History

On Sept. 20, 1790, the Diocese of Vermont was organized at Arlington. On May 29, 1810, representatives from Vermont and four other New England dioceses met in Boston and organized the Eastern Diocese. The Diocese of Vermont withdrew from the Eastern Diocese on May 30, 1832, and elected its own bishop, John Henry Hopkins, who later became the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Hopkins was a vocal critic of abolitionism whose 1861 pamphlet The Bible View of Slavery, argued that slavery was constitutionally valid and potentially beneficial to those who were enslaved. He also argued that there was no scriptural basis for ending the practice.

Under the Rt. Rev. Dr. Shannon MacVean-Brown, who was elected in 2019, the diocese has made racial reconciliation one of its top priorities. Bishop Shannon is Vermont’s 11th bishop, and the first Black bishop to lead a New England diocese in the Episcopal Church.

In recent decades, the diocese has been on the forefront of the work to include women and LGBTQ+ people more fully in the church. Vermont was the first diocese to elect a woman as its diocesan bishop. Mary Adelia Rosamond McLeod was elected Bishop of Vermont on June 5, 1993 and served until 2001.

In 1999, the Ven. Stannard Baker, archdeacon of blessed memory, was the lead plaintiff in Baker vs. Vermont, the case in which the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to the benefits and protections of marriage. Vermont was the first state to extend such benefits and protections. Tom Little, chancellor of the diocese, was the chair of the legislative committee that wrote the Vermont civil unions law in 2000. Later, Little chaired the statewide Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection. The findings of this commission paved the way for civil unions to give way to full marriage equality in 2008.

The diocese also played a pivotal role in advancing the cause of equality for LGBTQ+ people within the church. Bishop Thomas Ely (2001-19) was a champion of the movement to allow same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly LGBTQ+ bishops across the Episcopal Church. Bishop Gene Robinson, the church’s first openly gay bishop said Ely had done more to advance the full inclusion of all baptized people in the life of the church than any other bishop, including himself.

Bishop Shannon has focused the diocese on finding new ways to serve, worship, care for creation and foster conciliation and reconciliation across the state.