Diocese of Canterbury

Diocese of Canterbury

Coat of arms of the Diocese of Canterbury

Coat of arms

Flag of the Diocese of Canterbury

Flag
Location
Ecclesiastical province Canterbury
Archdeaconries Canterbury, Ashford, Maidstone
Coordinates 51°16′47″N 1°5′0″E / 51.27972°N 1.08333°E / 51.27972; 1.08333Coordinates: 51°16′47″N 1°5′0″E / 51.27972°N 1.08333°E / 51.27972; 1.08333
Statistics
Parishes 261
Churches 335
Information
Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral
Current leadership
Bishop Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
Suffragans Trevor Willmott, Bishop of Dover
Norman Banks, Bishop of Richborough (AEO)
Jonathan Goodall, Bishop of Ebbsfleet (AEO)[1]
Rod Thomas, Bishop of Maidstone (AEO)[2]
Archdeacons Philip Down, Archdeacon of Ashford and Joint Acting Archdeacon of Canterbury
Stephen Taylor, Archdeacon of Maidstone and Joint Acting Archdeacon of Canterbury
Website
canterbury.anglican.org

The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest see of the Church of England.

For organisational purposes, the diocese is divided into three archdeaconries,[3] containing a total of fifteen deaneries:

Bishops

The diocesan bishop is the Archbishop of Canterbury, presently Justin Welby. However, because of his roles as metropolitan bishop of the Province of Canterbury, Primate of All England and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the archbishop (whose primary residence is at Lambeth Palace in London) is very often away from the diocese. Therefore, one of his suffragan bishops, the Bishop of Dover (Trevor Wilmott), is in many ways empowered to act almost as if he were the diocesan bishop.

There was, until 2009, another suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Maidstone, but it was decided in November 2010 that no further appointments would be made to that post.[5] Two further suffragans whose sees are located in the diocese Ebbsfleet and Richborough are really provincial episcopal visitors with a focus more wide-ranging than the local diocese. On 4 December 2014, it was announced that the see of Maidstone would be filled again in order to provide a further provincial episcopal visitor for particular conservative evangelical members of the Church who take a minority view on "headship".[2]

Besides the Archbishop and the Bishop of Dover, several other men are licensed as bishops in the diocese. Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese who reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor (PEV) the Bishop suffragan of Richborough, Norman Banks. Unlike most in dioceses, Banks does not need to be licensed as an honorary assistant bishop since he is a suffragan in the diocese. There are four honorary assistant bishops licensed in the diocese:

See also

Notes

  1. Bishop of Ebbsfleet (Accessed 2 August 2013)
  2. 1 2 Thinking Anglicans – Appointment of a bishop who takes a conservative evangelical view on headship (Accessed 4 December 2014)
  3. Diocese of Canterbury — Order creating the Archdeaconry of Ashford
  4. Canterbury Diocese – People and Places
  5. Canterbury Diocese — Synod News
  6. Gear, Rt Rev. Michael Frederick. Who's Who 2014 (December 2013 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  7. Turnbull, Rt Rev. Michael. Who's Who 2014 (December 2013 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  8. Llewellin, Rt Rev. (John) Richard (Allan). Who's Who 2014 (December 2013 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  9. Cray, Rt Rev. Graham Alan. Who's Who 2014 (December 2013 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 25 April 2014.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.