From Humble Beginnings
First recorded clergy Convention is held in Fairfield, Connecticut
America’s First Bishop was a Nutmegger
Consecration of Samuel Seabury (in Scotland) as the first Episcopal Bishop in America and the first Diocesan Bishop of Connecticut.
SPCK in CT
Incorporation of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.). This organization emerged from earlier Bible and Common Prayer Book societies associated with the colonial Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G.)
The Missionary Society’s Origins
Incorporation of the Missionary Society of the Diocese of CT, which acts as the central organizational body for the authorization of diocesan mission work, essentially replacing by name and taking up the work of the earlier SPCK and SPG.
A Hint of What’s To Come
Diocesan Convention adopted the canon to establish and organize six archdeaconries to better fulfill it’s missionary work throughout the state. The original CT archdeaconries included one each for Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield, and Middlesex Counties, and one for Hartford and Tolland, and one for New London and Windham. This canon has been amended repeatedly and boundaries have shifted over the years, but the concept of these regional mission divisions presently continues today through the vision of the Taskforce for Reimagining the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (TREC-CT).
Our Cathedral is Born
Christ Church in Hartford officially is chartered as the Diocesan Cathedral, with its consecration taking place in 1920 along with the institution of the cathedral’s first Dean, The Very Reverend Samuel Colladay. These events also celebrated the centennial anniversary of the consecration of The Right Reverend Thomas Church Brownell, Third Diocesan Bishop of Connecticut.
Glebe House Preserved
With the incorporation of the Seabury Society for the Preservation of the Glebe House, a national endowment was established to preserve the old rectory or “Glebe House” in Woodbury, CT, where clergy members initially met to elect Samuel Seabury as the first bishop of Connecticut and the American colonies in 1783.
Berkley On the Move
Chartered originally in Middletown, CT in 1854, the Berkeley Divinity School moved to New Haven solidifying its educational affiliation with Yale University as a denominational seminary within an ecumenical divinity school.
“Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity” Founded
Founding of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU) by the national church (TEC). In December 1959, approximately one hundred lay and ordained Episcopalians responded to a call for meeting issued by the Reverends John Morris, Neil Tarplee, and Arthur Walmsley (later, Diocesan Bishop of Connecticut), to form an organization committed to removing all vestiges of segregation from the life of the Church. The group adopted the name “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity” and immediately took issue with the de facto racial segregation that dominated Church life in the South, which included refusing African Americans admission to Church-run institutions and to white worship services.
“Our Story” Goes to Print
Publication of The Story of the Diocese of Connecticut by Nelson R. Burr. Years in the making, this collaborative book project marked the first formal accounting of the history of the Diocese of CT in the modern period.
200 Year Later
200th anniversary, bi-centennial celebration of the consecration of Samuel Seabury. Anglican scholars, church leaders, and laity from around the world met in the Hartford Civic Center at the invitation of The Right Reverend Arthur Walmsley for a Pan-Anglican Symposium on Mission Theology. Bishop Desmond Tutu was one of many keynote speakers presenting during the week-long event.
ECCT’s First Female Bishop Suffragan
Elected the first female Bishop Suffragan of Connecticut, (the Episcopal Church’s 14th woman bishop), The Right Reverend Laura J. Ahrens continues to bring hope and the “good news” of the Christian gospel to Connecticut parishes and the Episcopal Church worldwide up to the present day.
The Big Move
Diocesan offices moved from Hartford to Meriden to the space now known as The Commons.
