The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is a diocese of the Episcopal Church covering Washington, D.C. and nearby counties of Maryland in the United States. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by the Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde. It is home to Washington National Cathedral, which is the seat of both the diocesan bishop and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. History Since its creation in 1895 from the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, the territory has included the District of Columbia, adjacent suburban Maryland counties of Prince George's and Montgomery, and the southern Maryland counties of Charles County and St. Mary's County. The land now known as the District of Columbia was once part of Prince George's County, Maryland. A congregation which later became known as Rock Creek parish was founded in 1712, and by seven years later had built a chapel of ease for (Broad Creek Parish), which was the spiritual counterpart to secular government in Prince George's County. The congregation built a larger, Georgian style building in 1775, which is now known as St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish (Washington, D.C.). It is the oldest religious institution within the District of Columbia. The former glebe (farm to support the parish priest) became the non-denominational Rock Creek Cemetery, now also home to the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington. As European settlement moved westward and the area's population increased, additional congregations began and built chapels within what Maryland's General Assembly in 1776 designated Montgomery County. These congregations had split off from Broad or Rock Creek parish and became Prince George's Parish in 1726 (later Christ Episcopal Church (Rockville, Maryland)) and Eden or Sugarland Parish in 1737 (which later became St. Peter's Church (Poolesville, Maryland)), only to be reassigned to the newly formed diocese of Washington over a century later. After the American Revolutionary War, both Maryland and Virginia donated land to form the new federal District of Columbia. Additional congregations which ultimately became parishes formed much nearer the Potomac River at this time, including Christ Church, Washington Parish (a/k/a Navy Yard; 1794), Christ Church (Georgetown, Washington, D.C.), and St. John's Episcopal Church, Georgetown (1796). After the destruction of the War of 1812, with the Burning of Washington in August 1814, St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square (1815) was built facing historic Lafayette Square across from the rebuilt "President's House", at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., (in