Diocese of Washington | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Territory | District of Columbia,Prince George County,Montgomery County,Charles County,St. Mary's County |
| Ecclesiastical province | Province III |
| Statistics | |
| Congregations | 85 (2023) |
| Members | 30,741 (2023) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Episcopal Church |
| Established | December 4, 1895 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Mariann Budde |
| Map | |
 Location of the Diocese of Washington | |
| Website | |
| www.edow.org | |
TheEpiscopal Diocese of Washington is adiocese of theEpiscopal Church coveringWashington, D.C., and nearby counties ofMaryland in theUnited States. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by thebishop of Washington,Mariann Budde. It is home toWashington National Cathedral, which is theseat of both the diocesan bishop and thepresiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Since its creation in 1895 from theEpiscopal Diocese of Maryland,[1] the territory has included theDistrict of Columbia, adjacent suburban Maryland counties ofPrince George's andMontgomery, and the southernMaryland counties ofCharles County andSt. Mary's County.
The land now known as theDistrict of Columbia once comprised parts of Montgomery County and Prince George's County in Maryland. A congregation which later became known as Rock Creek parish was founded in 1712, and by seven years later had built achapel of ease 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 asSt. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish (Washington, D.C.). It is the oldest religious institution within the District of Columbia. The formerglebe (farm to support the parish priest) became the non-denominationalRock Creek Cemetery, now also home to theInterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington.
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 designatedMontgomery County. These congregations had split off from Broad or Rock Creek parish and became Prince George's Parish in 1726 (laterChrist Episcopal Church (Rockville, Maryland)) and Eden or Sugarland Parish in 1737 (which later became St. Peter's Church (Poolesville, Maryland)), only to be reassigned to the newly formed diocese of Washington over a century later.
After theAmerican Revolutionary War, both Maryland and Virginia donated land to form the new federal District of Columbia. Additional congregations which ultimately became parishes formed much nearer thePotomac River at this time, includingChrist Church, Washington Parish (a/k/a Navy Yard; 1794),Christ Church (Georgetown, Washington, D.C.), andSt. John's Episcopal Church, Georgetown (1796). After the destruction of theWar of 1812, with theBurning of Washington in August 1814,St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square (1815) was built facing historicLafayette Square across from the rebuilt "President's House", at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., (in the historicLafayette Square Historic District) which later became known as the "Executive Mansion" and later theWhite House. 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 theChurch of the Epiphany (Washington, D.C.). Parishes formed during the 19th Century's "Oxford Movement" includedSt. Paul's Church on K Street, and St. James' Church onCapitol Hill. At least six historic African-American parishes formed in the capital city during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.[2]
Construction of theGothic Revival "Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington" (usually known as theWashington National Cathedral) on Mount Saint Albans at the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues in northwest Washington began with a charter issued by theUnited States Congress in 1893 and on September 29, 1907, the cornerstone was laid in the presence of 26th PresidentTheodore Roosevelt 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, serving as a "national house of prayer for all people" and becoming a national landmark for theProtestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and icon for theAnglican Communion in the world.
The first African-American bishop for the Diocese was elected and ordained withJohn 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, announced his intention to retire in the fall of 2011,[3] a diocesan convention on June 18, 2011, electedMariann Edgar Budde as its first female diocesan bishop. She was ordained and consecrated on November 12, 2011.
| Bishop of Washington | Name | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Henry Yates Satterlee (1843–1908) | 1896–1908 (died in office February 22, 1908) |
| 2nd | Alfred Harding (1852–1923) | 1909–1923 (died in office May 2, 1923) |
| 3rd | James Edward Freeman (1866–1943) | 1923–1943 (died in office June 6, 1943) |
| 4th | Angus Dun (1892–1971) | 1944–1962 |
| 5th | William Forman Creighton (1909–1987) | 1962–1977 |
| 6th | John Thomas Walker (1925–1989) | 1977–1989 (Suffragan 1971–1976, Coadjutor, 1976–1977; died in office September 30, 1989) |
| 7th | Ronald Hayward Haines (1934–2008) | 1990–2000 (Suffragan 1986–1989; Diocesanpro tempore 1989–1990) |
| 8th | John Bryson Chane (1944–) | 2002–2011 |
| 9th | Mariann Edgar Budde (1959–) | 2011– |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
38°55′50″N77°4′15″W / 38.93056°N 77.07083°W /38.93056; -77.07083
