Delaware-Maryland Synod

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The Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the geographical synod consisting of the entire state of Delaware and most of the state of Maryland, with the exception of the counties surrounding Washington, D.C., and exterme western Maryland.

With its office in suburban Baltimore, Maryland, the synod encompasses two states with totally different histories; Maryland, a primarily Roman Catholic colony, and Delaware, originally part of Pennsylvania and primarily Quaker and Methodist. Both states supplied militia in the American Revolution and as so-called border states in the American Civil War, were allowed to keep slaves, while fighting along side of Union forces. Both states ended segregation in the 1950s, ironic for residents of Wilmington, Delaware who lived just 30 miles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who had no slaves or segregation policies since the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

The synod corresponds to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, the oldest Catholic metopolitan in the U.S., as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, and the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.