The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is one of four partially overlapping Anglican jurisdictions in continental Europe. (The other Anglican jurisdictions in Europe are: the Lusitanian Church of Portugal, the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain, and the Church of England's Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe.) The Convocation is the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church,
the Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
. The Episcopal Church is one of 39 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church is present in 16 countries around the world.
The Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, a suffragan bishop to the Presiding Bishop, is based at The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. There are congregations in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. The Convocation functions both as a European Church with a legal corporate structure based in France, as well as being a diocesan-like jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church has been present in Europe since 1815. The Convocation was created by a Canon of General Convention in 1859, and Bishops in Charge were appointed by the Presiding Bishop. Some were diocesan Bishops or recently retired Bishops, who exercised oversight on a part-time basis. Bishops in Charge have been resident in Europe since 1960.
The first full-time resident Bishop in Charge was the Rt. Rev. Edmond Browning (1971-1974). The first Bishop in Charge to be elected by the Convocation itself and the first to be ordained and consecrated in Europe is our present Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, who was elected in 2001 and consecrated in St. Paul's Within the Walls Episcopal Church in Rome on November 18, 2001.
Bishop Whalon announced his intention to resign as Bishop in Charge effective July 31, 2019. This has initiated a Search Process for our second elected Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.