Episcopal Diocese of Texas
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is one of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The diocese consists of all Episcopal congregations in the southeastern quartile of Texas, including the cities of Austin, Beaumont, Galveston, Houston (the see city), Waco and, as of July 2022, Fort Worth and other cities within the former diocese in North Texas.
Diocese of Texas Diœcesis Texensis | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Territory | Central and southeastern Texas |
| Ecclesiastical province | VII |
| Headquarters | 1225 Texas Ave, Houston, TX 77002 |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 49,489 sq mi (128,180 km2) |
| Congregations | 153 (2021) |
| Members | 73,617 (2021) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Episcopal Church |
| Established | January 1, 1849 |
| Cathedral | Christ Church Cathedral, Houston |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | C. Andrew Doyle |
| Suffragans | Jeff W. Fisher Kathryn McCrossen Ryan Hector Monterroso |
| Map | |
Diocese of Texas after 2022 expansion | |
| Website | |
| epicenter.org | |
The 166 congregations in the Diocese of Texas have ministries, locally and abroad. They include: homeless and feeding ministries, clinics, after school programs for at risk youth, ministry to seniors, ESL and citizenship classes and much more. Two new churches, St. Julian of Norwich (Austin) and St. Mary Magdalene (Manor) were planted in 2010.
Institutions of the diocese include St. Vincent's House, a social service agency, in Galveston; St. David's Hospital, a healthcare system, in Austin; El Buen Samaritano, an agency to help working poor in Austin; COTS/LOTS, Community of the Streets, outreach to homeless men and women in midtown Houston; Episcopal High School, Houston; St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Austin; and the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin.
The diocese traces its foundation to Christ Church in Matagorda in 1838, when it became the first foreign missionary field of the Episcopal Church (as part of the Republic of Texas). Together with Christ Church, Houston (1839) and Trinity Church, Galveston (1841) it formed the Episcopal Church of Texas, the Episcopal presence in the Republic of Texas. It formally became a diocese of the Episcopal Church in 1849. The diocese expanded to include the territory of the Episcopal Church in North Texas in 2022.
Christ Church became the cathedral of the diocese in 1949. The current bishop is C. Andrew Doyle (born 1966). He succeeded Don Wimberly as diocesan on June 7, 2009, upon Wimberly's retirement.