Diocese of British Columbia

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.

Diocese of British Columbia
Location
Ecclesiastical province	British Columbia and Yukon
Statistics
Parishes	45 (2022)[1]
Members	4,890 (2022)[1]
Information
Rite	Anglican
Cathedral	Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)
Current leadership
Bishop	Anna Greenwood-Lee
Website
bc.anglican.ca

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]

Bishops of British Columbia

No.	Image	Name	Dates	Notes
1		George Hills	1859–1892
2		William Perrin	1893–1911
3		Charles Roper	1912–1915	Bishop of Ottawa 1915–1939, Metropolitan of Ontario 1933–39
4		Augustine Scriven	1915–1916
5		Charles Schofield	1916–1936
6		Harold Sexton	1936–1967	Archbishop of British Columbia 1952–1969
7		John Anderson	1967–1969
8		Frederick Gartrell	1969–1979
9		Hywel Jones	1979–1984
10		Ron Shepherd	1984–1991
11		Barry Jenks	1992–2002
12		James Cowan	2004–2012
13		Logan McMenamie	2014–2020
14		Anna Greenwood-Lee	2021–present

Further reading

• Christianity portal

• Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Church Directory, 2007. Anglican Book Centre, 2006.

References

1. 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. "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.

External links

• Diocesan website