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A brief history of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington

The Diocese of Washington was once part of the Diocese of Maryland. In 1893, the U.S. Congress granted a charter to the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia to build an Episcopal cathedral in Washington (Washington National Cathedral). In 1895, the Diocese of Maryland was subdivided to create the Diocese of Washington.

But the history of the church in this area of approximately 1,864 square miles – Washington, D.C., and the Maryland Counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s, Charles and St. Mary’s – began well before the diocese was born. English settlers organized what is now Trinity Parish in St. Mary’s City, Md., in 1638. Trinity and eight surviving parishes founded in the 1600s are still active.

Many Colonial churches were built in the 1700s, but struggled to survive the American Revolution. The clergy, ordained in England, had taken an oath of allegiance to the king, which conflicted with the Oath of Fidelity required by the Maryland Assembly. Many left, or were forced out, leaving the churches without ordained leadership.

Washington, D.C., was founded in 1800, and began to grow in size and stature. During the Civil War it served as the military headquarters for the war effort and was a critical staging point for the Union army. The population doubled in the 10 years between 1860 and 1870, and local Episcopalians began to recognize the need for a bishop to serve the lower portion of the Diocese of Maryland. Henry Yates Satterlee was elected as the first Bishop of Washington in 1895.

Today, the Diocese of Washington is made up of around 40,000 members in 88 parishes and Washington National Cathedral. It has one mission, St. Barnabas Church of the Deaf, three university chaplaincies, seven Latino congregations and a new Sierra Leonean Worshipping Community. Twenty Episcopal schools also are affiliated with the diocese.

The diocese has an annual operating budget of around $4 million and is administered from Episcopal Church House on Mount St. Alban in the District of Columbia. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is the ninth Episcopal Bishop of Washington.