Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming
Diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States
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The Episcopal Diocese of 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[3] is in Laramie while the diocesan offices are in Casper.[4][5]
Diocese of Wyoming | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Territory | Wyoming |
| Ecclesiastical province | Province VI |
| Statistics | |
| Congregations | 45 (2024)[1] |
| Members | 5,670 (2023)[2] |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Episcopal Church |
| Established | January 30, 1968 |
| Cathedral | St Matthew's Cathedral |
| Current leadership | |
| Assistant Bishop | Todd Ousley (provisional) |
| Map | |
 Location of the Diocese of Wyoming | |
| Website | |
| www.episcopalwy.org | |
The diocese reported 6,935 members in 2016 and 5,670 members in 2023; no membership statistics were reported in 2024 national parochial reports.[6] Plate and pledge income for the 45 filing congregations of the diocese in 2024 was $6,851,589. Average Sunday attendance (ASA) was 1,428 persons.[7] This is a relative decline from ASA of 1,694 in 2016.[8]
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.[9] He succeeded John Sheridan Smylie.[10]
Following Chandler's departure, former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori began serving the diocese as a part-time assisting bishop in July 2024 during its leadership transition. In March 2025, a special diocesan convention affirmed Todd Ousley as bishop provisional.
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.[11] 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[12] had oversight of the Diocese until the consecration and installation of Nathaniel Thomas in October 1909. Thomas is counted as the second diocesan.[citation needed]
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 |
| Provisional bishop | Todd Ousley | 2025– |