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A LOOK BACK AT THE EARLY YEARS
2024 marks a year of significance as the diocese “Lifts High the Cross” by embracing tradition and embarking on new methods to bring the light of Christ into congregations and communities. As we celebrate our sesquicentennial, we look back at our diocesan roots and give humble thanks. Enduring geographical and financial hardships in a vast territory — the vision, perseverance, and faith of the many bishops, clergy, and lay people who came before were bolstered by the love and grace of God. They set the foundation for a diocese that has stood firm during prosperous and hard times, periods of division, culture change, a pandemic, and an ever-changing world.
In this issue, a retrospective of the earliest years of the diocese, beginning in 1874 with the creation of the Missionary District of Western Texas, is provided, as well as a chronology of diocesan bishops and a pictorial of the founding congregations.
A Missionary District is Formed during the General Convention of 1874.
The General Convention of 1874 created the Missionary Districts of Northern and Western Texas, each to be under the supervision of a missionary bishop. The Western District was immense; it included the area within the current diocese’s province, but also extended north of what is presently San Angelo, and took in all the trans-Pecos region, far-west Texas through Big Bend country to El Paso. It was a region several times the size of New England.
The House of Bishops selected The Rev. Robert Woodward Barnwell Elliott, D.D. as the first bishop to lead the newly formed district. They had the keen insight to see that the 34-year-old Southerner, recruited from an Atlanta parish, was up to the challenges of rooting the diocese in a territory large in size and short on clergy and finances.
Energetic and courageous, Bishop Elliott forged a path traveling treacherous routes to visit the churches throughout the district and to raise funds to build new missions and churches. Faith and endurance propelled Bishop Elliott, clergy, and parishioners in the mission to bring Christ to all corners of the diocese.
The end of Reconstruction in 1874, coupled with years of rapid railroad building, resulted in a period of prosperity; however, hurricanes and disease impacted the growth of the coastal and southern regions of the district. An unwavering commitment to the mission prevailed and slowly new parishes and missions were borne.
Of Bishop Elliott, his later successor Bishop Capers wrote: “(he left) a foundation that was laid in unswerving devotion to Jesus Christ and his Lord and Master and with abiding faith in the Protestant Episcopal Church as a true branch of the Holy Catholic Church. There are memorials to the Bishop throughout the diocese and his life is a living influence to us all who are working upon the foundations he laid.”2
Paralleling the early days to the current challenges, Bishop Read in his 120th Council Address calls on us to mark our sesquicentennial by “Giving thanks to God for the saints who came before us,” and to “Look back and tell our history, for when we do, we will find the Holy Spirit has been moving and shaping and calling us through the years.”
Click here to watch the 150th Anniversary Video.
Click here to learn more about the Active Congregations in 1874.
Click here to learn the history of Bishops, Bishop Suffragans, and Assisting Bishops in the Diocese of West Texas.
