Samuel Seabury was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He was a leading Loyalist in New York City during the American Revolution and a known rival of Alexander Hamilton.
The Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma dates back to 1837 as a Missionary District of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The General Convention of the Episcopal Church recognized the Diocese of Oklahoma in 1937. The diocese consists of all Episcopal congregations in the state of Oklahoma. The ninth Bishop and sixth diocesan Bishop is Poulson C. Reed, consecrated in 2020.
In the United States, the history of the Episcopal Church has its origins in the Church of England, a church which stresses its continuity with the ancient Western church and claims to maintain apostolic succession. Its close links to the Crown led to its reorganization on an independent basis in the 1780s. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was characterized sociologically by a disproportionately large number of high status Americans as well as English immigrants; for example, more than a quarter of all presidents of the United States have been Episcopalians. Although it was not among the leading participants of the abolitionist movement in the early 19th century, by the early 20th century its social engagement had increased to the point that it was an important participant in the Social Gospel movement, though it never provided much support for the Prohibitionist movement. Like other mainline churches in the United States, its membership decreased from the 1960s. This was also a period in which the church took a more open attitude on the role of women and toward homosexuality, while engaging in liturgical revision parallel to that of the Roman Catholic Church in the post Vatican II era.
The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.
Thomas John Claggett was the first bishop of the newly formed American Episcopal Church to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the recently established (1780) Diocese of Maryland.
Charles Dale David Doren was the first bishop consecrated to serve the Continuing Anglican movement, which began in 1977 in reaction to decisions taken in 1976 at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He was born on 18 November 1915 in Marvin, South Dakota, the son of Ernest Ray and Mae E. Doren. Doren was prepared for Holy Orders at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and was ordained a priest in November 1944 by Bishop Roberts of the Protestant Episcopal Church. On 16 June 1946 he married Bonney Dixon Ward in Beadle, South Dakota. Doren served as a series of parishes in the USA, including a period as a Canon of St Mark's Cathedral, Minneapolis. He was later a missionary in Korea holding the office of Archdeacon for some years before returning to the United States and settling in Paoli, Pennsylvania.
Carl Christopher Epting is a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served the Diocese of Iowa as coadjutor bishop and diocesan bishop from 1988 to 2001, and as the Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations for the Episcopal Church from 2001 to 2009. He then served as the Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago from November 2011 through December 2015 before retiring. Since 2021, Bishop Epting and his wife, Susanne, have resided in Englewood, Colorado.
Santosh Kumar Marray is the eleventh and current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton. Before this, he served as assistant bishop for both the Diocese of Alabama (2012-2016) and the Diocese of East Carolina (2009-2012). Prior to that, he was Bishop of Seychelles. He was ordained as a priest in 1981, and served in this capacity in Florida, Guyana, and the Bahamas before being consecrated as bishop.
Jack Leo Iker is a retired American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America.
John A. M. Guernsey is a retired American bishop in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Previously an Episcopal priest, he was consecrated as a bishop of the Church of Uganda in September 2007 as part of the Anglican realignment, and transferred to the newly formed ACNA in 2009. From 2011 to 2023, Guernsey was the first bishop of ACNA's Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
Steven Allen Breedlove is an American prelate of the Anglican Church in North America. He was elected as the first Presider Bishop of PEARUSA, a missionary district that was formerly part of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, in 2012. In 2016, Breedlove became the first diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope.
Edward Stuart Little II was elected seventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana on November 5, 1999, and consecrated on March 18, 2000, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. He was seated in the Cathedral of St. James, South Bend, on April 30, 2000. He has announced his retirement on June 30, 2016.
Mark Allen Bourlakas is the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
James Hamilton "Jim" Ottley is a Panamanian bishop in The Episcopal Church.
Robert Reed "Bob" Shahan was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona from 1992 to 2004.
Willie James Hill Jr. is an American Anglican bishop currently serving as bishop ordinary of the Reformed Episcopal Church's Diocese of the Southeast and as rector of St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Terrell Lyles Glenn Jr. is an American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. He is a former Episcopal priest who played an active role in the Anglican realignment in the United States. Consecrated in 2008 to serve as a bishop in the Anglican Mission in the Americas, Glenn is now an assisting bishop overseeing North Carolina congregations in the Diocese of the Carolinas.
Alphonza Gadsden Sr. is an American Anglican bishop. From 2007 to 2020, he was bishop ordinary of the Reformed Episcopal Church's Diocese of the Southeast.
Trevor Walters is a British-born Canadian bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. From 2009 to 2021, he was suffragan bishop with responsibility for western Canada in the Anglican Network in Canada. As a priest in the Diocese of New Westminster in the early 2000s, Walters played a major role in the Anglican realignment in Canada.
John Hewitt Rodgers Jr. (1930–2022) was an American Anglican theologian and bishop. The author of multiple commentaries on the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, he was a founding faculty member at Trinity School for Ministry and served as its dean and president from 1978 to 1990. In 2000, he played a role in the global Anglican realignment when he was consecrated as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda to oversee congregations in North America through the Anglican Mission in America.
