Diocese of British Columbia

Diocese of British Columbia
Location
Ecclesiastical provinceBritish Columbia and Yukon
Statistics
Parishes45 (2022)[1]
Members4,890 (2022)[1]
Information
RiteAnglican
CathedralChrist Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)
Current leadership
BishopAnna Greenwood-Lee
Website
bc.anglican.ca

The Diocese of British Columbia, also known as the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets,[2] is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Despite the name, the diocese comprises only the 32,630 square kilometres of Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands in the civil Province of British Columbia. Its see city is Victoria, and it presently maintains 45 parishes serving nearly 7,000 Anglicans according to the most recent statistics published by the ACC.[3]

The diocese was established in 1859, and is the oldest in the ecclesiastical province, once extending over the entire civil province of British Columbia, hence the origin of its name. Its first bishop was George Hills. In 1866, there were two archdeaconries: H. P. Wright was Archdeacon of Columbia and Samuel Gilson of Vancouver.[4] Notable parishes include Christ Church Cathedral and the Church of St. John the Divine, both in Victoria. The current bishop is Anna Greenwood-Lee.[5]

As part of the diocese's commitments to making indigenous land acknowledgements, the diocese around June 2021 began replacing its formal name referencing the colonial identity of British Columbia with the alternative name Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets on its website, in its newsletters, and other publicity materials.[2][6][7]

  1. ^ a b Elliot, Neil (15 March 2024). "Dioceses of the ACC – by numbers". Numbers Matters. (Neil Elliot is the statistics officer for the Anglican Church of Canada.). Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "The Anglican Synod of the Diocese of British Columbia (aka The Diocese of Islands and Inlets) The 99th Synod of the Diocese" (PDF). Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  3. ^ "2017 Statistical Report" (PDF). Anglican Church of Canada. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  4. ^ The Clergy List for 1866 (London: George Cox, 1866) p. 459
  5. ^ "Anna Greenwood-Lee". Anglican Diocese of British Columbia. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  6. ^ "100th Synod gathers online" (PDF). Diocesan E-Post. Anglican diocese of Islands and Inlets. June 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Homepage on 8 July 2021". Anglican diocese of Islands and Inlets. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2022.