The Diocese of Coventry is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

diocese in 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 consi ...

. It is headed by the

Bishop of Coventry The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichf ...

, who sits at

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midla ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, and is assisted by one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Warwick. The diocese covers Coventry and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. The diocese is divided into two

archdeaconries An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of most ...

, Warwick and

. Warwick archdeaconry is then divided into the deaneries of Shipston, Fosse,

Alcester Alcester ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. It is west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Redditch. The town dates back to the times of Roman ...

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England, located about east-southeast of Leamington Spa. In the 2021 census, the population of Southam was 8,114. History Southam was a Royal ...

and

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

& Leamington, whilst Coventry archdeaconry is divided into the deaneries of Rugby, Nuneaton, Kenilworth, and Coventry South, East and North. The diocese was formed on 6 September 1918 from part of the Diocese of Worcester. An ancient diocese exists (now called the

Diocese of Lichfield The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers of seve ...

) which had the title the "Diocese of Coventry" from 1102 until 1228, then "Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield" until 1539, then "Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry" until 1837, when Coventry itself was passed to the Diocese of Worcester. There were then two Bishops suffragan of Coventry in that diocese, 1891–1903.

Bishops

The diocesan

(

Sophie Jelley Sophie Rebecca Jelley ( Capitanchik; born 1972) is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2025, she has served as the Bishop of Coventry; she was previously the suffragan Bishop of Doncaster in the Diocese of Sheffield since 2020. Early life and e ...

) is assisted by a Bishop suffragan of Warwick (vacant). The

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 w ...

(for parishes in the diocese who reject the ministry of priests who are women) is the Bishop suffragan of Oswestry, who is licensed as an

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 ...

of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there.

David Evans David, Dave, or Dai Evans may refer to: Academics * Sir David Emrys Evans (1891–1966), Welsh classicist and university principal * David Evans (microbiologist) (1909–1984), British microbiologist * David Stanley Evans (1916–2004), British a ...

, a former Bishop of Peru and Bolivia, has been licensed as an honorary assistant bishop in the diocese since 2003; returned to England in 1988 and retired to

in 2010.

2023–25 vacancy

From 6 November 2023 until 31 December 2024,

Ruth Worsley Ruth Elizabeth Worsley, (born 1962) is a Church of England bishop. Since 2025, she has been Interim Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Wigan; she previously served as the Bishop of Taunton, a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Bath and Wells; ...

(

Bishop of Taunton The Bishop of Taunton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title was first created under the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 and takes its na ...

in the

Diocese of Bath and Wells The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the ...

) was also part-time Acting Bishop of Coventry; and from 9 November 2023, Saju Muthalaly (

Bishop of Loughborough The Bishop of Loughborough is an episcopal title used by the sole suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury, England. From 1987 to 2017, the Assistant Bishop of Leicester was an episcopal title u ...

in the

Diocese of Leicester The Diocese of Leicester is a Church of England diocese based in Leicester and including the current county of Leicestershire. The cathedral is Leicester Cathedral, where the Bishop of Leicester has his episcopal chair. The diocese is divided in ...

) was also part-time Assistant Bishop of Coventry. From 1 January 2025, retired bishop Tim Thornton became acting diocesan bishop.

Archdeaconries and archdeacons

While the diocese is divided into archdeaconries and has archdeacons like other dioceses, Coventry diocese is unique in that the two do not correlate. In 2010, the post of

Archdeacon of Warwick The Archdeacon of Warwick (now called Archdeacon Missioner) is the senior ecclesiastical officer in charge of the archdeaconry of Warwick in the Diocese of Coventry. The Archdeaconry of Warwick has five Deaneries which centre on Warwick and Leami ...

was replaced by that of Archdeacon Missioner ( Morris Rodham was appointed) and statutory oversight over the archdeaconry of Warwick was delegated to the

Archdeacon of Coventry The Archdeacon of Coventry is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Coventry. The post has been called the '' Archdeacon Pastor'' since 2012. History The post was historically within the Diocese of Lichfield (formerl ...

(then Ian Watson). Following Watson's retirement in 2012,

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...

was appointed as ''Acting Archdeacon of Coventry'' pending his installation into the new role of Archdeacon Pastor, which duly occurred on 9 December 2012. These arrangements follow the Bishop's 2009 document ''Signposts for the Future'', and the creation of the two posts of Archdeacon Missioner and Archdeacon Pastor are consistent with the suggested "transitional period" after which there will be only one archdeacon in the diocese. Rodham and Green remained, legally, collated to the Archdeaconries of Warwick and of Coventry.National Archdeacons' Forum — Archdeacons’ News — #26, July 2017
(Accessed 9 September 2017) Green retired at the end of August 2017, and Clive Hogger joined him as Acting Archdeacon for July and August, then remained Acting Archdeacon after Green's retirement. Sue Field was collated Archdeacon Pastor and Archdeacon of Coventry on 18 March 2018; Barry Dugmore was collated Archdeacon Missioner and Archdeacon of Warwick on 6 October 2019. Field was required to resign in January 2023 following disciplinary proceedings.

List of churches

References

Church of England Statistics 2002

External links

{{authority control 1918 establishments in England Christian organizations established in 1918

Organisations based in Coventry Culture in Coventry