Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and San Pedro de Macoris of the Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1897-
History/biography
The Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic began as a mission for English speaking residents. Responding to a call to minister to US occupational forces and to the British West Indian laborers of Anglican background who worked in the sugar and banana industries, Benjamin Isaac Wilson, a self-taught priest, founded the Church of the Holy Trinity, which was consecrated by the Right Reverend James T. Holly, Bishop of the Orthodox Apostolic Church in Haiti, in 1897.
This initial Dominican congregation, headed by Father Wilson, was at San Pedro de Macoris, and operated under the episcopal jurisdiction of the independent Haitian Orthodox Apostolic Church. In 1913, both the Dominican church and the church in Haiti were received into The Episcopal Church of the United States, although both were remained under the supervision of the Diocese of Puerto Rico for some time.
In 1928, jurisdiction over the Dominican church was transferred to the Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of Haiti. Though a Missionary District of the Dominican Republic was formed by General Convention in 1940, the Bishop of Haiti continued as Bishop-in-Charge, under the direction of the Presiding Bishop. In 1961, the Rt. Rev. Paul Kellogg became the first Bishop of the newly recognized mission diocese of the Dominican Republic.