Diocese of the Southeast (Reformed Episcopal Church)
Diocese of the Southeast | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Ecclesiastical province | Anglican Church in North America |
| Statistics | |
| Parishes | 32 (2024)[1] |
| Members | 1,482 (2024)[1] |
| Information | |
| Rite | Anglican |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Willie J. Hill Jr. |
| Website | |
| Diocese of the Southeast Official Website | |
The Diocese of the Southeast is a Reformed Episcopal Church diocese and as such an Anglican Church in North America founding diocese. The diocese comprises 32 parishes, 30 in South Carolina and 2 in Georgia, in the United States. Its headquarters are located in Summerville, South Carolina. The current bishop ordinary is Willie J. Hill Jr., who was installed in September 2022.[2]
History
The Diocese of the Southeast, previously the Missionary Jurisdiction of the South, origin goes back to 1865, on the aftermath of the Civil War, with the work of Peter Fayssoux Stevens, a former Confederate colonel, a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He reunited former parishioners and many black freedmen and started working for the establishment of a new church for the coloured people, that would be Immanuel Church, in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Four years later, he already had organized three large congregations of freedmen.
In December 1874, in a convention held in Pinopolis, with members of four parishes, after the rejection of four black men from the ministry by the Protestant Episcopal Church, it was decided to leave the Diocese of South Carolina and to seek membership with the newly created Reformed Episcopal Church. In the same convention, Frank Crawford Ferguson was elected President and wrote to the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, George Cummins. In June 1875, he received a letter by Benjamin Johnson, explaining that he had been sent by the General Council of the REC to receive all the black people willing to join the denomination.[3] The new body would be the Missionary Jurisdiction of the South, named Diocese of the Southeast when the division into dioceses was adopted in 1984.
The diocese was a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America, as part of the Reformed Episcopal Church, in 2009.
List of bishops ordinary
Bishops prior to 1984 were bishops of the Missionary Jurisdiction of the South; bishops from 1984 to the present were bishops of the Diocese of the Southeast.
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| Peter Fayssoux Stevens | 1879–1909 |
| Arthur Pengelley | 1909–1922 |
| Joseph E. Kearney | 1922–1958 |
| William Jerdan Jr. | 1960–1987 |
| Sanco K. Rembert | 1987–1998 |
| James C. West | 1998–2006 |
| Alphonza Gadsden Sr | 2007–2020 |
| William J. White | 2020–2022 |
| Willie J. Hill Jr. | 2022–present |
Parishes
As of 2023, the Diocese of the Southeast had 32 parishes.[4] Notable parishes in the diocese include St. John's REC in Charleston.
Cummins Memorial Theological Seminary
Former name | Bishop Cummins Training School |
|---|---|
| Type | Seminary |
| Established | 1876 |
| Founder | Peter Fayssoux Stevens |
Religious affiliation | Reformed Episcopal Church |
| Chairperson | Rose Delores Gibbs |
| President | Willie Hill |
| Dean | Glenvil Gregory |
| Students | 12 |
| Location | , South Carolina 33°00′44″N 80°10′49″W / 33.0121°N 80.1802°W |
| Website | cumminstheoseminary |
The diocesan seminary trains students within and outside of the Anglican tradition; both men and women are eligible to enroll.[5] It is the oldest American seminary that has historically trained African Americans for ministry in the Episcopal tradition.[6] Mirroring the demographics of the diocese, it has a mostly black student body. As of 2020, it was unaccredited and mostly operated as a night school for those who work full-time, offering a master of divinity, master of arts in Christian leadership, and bachelor of theology degrees.[7]
History
The seminary was founded by Bishop Peter Fayssoux Stevens in 1876 as the Bishop Cummins Training School in Charleston in honor of the late Bishop Cummins.[5] It moved to Summerville in 1924.[7]The school received a state charter as a seminary in 1939.[8]
It operated from a former hospital in Summerville until 1966, when declining enrollment resulted in the seminary's closure.[8] It was revived in 1979 by bishops William Jerdan Jr. and Sanco Rembert, and the present campus and diocesan headquarters on South Main Street was purchased in 1980.[7][8]
In January 2020, the seminary announced the raising of $100,000 toward its endowment fund with a goal of achieving accreditation through thTransnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. e[7] Glenvil Gregory, a former U.S. Army chaplain and REC minister in South Carolina, was appointed dean in 2024.[5]
Campus
The 3 acres (1.2 ha) seminary campus includes a main building that houses classrooms, a library, the diocesan offices and archives, and a dormitory.[5] The main building was built as a Victorian residence in 1901 for businessman Milton P. Skinner. It was used as a private residence until 1952, when it became the site of the Pinewood School. The seminary campus also includes a small wooden chapel known as Pengelley Memorial Chapel, after former Bishop Arthur Pengelley. St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal Church meets in the chapel, which was previously the St. Barbabas Mission, a chapel established by St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Summerville.[8]
References
- ^ a b Walton, Jeff (July 10, 2025). "What are the Largest Anglican Dioceses and Parishes?". Juicy Ecumenism. Institute on Religion and Democracy. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
- ^ Sutton, Ray (October 5, 2022). "Report of the Bishop Ordinary" (PDF). Reports for the One Hundred Fifteenth Synod. Diocese of Mid-America. p. 13. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ^ The Diocese of the Southeast of the Reformed Episcopal Church: A Brief History
- ^ "Congregational Reporting: 2023 in Review". Anglican Church in North America.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ a b c d Torrez, Angela (January 24, 2026). "Cummins Memorial Theological Seminary celebrates 150 years of mission, growth and community impact". Summerville Journal Scene. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
- ^ McGill, Ann (January 27, 2026). "Summerville's oldest seminary celebrates 150 years of educating minorities". Live5 News. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
- ^ a b c d Bowers, Paul (September 14, 2020). "Summerville's tiny Cummins Seminary has deep roots and a plan to modernize". Post and Courier. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
- ^ a b c d "Diocese of the Southeast". SC Picture Project. February 14, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
External links