Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut

The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut (also known as The Episcopal Church in Connecticut) is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the entire state of Connecticut. It is one of the nine original dioceses of the Episcopal Church and one of seven New England dioceses that make up Province 1.

Diocese of Connecticut
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Connecticut
Ecclesiastical province	Province I
Statistics
Congregations	157
Members	44,862 (2019)
Information
Denomination	Episcopal Church
Established	August 3, 1785
Cathedral	Christ Church Cathedral
Current leadership
Bishop	Ian Douglas
Suffragans	Laura J. Ahrens
Map
The Episcopal Church in Connecticut
Website
www.episcopalct.org

History

Its first bishop, Samuel Seabury, was the first Anglican bishop with a see outside the British Isles. Anglican services have been conducted in the diocese since 1702, but the first diocesan convention did not take place until after the diocese was organized, having been convened by Seabury in 1785.[1]

The cathedra of the bishop is at Christ Church Cathedral (45 Church Street) in the see city of Hartford. Diocesan offices are at 290 Pratt Street, Meriden, Connecticut 06450. There are 177 parishes in the diocese, with about 68,500 baptized members. One of Connecticut's well-known bishops was Walter H. Gray, who served as the first chairman of the Civil Rights Commission in Connecticut. Gray also played a leading role at two meetings of the Lambeth Conferences.

Ian Douglas, elected 15th bishop of the diocese on October 24, 2009, was consecrated at the Koeppel Center of Trinity College on April 17, 2010, at a service at which the preacher was Desmond Tutu, Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town.[2] He was seated at Christ Church Cathedral the following day. Douglas is the first priest ever to be elected from outside the diocese, and at the time of his election was Angus Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and associate priest at St. James's Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Douglas is assisted by Laura J. Ahrens (since 2007). Ahrens was the first woman to be elected bishop in Connecticut[3] and was consecrated on June 30, 2007 at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven.

As of 2013 the diocese had a membership of 54,145, down from 68,000 in 2003.[4]

List of bishops

Bishops of Connecticut
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1784	1796	Samuel Seabury	Also Presiding Bishop 1789–1792 and Bishop of Rhode Island from 1790; died in office.
1797	1813	Abraham Jarvis	Died in office.
1819	1865	Thomas Church Brownell	Also Presiding Bishop from 1852; died in office.
1865	1899	John Williams	Previously coadjutor since 1851; also Presiding Bishop from 1887; also provisional bishop of Mexico; died in office.
1899	1928	Chauncey B. Brewster	Previously coadjutor since 1897.
1928	1934	Edward Campion Acheson	(7 April 1858, Woolwich, UK – January 28, 1934, Middletown, CT); suffragan 1915–1926; coadjutor 1926–1928.
1934	1950	Frederick G. Budlong	Frederick Grandy Budlong (July 10, 1881, Camden, NY – September 25, 1953, Hartford, CT); previously coadjutor since 1931.
1951	1969	Walter H. Gray	Walter Henry Gray (August 20, 1898, Richmond, VA – December 4, 1973, Hartford, CT); suffragan 1940–1945; coadjutor 1945–1951.
1951	1957	Robert McConnell Hatch, suffragan bishop	(July 6, 1910, Brooklyn, NY – July 16, 2009, Louisville, CO); became Bishop of Western Massachusetts.
1969	1970	John H. Esquirol	Previously suffragan since 1958.
1971	1977	J. Warren Hutchens	Joseph Warren Hutchens (1910, Elnora, IN – August 4, 1979, Lichfield, CT); previously suffragan since 1961.
1977	1981	Morgan Porteus	(born August 10, 1917); suffragan 1971–1976; coadjutor 1976–1977.
1981	1993	Arthur E. Walmsley	Arthur Edward Walmsley (born May 4, 1928); previously coadjutor since 1979.
1981	1986	Bradford Hastings, suffragan bishop	William Bradford Turner Hastings (December 13, 1919, Garden City, NY - December 3, 1992, Little Compton, RI)
1993	1999	Clarence Coleridge	Clarence Nicholas Coleridge (born November 27, 1930); previously suffragan since 1981; later Assisting bishop in Pennsylvania.The first African American bishop in CT and third in the United States at this time.
1987	1993	Jeffery Rowthorn, suffragan bishop	Jeffery William Rowthorn (born 9 April 1934, Newport, Wales, UK); became bishop-in-charge in Europe.
1999	2010	Andrew Smith	Andrew Donnan Smith (born 1944, Albany, NY); previously suffragan since 1996.
2000	retired 2014[5]	James E. Curry, suffragan bishop	James Elliot Curry
2000	2005	Wilfrido Ramos-Orench, suffragan bishop	(born 1941, Puerto Rico); became provisional bishop in Central Ecuador.
2007	present	Laura J. Ahrens, suffragan bishop	Laura Jean Ahrens
2010	present	Ian Douglas	Ian Theodore Douglas (born May 20, 1958, Fitchburg, MA)

Parishes

• Christ Episcopal Church (Bethlehem, Connecticut)
• Christ Church (New Haven)
• St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Stamford, Connecticut)
• Trinity Episcopal Church (Brooklyn)
• Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven

See also

• List of Episcopal bishops

References

1. History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut
2. Episcopal Life Online Archived 2010-04-27 at the Wayback Machine item, April 19, 2010
3. "Episcopal News Service report". Archived from the original on 2007-03-13. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
4. Episcopal Church by diocese membership report
5. https://www.episcopalct.org/Staff/bishop-james-e-curry/

External links

• Official Web site of the Diocese of Connecticut
• Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, Connecticut
• Official Web site of the Episcopal Church
• Journal of the Annual Convention, Diocese of Connecticut at the Online Books Page