Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
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The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, founded in 1865, is a diocese in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. Geographically, it encompasses several counties in western Pennsylvania with the cathedral being located in downtown Pittsburgh. It includes 66 individual parishes and in 2004 had a total membership of 20,263. The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan was elected bishop in 1997 and is the diocese's seventh bishop. The Rt. Rev. Henry Scriven serves as Assistant Bishop.
In addition to its parishes, the diocese is home to numerous other Episcopal organizations including the Community of Celebration, the Church Army, Rock the World Youth Mission Alliance, and the South American Missionary Society. Perhaps the most prominent of these is Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, a controvesial conservative evangelical seminary.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has become a front line in the current struggles within the Episcopal Church. Bishop Duncan in particular has taken up a prominent role in the conservative position within the national church. In 2003, he and a group of other conservative bishops walked out of General Convention after the House of Bishops approved Gene Robinson's election as Bishop of New Hampshire. In January of 2004 Bishop Duncan was elected the first moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, a group of conservative Episcopal dioceses.
The liberal response to Bishop Duncan has been well-organized and at least moderately successful. In 2003, Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside sued the diocese (and Bishops Duncan and Scriven specifically) over actions taken by a special convention the diocese held after the 2003 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. At the special convention the diocese had passed a resolution which asserted that all property of individual parishes belonged to the parishes themselves rather than the diocese. In the suit, Calvary claimed that the diocese could not take such an action, as it violated the Dennis Canon. Eventually the suit was settled out of court. The final settlement did not affirm Calvary Church's central contention that diocesan property was held in trust for the national church, but create a process by which the diocese agreed to make decisions about property and assets should a congregation wish to leave the diocese. The full text of the settlement as well as each group's interpretation of its significance is available on the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh's website or on the PEP website.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh is also home to Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, one of the founding members of the Via Media USA coalition.
