Dominican Republic, Diocese of the

Anglicanism was brought to the Dominican Republic in 1897 when Benjamin Isaac Wilson migrated from the Virgin Islands. Wilson was a teacher of the Christian faith, and was ordained priest in 1898 by the Bishop of the Independent Haitian Episcopal Church. His primary mission was to serve the English-speaking community in the Dominican Republic. The work of the Episcopal Church began in the Dominican Republic during the occupation of the United States Marine Corps. The Rev. William Wyllie arrived in 1918, and the Rev. Archibald Beer came in 1920. From 1918 until 1960, the supervision of the church was assumed by the Bishops of Puerto Rico and Haiti. In 1940 the General Convention established the Missionary District of the Dominican Republic. The first resident Bishop of the Dominican Republic was the Rt. Rev. Paul Axtell Kellogg, who was consecrated on Mar. 9, 1960. In 1970 it became a missionary diocese, and on Jan. 1, 1986, it became the Diocese of the Dominican Republic.