The House of Bishops (HoB) was established in 1789, four years after the election of The Episcopal Church’s first Bishop, Samuel Seabury. All bishops of The Episcopal Church, active or retired, make up the House of Bishops, with the Presiding Bishop as president. With nearly 300 active members, the HoB comprises half of the Church’s governing body. Eligible members include all diocesan and assisting bishops elected or canonically appointed from the dioceses, area missions, and special jurisdictions of the United States and nineteen other countries, including a number of churches in Europe, Latin America, Taiwan, and Haiti.
Along with the House of Deputies (the other governing body of The Episcopal Church), the HoB meets every three years to adopt legislation. Between conventions, they meet twice a year in a non-legislative capacity and, acting in their pastoral and teaching mode, may explore issues of theological, social or mission concern.
The House of Deputies met in General Convention in 1789 when the lay and clerical deputies established the order, governance, and first public statements of The Episcopal Church. The lay and clerical deputies elected Bishop William White its president, and among other early acts, provided for the keeping and publication of the journals and other papers of the Convention. The House of Deputies has been called the "senior house" for its early organization and its swift undertaking of the task of Church unity and oversight of the corporal affairs of the new body. It established what is today the oldest continuing body of The Episcopal Church, the State of the Church Committee, which annually implements the parochial and diocesan reports that render a reliable statistical profile of the population and health of The Episcopal Church. The House of Deputies operates between General Convention sessions through its special appointed bodies and the joint committees, commissions, boards and agencies. The ministry of the President and presiding officer of the House embodies the mutual ministry leadership of lay and clerical members of the Church in matters of governance, polity, and mission.
Integrity, Inc. was established in 1974 as a network of gay and lesbian Episcopalians, their families, and allies. Sparked by Louie Crew’s newsletter Integrity Forum, the first chapter formed in Chicago under James Wickliff, followed by the inaugural national convention in 1975 at the Cathedral of St. James, Chicago. Over time, the organization grew to over 70 chapters across the U.S. and Canada.
Integrity made a significant institutional impact at the Episcopal Church’s 1976 General Convention in Minneapolis, most notably contributing to the passage of resolution A069, affirming the full dignity and inclusion of homosexual persons. That same year, the Rev. Malcolm Boyd publicly came out during Integrity’s national convention in San Francisco. In 1977, Ellen Marie Barrett, a former co-president, was ordained by Bishop Paul Moore, Jr., marking a milestone in LGBTQ+ inclusion in the ordained priesthood.
Integrity fostered ecumenical relationships with organizations such as Dignity (Catholic), Lutherans Concerned, and the Metropolitan Community Church. Its national structure, driven largely by lay volunteers, coordinated local chapter activities and organized annual conventions. Advocacy efforts centered on influencing policy decisions at The Episcopal Church’s General Conventions. The Fund for Integrity, Inc., established in 1981, supported its mission financially. The organization formally dissolved in 2022.
Samuel Farmar Jarvis was born on January 20, 1786, the son of the Rt. Rev. Abraham Jarvis, second Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College and was ordained in 1811 before serving at St. Michael’s Church in Bloomingdale, New York, followed by St. James’ Church in New York City (1813-1820) and St. Paul’s Church in Boston (1820-1826). During this period, he earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Pennsylvania (1819) and taught Biblical Learning at the newly established General Theological Seminary (GTS) (1819-1820). In 1820, he transferred to Boston, where he served as the Rector of St. Paul’s Church.
Jarvis resigned from St. Paul’s in 1826 and spent the next nine years living in Europe, at which time he assembled his collection of fine Italian paintings. He returned to the United States in 1835 and began a professorship of Oriental Literature at Washington (Trinity) College; however, he resigned to become the Rector of Christ Church (Holy Trinity Church) in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1837. He would resign from that position in 1842.
Jarvis additionally served as Historiographer for The Episcopal Church (appointed in 1838) and wrote multiple books on the history of the church. He was a Trusteed of both Washington College and GTS and elected as a deputy to the 1844, 1847, and 1850 General Conventions. He died on March 26, 1851.
Edgar Legare Pennington, was born on January 15, 1891, in Madison, Georgia. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (1911) and Bachelor of Laws (1914) from the University of Georgia and practiced law for three years prior to serving in the United States Navy, during which time he survived the sinking of the USS President Lincoln by a German U-boat in 1918. After World War I, he pursued religious studies and was ordained in 1922. He served in multiple churches before rejoining the US Navy during World War II. He then served as Rector of St. John’s Church in Mobile, Alabama, until his death on September 10, 1951.
Pennington contributed not only to the understanding of The Episcopal Church’s history, particularly its American Colonial period, but also to the development of historical practices in The Episcopal Church. He was a co-founder of the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, member of the Church Historical Society, and Historiographer of The Episcopal Church from 1949 to 1951.