The 1859 General Convention of the Episcopal Church assigned New Mexico to the jurisdiction of the Missionary District of the Northwest under Joseph Cruickshank Talbot.

Talbot first visited the region in 1863, during the abortive attempt by Padre Jose Antonio Martinez of Taos to ally himself and his Roman Catholic congregations with the Episcopal Church.

[2] In 1874, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved the formation of the Missionary District of New Mexico and Arizona and appointed William Forbes Adams as Bishop of the new mission.

Adams resigned in 1877 and was succeeded by George Dunlop, under whose presidency the first convention of the Missionary District of New Mexico and Arizona was held, again at the Exchange Hotel, in 1880.

He voiced repeated and increasing concern about the direction of the Episcopal Church, and ultimately determined he should resign his position and orders, and become a Roman Catholic.

He has since been ordained deacon in December 2008 by Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, the archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, and priest in February 2009, by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe.

Concurrently with Frey's appointment, the Standing Committee also announced that the 7th Bishop, Terence Kelshaw, had joined the Anglican Church of Uganda.