eighth bishop of Texas in June, 2003, retiring at the mandatory age of 72 on June 6, 2009. Doyle, elected in May, 2008, was consecrated at St. Martins, Houston, on November 22, 2008, and invested and seated on June 7, 2009. Additionally, Texas has had nine bishops suffragan and six assistant bishops since becoming a diocese: F. Percy Goddard, James P. Clements, and Roger Howard Cilley; Scott Field Bailey; Gordon T. Charlton; William E. Sterling Sr., Leopoldo J. Alard, and Rayford B. High Jr. served as bishops suffragan. Dena Harrison served as bishop

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

for the central region of the diocese; she was the thirteenth woman consecrated to the episcopate in the Episcopal Church and the first in a diocese in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

. She was succeeded by Kathryn "Kai" Ryan in 2019. Jeff W. Fisher was elected bishop suffragan for the east Texas region of the diocese on June 2, 2012, following the retirement of Rayford High in 2011. Anselmo Carral, William J. Cox, Don Wimberly, James B. Brown, Ted Daniels and John Buchanan have served as assistant bishops. Bishops of Texas Suffragan Bishops of Texas

Schools

* Ascension Episcopal School, Houston (PN-8) * All Saints Episcopal School, Beaumont (PN-8)
All Saints Episcopal School
Tyler (PK-12) * Calvary Episcopal School, Richmond (PK-12) * Episcopal High School, Bellaire * Grace Episcopal School, Georgetown * Holy Spirit Episcopal School, Houston (PK-8) * Holy Trinity Episcopal School, Harris County (PK-8)
St. Francis Episcopal School
Piney Point Village (PN-12) * St. James the Apostle Episcopal School, Conroe (I-PK) * St. Stephen's Episcopal School, Austin * St. Stephen's Episcopal School, Houston (PN-12) * St. Thomas' Episcopal School, Houston (K-12) * St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal School, Nassau Bay (PK-5) * St. Mark's Episcopal School, Houston (PN-8)
St. Andrew's Episcopal School
Austin (K-12)
Trinity Episcopal Day School
The Woodlands (2-PK)
Trinity School of Texas
Longview (PK-12) File:EpiscopalHighSchoolBellaire.JPG, Episcopal High School, Bellaire File:StStephensEpiscopalSchoolAustin1.jpg, Brewster Memorial, St. Stephen's Episcopal School, Austin File:StStephensEpiscopalSchoolHouston.jpg, St. Stephen's School, Houston File:StThomasEpiscopalSchoolHouston.JPG, St. Thomas School, Houston

References

External links

Diocesan websiteSeminary of the Southwest
*
Journal of the Annual Convention, Diocese of Texas
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Texas

Episcopal Church in Texas Religious organizations established in 1849 Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century 1849 establishments in Texas Province 7 of the Episcopal Church (United States)

Previous bishops

Schools

See also

References

External links