The Church of England arrived in 1674 with a chaplain assigned to the British military garrison at Albany. In 1704 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent two missionaries to the Mohawk Valley, where the first Anglican church was erected in 1711. In 1708 the oldest parish, St. Peter's, was founded in Albany. He extended his ministry to nearby Schenectady, and by 1763, St. George's Church was built in that town. In 1765 the last of the colonial parishes, St. John's in Johnstown, was established. By the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Anglican missions were springing up in surrounding counties. However, the war proved disastrous to the English church, which for almost ten years after remained leaderless and disorganized. With the formation of the Episcopal Diocese of New York in 1785, the Church in New York began to reorganize. By 1790, during the "Second Great Awakening", expanded missionary activity begun under strong episcopal leadership was largely sustained by a vigorous laity. By 1810, 14 priests served 25 parishes in buildings made possible by grants from Trinity Parish, New York City. In 1868, nineteen counties in the northeastern quarter of the state were organized into the Diocese of Albany. Its first bishop, William Croswell Doane, was elected in 1869 by a convention of 62 priests and 127 delegates. Doane's principles and personality had a profound and enduring effect upon the character of the Diocese of Albany. He organized the newly formed diocese after the English model with a cathedral see, and his "high church" leanings found expression in his establishment of St. Agnes School, The Child's Hospital, a community of women religious, and St. Margaret's House and Hospital for Babies. In 2007, the 8thBishop of Albany, Dan Herzog, several months after his retirement, renounced his ordained ministry and was received into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. He was, at the time, only the third bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church to do so. Herzog had since 2003 been an increasingly vocal critic of some decisions of the Episcopal Church's General Convention, including its 2003 affirmation of the election of a non-celibate gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in the Diocese of New Hampshire. However, following a period of further reflection, Herzog rescinded his renunciation, and Presiding BishopKatharine Jefferts Schori, with the advice and consent of her Advisory Council, restored him to the ministry of the Episcopal Church with effect from April 28, 2010. Herzog will assist his successor in the Diocese of Albany in the capacity of a retired bishop. Jefferts Schori visited the Episcopal Diocese of Albany in 2011. William H. Love is the current Bishop of Albany. He was elected bishop coadjutor in 2006 and installed in February 2007 following Herzog's retirement. He is self-identified as orthodox and is considered to be theologically conservative. Love was the only Episcopal bishop in New York State to oppose the passage of the Marriage Equality Act.
