Anglican Diocese of Toronto

Diocese of Toronto
Location
Ecclesiastical province Ontario
Statistics
Parishes 257
Information
Rite Anglican
Cathedral Cathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)
Current leadership
Bishop the Most Rev. Colin Johnson
Suffragans 4
Website
toronto.anglican.ca

The Diocese of Toronto is an administrative division of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the central part of southern Ontario. It has the most members of any Anglican diocese in Canada. It is also one of the biggest Anglican dioceses in the Americas in terms of numbers of parishioners, clergy and parishes. Presently there are 257 parishes in the diocese and over 80,000 Anglicans identified on parish rolls. The oldest of the seven dioceses comprising the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario, it was founded in 1839.

In 1839, the area of the current Diocese of Toronto made up a fifth of what was then (also) known as the Diocese of Upper Canada, which comprised the current Dioceses of Huron, Ontario, Algoma, and Niagara, which were respectively set apart in 1857, 1861, 1873, and 1875. [1]

The Cathedral Church of St. James is the centre of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. The church originated as The English Church when it was first erected in 1803. It later became the seat of the Anglican bishop and was reconsecrated as the Cathedral Church of St. James in 1830. The church remained under the direction of John Strachan for most of the nineteenth century, who was later buried on the cathedral grounds in 1867.[2]

FaithWorks is the annual appeal of the diocese of Toronto (www.faithworks.ca). In 2010, FaithWorks celebrated its fifteenth year and raised a record $1,514,500. More parishes than ever before participated and over 60% of parishes increased their giving over 2009.

Bishops

Its first bishop was John Strachan who became the bishop of Toronto in 1839, after becoming ordained in the Anglican Church in 1803 and later becoming the archdeacon of York in 1827. [3]

The current Archbishop of Toronto (and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario) is the Most Reverend Colin Johnson, who is assisted by four suffragan bishops, styled "area bishops", each with oversight of a geographical region of the diocese. The Episcopal Areas and their respective suffragan/area bishops are:

Each Episcopal Area has its own bishop and some have an archdeacon, although all function with delegated authority of the diocesan bishop who retains jurisdiction for the whole diocese.

The Reverend Canon Linda Nicholls was elected Suffragan Bishop of Toronto on the third ballot at an electoral Synod on November 17, 2007, at St. Paul's Bloor Street. She was consecrated on February 2, 2008, at the Cathedral Church of St. James (Toronto), becoming the third female Anglican bishop in the Diocese of Toronto and the fourth in the Anglican Church in Canada.

The first two women consecrated as bishops in the Anglican Church of Canada also served as suffragan bishops of Toronto: first, the Right Reverend Victoria Matthews, elected in 1994, translated to the Diocese of Edmonton as diocesan bishop in 1997 (and now Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand; and second, the Right Reverend Ann Tottenham, elected in 1997, retired in 2005, and now serving part-time as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Niagara.

Parishes

See also List of Anglican churches in Toronto

The Diocese of Toronto contains 272 churches in 217 parishes. A few of these include:

The cathedral of the diocese is the Cathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)

Educational institutions

Bishops of Toronto

  1. John Strachan, 1839–1867
  2. Alexander Bethune, 1867–1879
  3. Arthur Sweatman, 1879–1909 (Metropolitan of Canada, 1932–1932; Primate of All Canada, 1907–1909)
  4. James Sweeny, 1909-1932 (Metropolitan of Ontario, 1932–1932)
  5. Derwyn Owen, 1932–1947) (Primate of All Canada, 1934–1947)
  6. Ray Beverley, 1947–1955
  7. Frederick Wilkinson, 1955–1966
  8. George Snell, 1966–1972
  9. Lewis Garnsworthy, 1972–1989 (Metropolitan of Ontario, 1979–1985)
  10. Terence Finlay, 1989–2004 (Metropolitan of Ontario, 2000–2004)
  11. Colin Johnson, 2004–present (Metropolitan of Ontario, 2009–present)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anglican Church of Canada. Dioceses. Toronto, Henry Scadding, John George Hodgins. “Jubilee of the diocese of Toronto, 1839-1889: Record of proceedings connected with the celebration of the jubilee November 21st to the 28th, 1889, inclusive”. Page 129. Harvard University. 23 October 2008. Google Book Search. 24 October 2011. <http://books.google.ca/books?id=k1svAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA129&dq=anglican+diocese+of+toronto&hl=en&ei=tNGlTuSYHIbm0QHFnrzjCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false>
  2. ↑ Bell, Bruce. Penn, Elan. “Toronto: A Pictoral Celebration” Page 44. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2006. New York. Google Book Search. 24 October 2011. http://books.google.ca/books?id=PgsNqk4MFj4C&pg=PA44&dq=cathedral+church+of+saint+james+toronto&hl=en&ei=BN6lTtjZC-f00gGUqZHKDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
  3. ↑ William Westfall "Strachan, John" The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. Ed. Gerald Hallowell. Oxford University Press, 2004. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. York University. 24 October 2011 <http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t148.e1505>

External links

Coordinates: 44°18′00″N 79°12′00″W / 44.300°N 79.200°W / 44.300; -79.200

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