St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Oxford, Mississippi) St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Oxford, Mississippi) St. Peter's Episcopal Church is a parish of the Episcopal Church in Oxford, Mississippi. It is noted for its historic Gothic Revival church building at 113 S. 9th Street, which once served as the pro-cathedral for what is now the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi. The Episcopal history of the area predates the incorporation of Oxford, with services held periodically throughout the 1840s. In 1848 James Hervey Otey, then provisional Bishop of Mississippi, encouraged the establishment of an Episcopal congregation there, anticipating opportunities from the recent opening of the University of Mississippi. The church was
Episcopal Diocese of San Diego that encouraged these members to leave. Some dissident groups attempted to retain control of their church buildings and property, but in 2008, the California Court of Appeal ruled for the Diocese and upheld the authority of Mathes to dismiss parish vestry members and clergy who sought to take a parish out of The Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church provides "wide pastoral latitude" to individual bishops on the subject of blessing same sex couples. In 2010, Mathes approved a policy by which individual parishes could, after a self study period, choose to recognize LGBT couples in a blessing service. Episcopal Diocese