the
BORROWED BISHOP North Carolina’s Early Years Under the Episcopal Oversight of the Rt. Rev. Richard Channing Moore of Virginia, 1817-1823
When a band of three clergy and six laymen assembled in April 1817 at Christ Church, Newbern, to organize the Episcopal Church in North Carolina, they invited the Bishop of Virginia “to visit and perform the Episcopal offices in this State.” What better title than “borrowed” for this visiting bishop who helped our diocese during its critical formative years? At the time Bishop Richard Channing Moore received this invitation to add North Carolina to his portfolio, he had already begun reviving the fortunes of the Episcopal Church in Virginia. His early successes continued during an episcopate which lasted from 1814 until his death in 1841. His role in reviving the church in North Carolina is easily overlooked, yet Bishop Moore was responsible for vastly increasing the communicant strength of the church, for ordaining new clergy and for expanding the reach of the church in North Carolina through his visitations and his pastoral leadership. Most importantly, Bishop Moore could embrace both the evangelical and the high church wings of the church (something his successor, Bishop John Stark Ravenscroft, would prove unwilling and unable to do). History Day 2013 will build on last year’s program in Oxford and Williamsboro, during which we examined 18th-century Anglicanism in North Carolina and visited one of the handful of remaining colonial church buildings in the state. Convening on April 20, this year we will tell the story of our church from the founding of the diocese until the convention of 1823, the critical six-year period during which Bishop Moore’s oversight helped launch our fledgling diocese before we elected a bishop of our own. Our host parish is St. John’s Church in Fayetteville, one of the four founding churches of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. The prominent role St. John’s played in the early years of the diocese is not well known. Although the congregation was less than a month old when the diocese formed, it was active from the beginning and held a central role in governance of the church here in North Carolina. The Rev. Robert W. Prichard, Ph.D., the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Professor of Christianity in America at Virginia Theological Seminary, and Bruce J. Dawes, local historian and director of the Fayetteville Area Transportation & Local History Museum, will present during the day. In addition, History Day will feature exhibits from all three North Carolina dioceses as well as tours of significant sites in Fayetteville. For folk who can make a weekend of it, there will be optional activities Friday and Saturday evening. We hope everyone interested in the history of our church will make a day – or a weekend – of it. With future History Days already in the works, we also hope you keep coming back each spring as we move toward the year 2017, which marks 200 years of shared history among the three North Carolina dioceses. All three bishops have appointed representatives to a steering committee that will coordinate the statewide planning for our multi-year bicentennial observance. This year’s History Day marks the beginning of this collaborative effort to focus on a different era of history in a location of the state significant to that era. Other initiatives and projects will follow. The Rev. Dr. Brooks Graebner is the Diocesan Historiographer and rector of St. Matthew’s, Hillsborough. Contact him at stmattclergy@embarqmail.com.
Reflecting the Radical Welcome of Jesus
the 2nd annual
history day
History Day will be held at historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, NC 10:00am to 4:00pm – April 20, 2013 To Register Look for the event registration on the diocesan website, www.episdionc.org, or contact Lynn Hoke, Project Archivist, at lynn.hoke@episdionc.org or at Sponsored by the Parish of St. John’s, Fayetteville & The Bicentennial Committee of the Diocese of North Carolina, the Diocese of East Carolina & the Diocese of Western North Carolina.
SAVE THE DATES: Upcoming History Days • May 2, 2014 – The Church of the Holy Cross, Valle Crucis, Diocese of Western North Carolina • April 2015 – Saint Augustine’s University, Raleigh, Diocese of North Carolina • April 2016 – Saint Mark’s Church, Gastonia, Diocese of Western North Carolina • April 22, 2017 – Bicentennial, Christ Church, New Bern, Diocese of East Carolina Information on future History Days will be available through the Diocesan Historiographers. North Carolina: Brooks Graebner, stmattclergy@embarqmail.com; Western North Carolina: Scott Oxford, soxford@stjameswnc.org; East Carolina: Mamré Wilson, mamre@ec.rr.com
The North Carolina Disciple | Spring 2013
13