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A Brief History of the Diocese of Louisiana
By the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins
The bicentennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase is also the bicentennial of the establishment of the Episcopal Church in Louisiana. In fact, Christ Church, New Orleans, (now the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Louisiana) was the first non-Roman Catholic congregation organized in the Louisiana Purchase. The roots and heritage of the Episcopal Church in Louisiana were ecumenical and interfaith when Christ Church was established in 1805. When religious freedom came to the newly purchased American territory, the non-Roman Catholics in New Orleans organized to form a congregation in New Orleans. Though the names of only 36 subscribers are recorded for that initial meeting, in the time-honored tradition of Louisiana balloting, there were 53 votes cast in the decision as to what kind of church this might be! There were 45 votes for Episcopal, seven for Presbyterian and one for Methodist. And so there came to New Orleans in 1805 the Rev. Philander Chase (later Bishop of Ohio, Illinois and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church) who organized Christ Church and began worship in the Cabildo on November 17th of that year. Were it not for the generous support of Judah Touro, the difficult beginnings of Christ Church would have been impossible.
In 1838 the Diocese of Louisiana was organized and in 1841 the Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk was appointed by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States as the first Bishop of the new Diocese. Bishop Polk was a great missionary of the faith and was responsible for the founding and consecration of many congregations in Louisiana. He was also the first foreign missionary Bishop of the Episcopal Church as his oversight extended also to the Texas Republic. Bishop Polk, a graduate of West Point, was to serve the Confederacy during the American Civil War as a General in the Army. He is fondly remembered for his founding of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, yet, like all of us, Bishop Polk is also a reminder of God's mercy and grace. A plantation owner and a slave owner, Bishop Polk's legacy is also one that calls us to repentance and a new determination to end racism in our society.
The Episcopal Church in Louisiana has endured great challenge. Plagues (most notably yellow fever), flood, war, and economic hardships are all part of our heritage in this Diocese. Each of the nine Bishops who have preceded me in office have all dealt in his own way with these challenges as well as those of racism and mission. Louisiana is well known for her richness in natural resources and her enjoyment of the bountiful harvest from the forests, swamps, and saltwater marshes that give way to the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. An even greater resource for the future is the rich diversity of the populace of Louisiana. Perhaps more European, Caribbean, and Central American than many other regions of the United States, the population of the Diocese of Louisiana resembles our beloved gumbos that come before many of our meals in the winter months. We are a rich aggregate of flavors, colors, and consistency, each retaining a strong sense of our roots and origins, but coming together in a wonderful and delightful mixture. So it is that our future in Louisiana is like our past; that is, we are a missionary Church in a strange but beloved land.
The seventh, eighth and ninth Bishops of Louisiana have embodied this missionary spirit each in his fashion. The Rt. Rev. Girault M. Jones, the seventh Bishop of Louisiana served this Diocese from 1949 until his retirement in 1969. During his episcopate many new congregations were established and the Church saw a great increase in her membership. Indeed, the years after the Second World War were a time of great expansion for the Church in Louisiana and yet there were challenges as well. The Civil Rights movement, which was firmly grounded in the African American Church, rarely, if ever, found progress easy in Louisiana. Bishop Jones took a heroic stand for justice and equality despite the protests of some of his flock. He was vilified in some circles and paid a price for his witness but he stood firm and helped lead the Diocese into a new sense of itself as part of the church catholic, that is, with a mission to all people.
The Rt. Rev. Iveson Noland was Diocesan Bishop for only six years. 1969 - 1975, his life tragically cut short by the crash of a jetliner in New York. Bishop Noland was the first native son of Louisiana to serve as Bishop of the Diocese. He was elected Bishop Suffragan in 1952 and served under Bishop Girault Jones until being made Diocesan upon Bishop Jones' retirement. There were many challenges to the Church during Bishop Noland's episcopacy, some internal, such as revision of The Book of Common Prayer, and some external, such as the war in Vietnam. Bishop Noland continued the work of expansion of the Church in Louisiana, not only materially and numerically, but also, spiritually and in terms of a vision of what the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana is called to be.
The Rt. Rev. James B. Brown served as the ninth Bishop of Louisiana from 1976 until his retirement in 1998. Early in his episcopate, the Diocese, which then comprised the entire state of Louisiana, was made into two Dioceses. Bishop Brown chose to remain in the southeast part of the state and maintained his cathedra at Christ Church, New Orleans. These were challenging years in Louisiana, the decline of the petroleum-based economy, the rapidly changing demographics of the urban centers of the Diocese, and a rise in congregational parochialism were constant hardships. Despite these challenges, the Church in Louisiana moved ahead under Bishop Brown's kind, wise, and determined leadership. New congregations were established as a Diocesan initiative at Mandeville, Harvey, and Baton Rouge. Women were ordained to the sacred priesthood in Louisiana. Venture in Mission proved a successful boost to the Church locally and internationally. He established the Diocesan College of Presbyters which continues even now as a means of fellowship, learning, and renewal for the clergy of our Diocese. Bishop Brown gave the vision, labor, and love for the establishment of the Solomon Episcopal Conference Center at Robert, Louisiana.
The Solomon Episcopal Conference Center has done much to bring identity, renewal, and energy to our Diocese. The Center would not have been possible without the leadership of Bishop Brown nor would it have been possible without the leadership of T.G. Solomon and the generosity of the entire Solomon family. Mr. Solomon made numerous calls across the Diocese searching for and obtaining the resources to build the center. When all was said and done, it was the generosity of the Solomon family that truly made possible the building of the Center and thus it was named in honor of this family. Indeed, the Solomon's have shown themselves to be friends of the Episcopal Church in Louisiana in many ways.
It is worth noting that every cleric in the Diocese made a pledge of financial support to the building of the Conference Center. The Very Reverend Robert John Dodwell, Rector of St. Anna's Church in New Orleans, led the clergy effort and engendered widespread support for the Conference Center despite early objection and fear.
An updating of the thoughts of Hodding and Betty Werlein Carter which closed So Great a Good, the volume they authored on the 150th anniversary of the founding of Christ Church, seem appropriate to the conclusion of this short history of the Episcopal Church in Louisiana.
It has been 200 years now since young Philander Chase gazed upon the new, strange land of Louisiana; 200 years since the establishment of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Together Louisiana's inheritors of the faith, to whom Chase preached, look back upon the past, about them in the present, and ahead to decipher the future. We do so in part questioningly, but with the certainty too of believers in the destiny of our Church, and of Christianity, and of mankind.
(So Great a Good, page 400)
