History

THE BEGINNING

In early December, 1874, the Rt. Rev. Robert W. B. Elliott, 34 years old and a bishop in the Episcopal Church less than a month, reached the end of the Galveston-Harrisburg-and-San Antonio railroad line in Luling and held his first service in the newly-created Missionary District of Western Texas from the back of a Pullman car. His task was daunting: 110,000 square miles of diocesan territory, 427 communicants served by 10 parishes, 5 mission stations, 7 priests, and 2 deacons.

When Bishop Elliott convened the primary convocation of the Missionary District of Western Texas on May 6, 1875, there were 17 congregations in his jurisdiction inherited from the Bishop of Texas. Of those, 11 still remain active and part of the diocese.

PRESENT DAY

The diocese comprises of 91 congregations today, spread from Brady in the north to Brownsville in the south, from Del Rio in the west to Port Lavaca and Edna in the east.

BISHOPS

The Diocese of West Texas has been served well and faithfully by nine bishops.

	Robert W.B. Elliott 1874 – 1887		Scott Field Bailey 1977 – 1987
	James Steptoe Johnston 1888 – 1916		John Herbert MacNaughton 1987 – 1995
	William Theodotus Capers 1916 – 1943		James Edwards Folts 1996 – 2006
	Everett Holland Jones 1943 – 1969		Gary Richard Lillibridge 2006 – present
	Harold Cornelius Gosnell 1969 – 1977

BISHOP JONES CENTER

In 1962, the bishop of the diocese and his staff moved out of the old headquarters on French Place to the spacious new Cathedral Park in Alamo Heights. Already on the property, when it was given by the Kamko Foundation, was the lovely and quaint "pink house." Cathedral Park rapidly became a location of worship, rest and refreshment for the people of the diocese and community neighbors. Today, the Bishop Jones Center - which comprises Cathedral House, Chapel House, and Cathedral Park - is home to the diocesan bishop and his staff and continues to be a gathering place for the diocese.

CAMPS & CONFERENCES

Camp Capers
The Diocese of West Texas had begun looking for camp property in the late 1930’s. In 1944, 75 acres on the Guadalupe River near Waring was found in the rural Texas Hill Country. Mr. Albert Steves of St. Mark’s, San Antonio, put $200 down on the property and started a campaign to raise the needed $75,000. The family ended up donating the property in thanksgiving for the safe return of their son, a World War II pilot whose plane was shot down over Germany. The first Camp Capers session, scheduled for 1946, was delayed a year because of a polio outbreak. www.campcapers.org

Mustang Island Conference Center
Although the Bishop Elliott Conference Center, the former diocesan camping center on the Texas Gulf Coast, was sold in the mid 1990’s, the concept of a retreat and conference center on the coast persisted. In 1994, the diocese received a gift of 22 acres of land on Mustang Island, a master plan was developed, and the first phase of the Mustang Island Retreat and Conference Center was completed in 2002. www.mustangisland.org

CURSILLO MOVEMENT

Mid-wifed by our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, the Cursillo movement came to the Episcopal Church in the late 1960’s and to West Texas in the early 1970’s. In 1971, Bishop Gosnell sent Ron and Doris Thomson and Bob Creasy to California where Episcopalians and Roman Catholics were doing joint Cursillos. They staged the first Cursillo in this diocese in January, 1972, the clausura for which was held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in San Antonio. Since then, more than 6,500 Cursillistas have completed some 226 Cursillo weekends. Cursillo (a Spanish word meaning little course) gives church members the tools and "rules of life" to enthusiastically share the joys of knowing Christ with others in their everyday environments.

EDUCATION

Parochial schools also were formed early throughout the region (two in Seguin in 1878). Today there are 26 parochial schools in the diocese which enroll a total of more than 4,200 students in grades preschool through high school.

St. Philip's College
In 1898, in the front room of the rectory of St. Philip’s Church on Villita Street, two young black children became the first students of what eventually became St. Philip’s Junior College.

The school was staunchly supported by Bishop Johnston, who believed it was incumbent upon the church to provide education and training. But the school owes its life to longtime dean, Miss Artemesia Bowden, who frequently used her own money to pay teachers and keep the doors open.

West Texas Military Academy
West Texas Military Academy was established in 1893 on government Hill just south of Ft. Sam Houston. In 1910 it moved to Alamo Heights where its Old Main building was the first precast, tilt-up building in the country. Now TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas is located on the Northwest outskirts of San Antonio. Go to www.tmi-sa.org for more information. Find a School Near You

GOOD SAMARITAN COMMUNITY SERVICES

Formerly called Good Samaritan Center, GSCS has its roots in St. Mark's Community House, founded by the women of St. Mark's Church in 1939. In the late 1940's, the diocese purchased land in an area west of downtown San Antonio known as "death's triangle," because of its high incidence of infant mortality, and patterned this new social service agency after the St. Mark's experience.

In 2006, Good Samaritan Community Services expanded to serve ten cities in the Rio Grande Valley and eleven counties surrounding the San Antonio area. In addition, it still continues to grow and serve one of the poorest neighborhoods in the San Antonio today. www.goodsamaritancommunityservices.org

EPISCOPAL WOMEN

Until the mid-1960’s, the women of the diocese met annually and concurrently with diocesan council where the clergy and delegates were all men.

The Episcopal Church Women meetings were highly organized and had excellent speakers with great spiritual messages. Often the males clergy and council delegates next door would sneak out of their own meeting to hear the women’s speakers. It was not until 1966 that women were allowed to serve on church vestries and as council delegates.