Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming

Diocese of Wyoming

*Diœcesis Vymingensis*
Diocese of Wyoming; Diœcesis Vymingensis
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Wyoming
Ecclesiastical province	Province VI
Statistics
Congregations	44 (2022)
Members	5,776 (2022)
Information
Denomination	Episcopal Church
Established	January 30, 1968
Cathedral	St Matthew's Cathedral
Current leadership
Assistant Bishop	Katharine Jefferts Schori
Map
	; Location of the Diocese of Wyoming
Website
	www.diowy.org

The Episcopal Church in Wyoming is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the state of Wyoming, except for one congregation in western Wyoming which is included in the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho. It was established in 1887 and is in Province VI. Its cathedral, St Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral^[1] is in Laramie while the diocesan offices are in Casper.^[2]^[3]

Paul-Gordon Chandler was the 10th bishop of Wyoming. His consecration was held on February 13, 2021, in Laramie, Wyoming, and he served until voluntarily accepting a sentence of deposition from ordained ministry in March 2024.^[4] He succeeded John Sheridan Smylie.^[5] Leadership of the Diocese was entrusted to former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori until further notice.

Missionary Bishops

The Missionary District of Idaho and Wyoming was created by the General Convention of October 1886. The first missionary bishop, whom the Diocese of Wyoming counts as its first diocesan bishop, was Ethelbert Talbot, a pioneering bishop who went on to become Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania (subsequently the Diocese of Bethlehem) and Presiding Bishop from 1924-1926.

From 1898-1909 the Episcopal Church in Wyoming was overseen by bishops with other responsibilities. Following Talbot's resignation in 1898, the General Convention, meeting in October that year, added Wyoming to the district overseen by Anson Rogers Graves, who had been elected First Missionary Bishop of Nebraska in 1889.^[6] Graves oversaw the diocese concurrently with his work in Nebraska until October 1907. Thereafter James B. Funsten, first Bishop of the Missionary District of Boise in Idaho since 1899, and first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho from 1907-1918^[7] had oversight of the Diocese until the consecration and installation of Nathaniel Thomas in October 1909. Thomas is counted as the second diocesan.

Bishops of Wyoming

	Honorific & Name	Dates
1st	Ethelbert P.E. Talbot	1887–1898
2nd	Nathaniel S. Thomas	1909–1927
3rd	Elmer N. Schmuck	1929–1936
4th	Winfred Hamlin Ziegler	1936–1949
5th	James Wilson Hunter	1949–1969
6th	David Thornberry	1969–1977
7th	Bob Gordon Jones	1977–1996
8th	Bruce Edward Caldwell	1997–2010
9th	John Sheridan Smylie	2010–2021
10th	Paul-Gordon Chandler	2021–2024
--	Katharine Jefferts Schori (Assisting)	2024-

References

^ "St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral website". Archived from the original on 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
^ "Episcopal Church in Wyoming Contact Page". Archived from the original on 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ "Episcopal Church online directory". Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
^ "Wyoming Bishop Paul-Gordon Chandler deposed as a result of Title IV investigation". Episcopal News Service. March 27, 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
^ "From the Middle East to the Wild West". Episcopal Church in Wyoming. 14 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ See Graves' autobiography The Farmer Boy Who Became A Bishop, New Werner Company, Akron, Ohio, 1911
^ Chronology of James Bowen Funsten D.D.

See also the various editions of the Episcopal Church Annual, Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, PA (current edition, 2009) and The Red Book interactive directory of dioceses, parishes and clergy within the Episcopal Church.