A Vibrant and Diverse Christian Community
Map, Diocese of Atlanta
What is a diocese?
A diocese is a geographical region of The Episcopal Church that links churches and ministries under a bishop's oversight. The Diocese of Atlanta covers the cities, towns and communities in Middle and North Georgia, including metro Atlanta but reaching from south of Macon to the Alabama line and north and east to the borders of Tennessee and South Carolina.
There are some 56,000 members in nearly 25,000 households in this diocese.
116 welcoming and worshiping communities make up the Diocese of Atlanta.
We are the ninth largest of 110 dioceses in The Episcopal Church, which was founded in 1789.
We are a Christian community blessed with vibrance, variety and vitality. Our diocesan bishop is the Right Rev. Robert C. Wright, who was elected by the diocese in June 2012 and then ordained and consecrated Oct. 13, 2012. The Right Rev. Keith B. Whitmore has served as assistant bishop since April 2008, and the Right Rev. Don A. Wimberly is an assisting bishop. The Offices of the Bishop are at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta.
We have more than 200 clergy who are under Bishop Wright's oversight, and nearly as many who come from other dioceses, plus an abundant supply of lay ministers.
The Diocese of Atlanta was created in 1907 and carved from the Diocese of Georgia. The oldest church in the diocese is Christ Church in Macon, which was organized in 1825. The newest are Christ the King, Lilburn, and St. Benedict's, Smyrna, organized in 2005 and 2006.
As part of The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Atlanta is connected to the worldwide Anglican Communion of 70 million people in 38 provinces. We engage in special companion relationships with several dioceses in Africa and South America.
The Diocese of Atlanta actively supports the ministry of The Episcopal Church and its presiding bishop, The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry.
Bishop Robert C. Wright
Bishop Robert C. Wright
The Right Rev. Robert C. Wright is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, which covers north and middle Georgia and embraces 110 worshiping communities. At the time of his election in June 2012, he had served 10 years as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta. Prior to that, he was a school chaplain and on the staff of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City.
Since becoming bishop, Wright addressed the Georgia legislature about gun control, spoke up for Medicaid expansion and has been a vocal and active opponent of the death penalty in Georgia. In commemoration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, he prayed with a City of Atlanta sanitation crew before taking an early morning shift on the back of a city garbage truck. In January 2015, he was named among the 100 Most Influential Georgians by GeorgiaTrend magazine.
Wright was born in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was adopted at 9 months of age. After graduating high school, he served five years in the U.S. Navy. While attending Howard University in Washington, D.C., he worked as a child advocate for two mayors. He earned an M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary, and he has been awarded honorary doctor of divinity degrees by the Virginia seminary and Sewanee: The University of the South.
He is married to Beth-Sarah Wright, Ph.D., and they have a grown daughter and four school-age children.