The Diocese of Ohio is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion represented in the United States by The Episcopal Church. It was organized in 1817 and was the first diocese established outside of the original 13 colonies. The first bishop was Philander Chase. Since that time the Diocese has been served by 11 additional bishops. The 12th and current bishop, the Right Reverend Anne B. Jolly was ordained and consecrated as bishop in April 2023.
The Diocese of Ohio is a community of 15,000 baptized members in 80 parishes in the northern 48 counties of the State of Ohio.[1] The diocese was contiguous with the state of Ohio, but was divided into two dioceses in 1875, due to the geographical size of the diocese and the poor health of Bishops MacIlvaine and Bedell. The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, which retained the original name, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio headquartered in Cincinnati. It is one of 15 dioceses that make up the Province of the Midwest (Province 5).
Originally the diocesan see, or headquarters city, was located in Gambier in south-central Ohio, but moved to Cleveland shortly after the diocesan split. Offices are located on Euclid Avenue near Trinity Cathedral, the cathedral of the diocese.
History
As settlers and missionaries moved westward after the Revolutionary War, they brought their faith traditions with them, including those of the newly formed Episcopal Church. In the Ohio Territory, three clergyman served as early missionaries. Efforts in the Ohio Valley were led by Deacon James Kilbourne and Joseph Doddridge, while Roger Searle led efforts in the Western Reserve.[2] Shortly after Ohio was admitted to the Union, the first Episcopal church was established in the state at Worthington, near present-day Columbus in 1804. After years of fruitless petitions and through the hard work of missionaries and others, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church finally granted Ohio a separate diocese in 1818.[3]
Philander Chase was elected first Bishop of Ohio in 1818 and consecrated as such in 1819. Chase returned from a fund raising trip to England in 1823 and established the diocesan headquarters and a new Episcopal college, Kenyon College, in Gambier. Kenyon College and Gambier were named for Lord Kenyon and Lord Gambier, the largest benefactors of the college and new diocese. Bishop Chase resigned after a leadership dispute in 1832 and soon moved to Illinois where he was elected first bishop of the Diocese of Illinois Illinois.
Charles Pettit McIlvaine succeeded him as Ohio's bishop and Kenyon College's president. The Rt. Rev. Charles McIlvaine was an ardent abolishionist and a leading advocate of the Evangelical movement, which called upon the Episcopal Church to turn from the more Anglo-catholic reforms of the Oxford Movement and return to a purer Protestant expression in the church. In December 1861 Bishop MacIlvaine was part of delegation sent to England by President Abraham Lincoln to assist in counteracting a hostile negative opinion which had arisen following "the Trent Affair."
Upon Bishop McIlvaine's death in 1873, Gregory Thurston Bedell became the Third Bishop of Ohio, having been consecrated as assistant bishop in 1859. Bishop Bedell had staunchly supported the Union in the Civil War, and, like McIlvaine, has been credited with keeping the Episcopal Church unified during this time, unlike many other denominations.[4] In 1875, the General Convention, at the request of the Convention of the Diocese of Ohio, split the diocese into two separate dioceses. The Diocese of Ohio favored more evangelical expression of worship and theology, and Bishop Bedell moved its headquarters to Cleveland at its northeast corner, in the growing urban areas along Lake Erie. Thomas Augustus Jaggar was then consecrated the first bishop of the new Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, which had some parishes favoring more Anglo-catholic styles and established its headquarters in Cincinnati in the state's southwestern corner.
Philander Chase was an Episcopal Church bishop, educator, and pioneer of the United States western frontier, especially in Ohio and Illinois.
Bexley Hall was an Episcopal seminary from 1824 until April 27, 2013, when it federated with Seabury-Western Theological Seminary as Bexley Hall Seabury-Western Theological Seminary Federation, also known as Bexley Seabury. For three years, Bexley Seabury seminary operated from two locations—in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, and in Chicago, Illinois —until July 2016 when it consolidated at a single campus location at Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago's Hyde Park/Woodlawn district. Bexley Seabury is one of 10 official seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Bexley Seabury's mission includes, "creating new networks of Christian formation, entrepreneurial leadership and bold inquiry in the service of the Gospel".
The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the eastern part of the state of Louisiana. The see city is New Orleans.
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is a diocese in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Geographically, it encompasses 11 counties in Western Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1865 by dividing the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The diocesan cathedral is Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh. The Rt. Rev. Ketlen A. Solak was consecrated and seated as its current bishop in autumn 2021.
The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which covers all of Iowa. It is in Province VI. Its offices are in Des Moines, and it has two cathedrals: the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Des Moines and Trinity Cathedral in Davenport.
Charles Pettit McIlvaine was an Episcopal bishop, author, educator and twice Chaplain of the United States Senate.
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.
The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC). It encompasses all 55 counties of West Virginia. The diocese has 66 congregations, including 38 parishes, 26 missions, and 2 other churches. The diocese is headquartered in Charleston and led by The Rt. Rev. Matthew Davis Cowden who was consecrated as bishop coadjutor in March, 2022 and became bishop diocesan in October, 2022.
Christ Church Cathedral, Cincinnati, is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, United States.
George Upfold was the first Episcopal Bishop of Indiana after the diocese's division from the Missionary Diocese of the Northwest. He is officially styled, though, as II bishop of Indiana since missionary bishop Jackson Kemper is styled I bishop of Indiana.
Elwood Lindsay Haines was a 20th-century bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served as the bishop of the Diocese of Iowa from 1944-1949.
Gregory Thurston Bedell was the third Episcopal Bishop of Ohio.
Ozi William Whitaker was a leading evangelical in the Episcopal Church who became missionary bishop of Nevada and Arizona, then coadjutor and eventually the 5th diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
John Mills Kendrick was an Episcopal Church bishop, educator, and Civil War Officer of the United States.
John Franklin Spalding was a missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He served as Bishop of Colorado, first as missionary and later as diocesan, between 1873 and 1902.
Stephen Edwards Keeler was the fourth diocesan bishop of Minnesota in The Episcopal Church.
William Andrew Leonard was an American author and prelate of the Episcopal Church, who served as the fourth Bishop of Ohio from 1889 till 1930.
Francis Key Brooke was a missionary bishop of what is now the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, serving from 1893 to 1918.
Hayward Seller Ablewhite was an American bishop. He was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Marquette, now the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, serving from 1929 to 1939. He was convicted of embezzlement and served nine months in prison in 1939.
John Pares Craine was the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis in The Episcopal Church, serving from 1959 until his death on Christmas Eve in 1977, shortly before his scheduled retirement. He supported the ordination of women.
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