In 1894, a resolution was adopted in the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina that the Western part of the state be set aside and offered to the General Church as a Missionary District.

In 1922, after all the requirements had been fulfilled, a petition from the Jurisdiction of Asheville to become the Diocese of Western North Carolina was presented at the General Convention of The Episcopal Church.

The Ravenscroft Associate Missions and Training School of the North Carolina Episcopal Diocese and the former residence of the Bishop was once housed at Schoenberger Hall in Asheville.

The diocese is notable for having two small mountain parishes that contain frescoes created by Ben Long, an Italian-trained artist: the fresco of the Last Supper at Holy Trinity church in Glendale Springs and Mary Great with Child and John the Baptist at Saint Mary's Episcopal Church in Beaver Creek, both part of the Holy Communion Parish of Ashe County.

Bishop José earned his Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Central Florida.