Episcopal Diocese of California

Last updated
Bishop of California
Bishopric
anglican
Episcopal Diocese of California.png
Incumbent:
Marc Andrus
Location
Country United States
TerritoryCounties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo
Ecclesiastical province VIII
Statistics
Congregations75 (2022)
Members17,930 (2022)
Information
First holder William Ingraham Kip
Denomination Episcopal Church
EstablishedFebruary 5, 1857
DioceseCalifornia
Cathedral Grace Cathedral
Map
ECUSA California.png
Location of the Diocese of California
Website
diocal.org

The Episcopal Diocese of California is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) in Northern California.

Contents

History

The founding Episcopal diocese in the state, once encompassing all of California, today the diocese comprises Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties, and the cities of Los Altos and part of Palo Alto in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The see city is San Francisco, California, and the diocesan cathedral is Grace Cathedral on top of Nob Hill. The primary convention of the Missionary District of California met at Trinity Church in San Francisco on June 24, 1850. The diocese was then established on February 5, 1857, when the first diocesan bishop was elected. Fran Toy was the first female cleric to be elected as a deputy to General Convention from the Episcopal Diocese of California in 1988 [1] and was also the first Asian American woman to be ordained in the Episcopal church. [1] [2]

The headquarters is located in the buildings adjacent to Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco. 2009-0723-CA-005-GraceCathedral.jpg
The headquarters is located in the buildings adjacent to Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco.

The eighth and current bishop of California is Marc Andrus, formerly suffragan bishop of Alabama, who was invested with the office on July 22, 2006, succeeding William E. Swing. The Diocesan Convention elected Austin K. Rios as the next bishop on December 2, 2023. Bishop Rios was consecrated at Grace Cathedral on May 4, 2024, and currently serves as Bishop Coadjutor in preparation to succeed Bishop Andrus as the ninth bishop in July, 2024.

2006 bishop election controversy

In October 2004, Swing announced his retirement at the diocesan convention. By early 2006, after a search process, a slate of seven finalists were presented to the diocese as candidates to succeed him. [3] Among the seven finalists were a lesbian and two gay men in long-term relationships with their partners. None of the seven candidates on the ballot had made an affirmation to the Church that their relationship was celibate. Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, a consultative body of the wider Anglican Communion without jurisdictional authority for any national Church, had declared abstinence to be "right" for those not called to heterosexual marriage.

This election became widely watched by many in the Anglican Communion. Some feared that the elevation of a second gay bishop would cause a schism between the ECUSA and the rest of the Anglican Communion. [4] [5]

Marc Andrus, Suffragan Bishop of Alabama, was elected on the third ballot [6] with the openly homosexual candidates receiving only a few votes. [7] His election was confirmed at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in June 2006. He was installed as the eighth Bishop of California on July 22, 2006, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

Affiliated Schools

The diocese operates The Episcopal School for Deacons as a college for training deacons. The school is located on the grounds of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, two blocks to the north of the University of California, Berkeley.

List of diocesan Bishops of California

Bishops of California
FromUntilIncumbentNotes
18571893 William Ingraham Kip Missionary Bishop to California, 1853–1856; died in office.
18931924 William Ford Nichols Coadjutor 1890-1893
19241940 Edward L. Parsons Coadjutor 1919-1924
19411958 Karl M. Block Coadjutor 1938-1940, died in Grace Cathedral on September 20, 1958
19581966 James Pike Coadjutor 1958, resigned following censure for radical theological views.
19671979 C. Kilmer Myers Previously suffragan bishop in Michigan.
19812006 William E. Swing Coadjutor 1979
2006present Marc Handley Andrus Previously suffragan bishop in Alabama 2002-2006.
2024present Austin Keith Rios Bishop Coadjutor.

List of suffragan and assistant bishops

Suffragan and assistant bishops in California
FromUntilIncumbentNotes
19511958 Henry H. Shires , suffragan bishop
19601978 Richard Millard , suffragan bishoppreviously bishop over Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
20082009 Steven Charleston , assistant bishop resigned. [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Fran Toy, Associate Clergy". St. John's. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  2. "Episcopal News Service: Press Release # 060810-04". episcopalarchives.org. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20060521234526/http://www.bishopsearch.org/
  4. San Francisco Chronicle – Episcopalians avoid rift in picking bishop
  5. BBC News – Bishop vote avoids gay clergy row, May 6, 2006
  6. Episcopal News Service – California diocese elects Marc Andrus as bishop Archived 2006-05-19 at the Wayback Machine , May 7, 2006
  7. Washington Post – Calif. Episcopalians Elect New Bishop
  8. Diocese of California – Bishop Steven Charleston announces transition

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