Gulf Atlantic Diocese

Diocese of Gulf Atlantic
Location
Ecclesiastical province	Anglican Church in North America
Statistics
Parishes	39
Information
Rite	Anglican
Current leadership
Bishop	Neil Lebhar
Website
Gulf Atlantic Diocese Official Website

The Gulf Atlantic Diocese is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, comprising 39 congregations in the American states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Florida is the state with most congregations. The diocese is divided in five deaneries: Gainesville, Jacksonville, Savannah, Tallahassee and Western.

The Gulf Atlantic Diocese origin goes back to the founding of the Anglican Alliance, which took place at the third diocesan chapter of the American Anglican Council, in November 2001, having Stephen Jecko, Bishop of Florida, as the main proponent. His main purposes were stated as to enforce what he and others saw as "orthodox Anglican belief" against "liberal innovations" in the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Diocese of Florida was then one of the main proponents of this claimed orthodoxy among the Episcopalian dioceses.

The diocese was very critical of the consecration of Gene Robinson as the first openly non-celibate gay bishop of the Episcopal Church in 2003. Stephen Jecko stepped down in 2004, after joining Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, and an aggregate of 12 seceding Episcopalian bishops to create the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes. Jecko's successor as bishop was Samuel Howard, who despite sharing similar beliefs with the seceding bishops and parishes, declined to join the Network. Another move was led by Eric Dudley who left the Episcopal Diocese of Florida to form a new church, St. Peter's Anglican Church, under the auspices of the Church of Uganda, a move that was coordinated and supported by Stephen Jecko. Other seceding Episcopalians and Anglicans created the Anglican Alliance of North Florida.

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Wikipedia