The Diocese of Canterbury is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

diocese covering eastern

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

which was founded by

St. Augustine of Canterbury Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – probably 26 May 604) was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.Delaney ''D ...

in 597. The diocese is centred on

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

and is the oldest see of the Church of England. The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales'' (1835) noted the net annual revenue for the Canterbury see was £19,182. This made it the wealthiest diocese in England.

Bishops

The diocesan bishop is the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

, presently

Justin Welby Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is a British bishop who is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. He has served in that role since 2013. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam, Warwickshire, and then Bishop of Durham, serving for ...

. However, because of his roles as

metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the ...

of the

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

, Primate of All England and "first bishop" of the worldwide

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, the archbishop (whose primary residence is at

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposit ...

in London) is often away from the diocese. Therefore, his suffragan bishop, the

Bishop of Dover The Bishop of Dover is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Dover in Kent. The Bishop of Dover holds the additional title of "Bishop ...

(presently

Rose Hudson-Wilkin Rose Josephine Hudson-Wilkin, (born 19 January 1961) is a British Anglican bishop, who has been suffragan Bishop of Dover in the diocese of Canterbury - deputising for the Archbishop - since 2019: she is the first black woman to become a Chur ...

), is in many ways empowered to act almost as if she were the diocesan bishop. The diocese had from 1944 to 2009 a second locally focussed suffragan bishop, the

Bishop of Maidstone The Bishop of Maidstone is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the county town of Maidstone in Kent. Canterbury suf ...

(this version of the post was discontinued in November 2010), who had a similar though subordinate role to that of the Bishop of Dover. Two suffragans have nominal sees in the diocese — the Bishops of Ebbsfleet and

Richborough Richborough () is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash. Although now some dist ...

, who are

provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

s with a wider focus than the diocese. Besides the Archbishop and the Bishop of Dover, three honorary assistant bishops supervise and officiate. Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese who reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the

(PEV), the Bishop suffragan of Richborough, Norman Banks. There are three

honorary assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

s licensed in the diocese: *2003–present: Michael Turnbull, retired former

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

and

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was fo ...

, lives in

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

. *2008–present:

Richard Llewellin John Richard Allan Llewellin (born 30 September 1938) is a retired Anglican bishop in the Church of England. Llewellin was educated at Clifton College, Bristol and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He was made a deacon at Michaelmas 1964 (20&nbs ...

, retired former

Bishop at Lambeth The Bishop to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York is a position within the hierarchy of the Church of England. It is a non-diocesan appointment in which a bishop acts as head of staff or general assistant to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to ...

(chief of staff for the Archbishop at

) and former

, lives in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

. *2009–present: Graham Cray, retired Archbishops' Missioner and ''

fresh expression Fresh Expressions is an international, cross-denominational, creative movement of Christians working alongside existing congregations to cultivate new forms of church for those who have never been involved in church or who have left the church. T ...

s'' Team Leader and former Bishop suffragan of Maidstone lives in Harrietsham.

Diocesan structure

For organisational purposes, the diocese is divided into three archdeaconries, containing a total of fifteen

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

, which are further subdivided into parishes: Canterbury Diocese comprises 204 parishes organised in 101 legal benefices.

References

External links

*
Church of England Statistics 2002

{{Authority control 597 establishments Culture in Canterbury

6th-century establishments in England

Bishops

Diocesan structure

See also

References

External links