All Saints’ Cathedral in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has installed what is believed to be the first transgender dean in the history of The Episcopal Church. The Very Rev. Micah Cronin, a biological woman who identifies as a man, became dean of the cathedral on Aug. 16, according to Episcopal News Service. Cronin is married to the Rev. Elias Henry, a woman who also identifies as transgender and serves at The Corner House, a Lutheran LGBT-affirming campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
In an introductory email to the congregation, Cronin described being raised Methodist and joining The Episcopal Church at age 19, the same year she began identifying as transgender. “For clarification, this means that I was raised as a girl. For my whole adult life, I have been known and loved as myself — Micah,” Cronin wrote. “The churches I was raised in were not able to receive me as I am. But as a young person, I heard through the grapevine that the Episcopal Church would accept me.”
Cronin’s appointment comes as The Episcopal Church continues to face long-term membership decline. The denomination reported fewer than 2 million active baptized members in 2010, falling to about 1.547 million by 2023. For its 2024 Parochial Report, the denomination did not publish an overall membership total, citing questions about how the numbers should be measured and reported.
The denomination has experienced significant division since consecrating the Rev. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop in 2003, prompting numerous congregations to leave in protest. The 2024 report recorded 19,624 baptisms of children and adults, down from more than 28,000 total baptisms reported in 2014.
