The original American Episcopal churches in Europe were founded in the latter half of the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century by wealthy Americans who wished to worship in their own language according to the customs of their home churches. Beautiful buildings were designed and built for the congregations in Rome, Paris, Nice, Florence and Geneva.

St Paul-within-the-Walls, Rome

During these early years a congregation was also formed in Munich. The jurisdiction for this scattered collection of American churches — known as the Convocation — was centered in New York City over 4,000 miles and an ocean away. Title to the properties of some of the churches is held in New York City by Boards statutorily created for that purpose.

World War II and after
The congregations shared the losses suffered by their communities during the two world wars fought on European soil. During World War II the property in Munich was confiscated and most the other church buildings were closed.

After the war, the congregations of the American churches in Europe had changed. They were rebuilt by different groups from those wealthy few who founded them years before. And other Episcopal locations were established. An Episcopal congregation in Frankfurt held services in a Quonset hut after the original Church of England building was destroyed, continuing an Anglican presence of several hundred years in the city. An English church, St Augustine of Canterbury in Wiesbaden, severely damaged during an air raid in the war, was restored by the United States Air Force a few years later. Episcopal services have been held there ever since. The congregation in Munich found other facilities for worship.

More changes were to come. The Church of the Holy Spirit in Nice was sold during the 1970s in order to form a joint Church of England-Episcopal ministry on the Riviera. All Saints’ Church, Waterloo, was formed in 1980 as an outreach from the Church of England to the American community, but later was welcomed under the Convocation umbrella.

Because the American congregations in Europe were small and scattered, the Presiding Bishop normally named a recently-retired Bishop to serve the Convocation on a part-time basis, primarily focusing on the pastoral needs of the clergy and congregations. With the churches separated by geography, by language, and by cultures, the clergy often felt isolated in foreign cities without peers in their church or community. And gradually the strong American presence within Europe and the churches diminished and the congregations became more diverse and more international. Lacking the leadership and direction that a full-time bishop could provide, it was impossible for the Convocation to begin to expand beyond a loose collection of churches in Europe.

The 1990s: the Convocation leaps forward
In the early 1990s, the then Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Edmond Browning, asked the Convocation to define the scope and accountability of a full-time Bishop in Charge. And he challenged the Convocation to find the addition resources to support an expanded episcopate, offering financial assistance from his own budget. As a result of this challenge, the Convocation has had a full-time Bishop in Charge, effective January 1994.

Bishop Rowthorn’s episcopate included the Pilgrimage of the Canterbury Cross in 1997, when a cross from Canterbury Cathedral journeyed to each of our churches and mission congregations and over 2,000 people renewed their baptismal vows; care of the clergy through annual clergy retreats; the formation of a 14-member Commission on the Ministry of the Baptized which focuses on mission, ministry in daily life, and Youth Across Europe; the creation of five mission congregations; the introduction of four other-language ministries; and the Mission 2000 consultation. Bishop Rowthorn also spearheaded co-operation with the other Anglican jurisdictions in continental Europe, with the formation of the College of Anglican Bishops in Continental Europe (COABICE) and the subsequent consultations to discuss a possible Anglican province in continental Europe.

In 2001, the Convocation the proceeded to elect, for the first time, its very own bishop, the Right Reverend Pierre Welté Whalon.

The greatest interest and concern of those of us who live within the Convocation is learning from our more recent past, evaluating where we are today, and discerning where we wish to continue our journey in the future.

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