Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2015 Issue | Page 31

Civil War
and the Life of the Diocese

‘Council’: Our Unique Diocesan Civil War Legacy
Julia Randle, Diocesan Registrar and Historiographer
The 220th annual meeting of the Diocese of Virginia approaches,
a gathering that has borne two different names throughout its
history. Today we know it as Annual Council, but originally it was
known as Annual Convention, receiving the name Annual Council
during the Civil War.

After independence from England, the Church of England
congregations in the new United States organized into the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Their initial
meeting in 1785 bore the name of “General Convention,”
and the constitution and canons that went into effect in 1789
specifically called the national triennial meeting “General
Convention” and the governing meetings in the states
(dioceses) were termed “conventions” as well. From the
beginning, all the annual meetings of what we know of today as
dioceses were named annual conventions.

That commonality of name ended in 1862 with the
Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
Confederate States of America, which named its triennial
national meeting “General Council,” and the diocesan annual
meetings “Diocesan Council.” The Southern dioceses that
formally adopted this constitution, including Virginia, amended
their diocesan constitutions to replace “United States” with
“Confederate States” in their denominational name and to
rename their annual meeting “council.”

After the war, the Northern and Southern portions of
the Episcopal Church ultimately reunited, and in 1865-1867,
the Southern dioceses commenced the two-year process of
amending their constitution again, replacing “Confederate”
with “United” and returning to the name “convention” for their
annual meeting. The Diocese of Virginia, however, followed
a different course. The Virginia Council of 1867 determined
that only one constitutional revision was necessary: changing
“Confederate” back to “United,” and keeping the name
“Council” for its annual meeting.

Virginia’s retention of the name Diocesan Council marked
the beginning of a moderate Episcopal Church trend for
the next 50 years. Within weeks of Virginia’s decision on its
annual meeting name, the Diocese of Minnesota commenced
amending its constitution in like fashion. In 1868, the dioceses
of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Wisconsin started the twoyear constitutional process of naming or renaming their annual
meeting “Council.” Finally, at the 1868 General Convention,
Nebraska petitioned to be admitted as a new diocese, with
a constitution that named its annual meeting “council,”
prompting lengthy and heated debate in the House of Deputies.
Opponents viewed the name “council” as unconstitutional
in terms of the national church constitution and canons, and
reason to deny Nebraska admission. Supporters argued that
“council” was a more ecclesiastical name, while the name
“convention” was too secular and tainted by association with
odious politics. This debate only ended upon learning that the
House of Bishops had voted to admit Nebraska as a diocese.

After the 1868 General Convention, it was understood
there was no impediment to adopting the name “council” for a
diocesan annual meeting. During the next 50 years, numerous
dioceses changed their annual meeting name to “council.”
By 1919, in 27 of the 71 dioceses, the annual meeting bore that
name. After 1919, however, dioceses with annual councils began
changing their meeting names back to convention. Today,
Atlanta, Mississippi, Nebraska, Southern Virginia, Southwestern
Virginia, Texas, Virginia and West Texas are the remaining
dioceses of the Episcopal Church that call their annual meeting a
“council.” Of those eight dioceses, only the Diocese of Nebraska
is located outside the boundaries of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the Confederate States of America. The Diocese of
Virginia, however, is the only diocese with the unbroken legacy
of a Diocesan Council since 1862. t

Convention and Council: At a Glance
1785-1862 All annual meetings named “convention.”

1862  piscopal Church of the Confederate States names
E
annual meetings “council.”
1
865-1867  ll Confederate dioceses ex