Episcopal Diocese of California

Diocese of California Diœcesis Caldia-fornax
anglican
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo
Ecclesiastical province	VIII
Deaneries	Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Peninsula, San Francisco, Southern Alameda
Statistics
Congregations	74 (2023)
Members	17,083 (2023)
Information
First holder	William Ingraham Kip
Denomination	Episcopal Church
Established	February 5, 1857
Diocese	California
Cathedral	Grace Cathedral
Patron saint	Francis of Assisi
Language	English, Spanish, Tongan, Chinese, Tagalog
Map
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, encompassing a majority of counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2024, the diocese reported average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 4,494 persons. ^[1]

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 ^[2] and was also the first Asian American woman to be ordained in the Episcopal church. ^{[2] [3]}

The headquarters is located in the buildings adjacent to Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco.

The eighth bishop of California was 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 ninth bishop of California on December 2, 2023. Rios was consecrated at Grace Cathedral on May 4, 2024, and currently serves as diocesan bishop in having canonically succeeded Andrus on July, 2024 after Bishop Andrus' retirement that month and being formally installed at Grace Cathedral on August 11, 2024. ^[4]

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. ^[5] 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. ^{[6] [7]}

Marc Andrus, Suffragan Bishop of Alabama, was elected on the third ballot ^[8] with the openly homosexual candidates receiving only a few votes. ^[9] 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.

Congregations

The congregations in the Diocese of California are organized into deaneries—a designated geographical section within a diocese—as listed: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Peninsula, San Francisco, and Southern Alameda. ^[10]

Alameda Deanery

• All Souls, Berkeley
• Church of Our Savior, Oakland
• Good Shepherd, Berkeley
• Holy Trinity / La Santisima Trinidad, Richmond
• St. Alban’s, Albany
• St. Augustine’s, Oakland
• St. Clement’s, Berkeley
• St. James’ / Iglesia de Santiago, Oakland
• St. John’s, Oakland
• St. Mark’s, Berkeley
• St. Paul’s, Oakland

Contra Costa Deanery

• Church of the Resurrection, Pleasant Hill
• Grace Church, Martinez
• Holy Spirit Church, Concord
• St. Anna’s, Antioch
• St. Anselm’s, Lafayette
• St. Mark’s, Crockett
• St. Paul’s, Walnut Creek
• St. Stephen’s, Orinda
• St. Timothy’s, Danville

Marin Deanery

• Christ Church, Sausalito
• Church of Our Savior, Mill Valley
• Church of the Nativity, San Rafael
• Church of the Redeemer, San Rafael
• New Skellig Celtic Christian Community, Inverness
• St. Aidan’s, Bolinas
• St. Columba’s, Inverness
• St. Francis of Assisi, Novato
• St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ross
• St. Paul’s, San Rafael
• St. Stephen’s, Belvedere

Peninsula Deanery

• Christ Church, Los Altos
• Christ Church, Portola Valley
• Church of St. Matthew, San Mateo
• Church of the Epiphany, San Carlos
• Good Shepherd, Belmont
• Holy Child and St. Martin’s, Daly City
• Holy Family, Half Moon Bay
• Iglesia El Buen Pastor, Redwood City
• SEA Episcopal, San Bruno and South San Francisco
• St. Ambrose, Foster City
• St. Bede’s, Menlo Park
• St. Edmund’s, Pacifica
• St. Mark’s, Palo Alto
• St. Paul’s, Burlingame
• St. Peter’s, Redwood City
• Transfiguration, San Mateo
• Trinity, Menlo Park

San Francisco Deanery

• All Saints’, San Francisco
• Christ Church Sei Ko Kai, San Francisco
• Church of the Advent of Christ the King, San Francisco
• Church of the Incarnation, San Francisco
• Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
• Holy Innocents’, San Francisco
• St. Aidan’s, San Francisco
• St. Cyprian’s, San Francisco
• St. Francis’, San Francisco
• St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco
• St. James, San Francisco
• St. John the Evangelist, San Francisco
• St. Luke’s, San Francisco
• St. Mary the Virgin, San Francisco
• Trinity+St Peter’s, San Francisco
• True Sunshine, San Francisco

Southern Alameda Deanery

• All Saints’, San Leandro
• Holy Cross, Castro Valley
• St. Anne’s, Fremont
• St. Bartholomew’s, Livermore
• St. Clare’s, Pleasanton
• St. James’, Fremont

Institutions, organizations, and communities

Campus chaplaincies

Diocesan-affiliated chaplaincies are present on the following college and university campuses:

• Ecumenical House, San Francisco State University, San Francisco ^[11]
• Stanford Canterbury, Stanford University, Stanford ^[12]
• Cal Canterbury, University of California in Berkeley, Berkeley ^[13]

Ecumenical House comprises Episcopal, Methodist (UMC), Presbyterian (PCUSA), and United Church of Christ (UCC) congregations, while Stanford Canterbury partners with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregations through Progressive Christians at Stanford: Episcopal Lutheran Campus Ministry. ^{[14] [12] [15]}

Educational institutions and schools

The diocese operates The Episcopal School for Deacons (ESD) as a college for training vocational deacons. ^[16] It previously met in retreat centers and the campuses of local congregations, and eventually moved on the grounds of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California in 1998, two blocks to the north of the University of California, Berkeley. ^[17]

The following schools, encompassing preschools and primary schools, are located within the Diocese of California and affiliated both with congregations in its jurisdiction and the Episcopal Church:

• St. Andrew's Preschool, San Bruno (P)
• Cathedral School for Boys, San Francisco (K-8)
• St. Clare's Christian Preschool, Pleasanton (P)
• Episcopal Day School, San Mateo (K-8)
• St. Paul's Episcopal School, Oakland (K-8)
• Sea Breeze School, Foster City (P-K)
• St. Stephen's Preschool, Orinda (P)
• Trinity School, Menlo Park (P-5)

Retreat centers

Within the diocese are three retreat centers, two of which are diocesan institutions (The Bishop's Ranch and St. Dorothy's Rest) and one being directly tied to a congregation (St. Columba's):

• The Bishop’s Ranch, Healdsburg ^[18]
• St. Dorothy’s Rest, Camp Meeker ^[19]
• St. Columba’s Retreat House, Inverness ^[20]

Religious communities and societies

Numerous religious communities are resident in the diocese, either through individual members or established spaces: ^[21]

• Brotherhood of Saint Gregory
• Community of Saint Francis (Women)
• Companions of Dorothy the Worker
• Society of Catholic Priests
• Society of Saint Francis (Men)

Bishops of California

The following individuals have served as diocesan bishops, provisional bishops, bishops coadjutor, bishops suffragan, or assistant bishops in the Diocese of California: ^[22]

Diocesan bishops

Bishops of California
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1857	1893	William Ingraham Kip	Missionary Bishop to California, 1853–1856; died in office.
1893	1924	William Ford Nichols	Coadjutor 1890-1893.
1924	1940	Edward Lambe Parsons	Coadjutor 1919-1924.
1941	1958	Karl Morgan Block	Coadjutor 1938-1940, died in Grace Cathedral on September 20, 1958
1958	1966	James Pike	Coadjutor 1958, resigned following censure for radical theological views.
1967	1979	Chauncey Kilmer Myers	Previously suffragan bishop in Michigan 1964-1967.
1981	2006	William Edwin Swing	Coadjutor 1979.
2006	2024	Marc Handley Andrus	Previously suffragan bishop in Alabama 2002-2006.
2024	present	Austin Keith Rios	Previously rector of St. Paul's Within the Walls in Rome, Italy 2012-2024.

Suffragan and Assistant bishops

Suffragan and Assistant bishops in California
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1951	1958	Henry H. Shires , suffragan bishop	Remained in diocese as archdeacon upon resignation until 1960 when successor was elected and consecrated.
1960	1978	Richard Millard , suffragan bishop	Later became suffragan bishop over Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe 1978-1980.
2008	2009	Steven Charleston , assistant bishop	Resigned after serving for one year. [23]

References

1. "Explore Individual Parochial Report Trends". General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
2. "Fran Toy, Associate Clergy". St. John's. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
3. "Episcopal News Service: Press Release # 060810-04". episcopalarchives.org. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
4. Grace Cathedral San Francisco (2024-08-12). August 11, 2024 | The Installation of the Rt. Rev. Austin Keith Rios, Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal . Retrieved 2025-02-03– via YouTube.
5. "The Bishop Search Committee- Home". www.bishopsearch.org. Archived from the original on 2006-05-21. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
6. San Francisco Chronicle – Episcopalians avoid rift in picking bishop
7. BBC News – Bishop vote avoids gay clergy row, May 6, 2006
8. Episcopal News Service – California diocese elects Marc Andrus as bishop Archived 2006-05-19 at the Wayback Machine , May 7, 2006
9. Washington Post – Calif. Episcopalians Elect New Bishop
10. "Deanery". The Episcopal Church. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
11. "EcHouse". EcHouse. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
12. "Stanford Canterbury Foundation". The Diocese of California. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
13. "Episcopal at UC Berkeley – A center for intellectual inquiry. A place for spiritual growth" . Retrieved 2026-01-17.
14. "our history". EcHouse. Retrieved 2026-01-19.
15. "Progressive Christians at Stanford". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2026-01-19.
16. "School for Deacons". School for Deacons. Retrieved 2026-01-07.
17. "About the School for Deacons". School for Deacons. Retrieved 2026-01-07.
18. "The Bishop's Ranch | Retreat and Conference Center | Healdsburg, CA". The Bishop's Ranch. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
19. "Home | St. Dot's Rest". St. Dorothy's Rest. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
20. "Retreat House". St. Columba's Inverness. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
21. "Religious Orders and Christian Communities". The Episcopal Church. Retrieved 2026-01-19.
22. "Bishops". The Diocese of California. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
23. Diocese of California – Bishop Steven Charleston announces transition

External links

• Episcopal Diocese of California website
• Journal of the Annual Convention, Diocese of California
• Episcopal Diocese of California YouTube
• Episcopal Diocese of California Vimeo

38°00′N122°24′W / 38°N 122.4°W / 38; -122.4