Bishops of Freetown
- 1981–?1994 Prince Eustace Thompson (died 1994)
- 1996–2013 Julius O. Prince Lynch [3] [4]
- 2013–present Thomas Arnold Wilson (3rd bishop)
The Anglican Diocese of Freetown (Sierra Leone) is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current diocese, along with the Anglican Diocese of Bo, was formed in 1981 by the partition of the previous Diocese of Sierra Leone, which had been established in 1852. The diocese of Sierra Leone, together with the dioceses of Niger, Accra, Lagos and the Diocese of Gambia and the River Pongas, had been formed, with some local resistance, into the Province of West Africa in 1951. [1] [2]
The cathedral of the diocese is St. George's Cathedral, Freetown, Sierra Leone, which was built between 1817 and 1828.
The current (2015) Bishop of Freetown is the Right Reverend Thomas Arnold Wilson, the third Bishop of the Diocese.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea to the northeast. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests, a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions which are subdivided into sixteen districts. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. Sierra Leone is a Muslim-majority country at approximately 78%, though with an influential Christian minority at about 21%. Muslims and Christians in Sierra Leone are extremely tolerant of each other, and all the major Muslim and Christian holidays are officially national holidays in the country.
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.
The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is the country with most dioceses, now numbering 11.
Samuel Ajayi Crowther, was a Yoruba linguist, Sierra Leonean-Nigerian clergyman, and the celebrated first African Anglican bishop of West Africa. Born in Osogun, he and his family were captured by Fulani slave raiders when he was about twelve years old.
The Archdiocese of Freetown is a Roman Catholic diocese in Sierra Leone. It is centred on the city of Freetown, the capital and most populous city of the African country of Sierra Leone.
The Catholic Church in Sierra Leone is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland forms part of Province 3 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Having been divided twice, it no longer has all of Maryland and now consists of the central, northern, and western Maryland counties of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, and Washington, as well as the independent city of Baltimore.
The Anglican Church of Kenya is a province of the Anglican Communion, and it is composed by 37 dioceses. The current Primate and Archbishop of Kenya is Jackson Ole Sapit.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kenema is a diocese Catholic Church in the Ecclesiastical province of Freetown in Sierra Leone. The region that the Diocese comprises are the border from Bo District to the west, the Republic of Liberia in the southeast, Tonkolili District and Kono District in the north, Guinea in the east.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Makeni is a diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of Freetown in Sierra Leone. The Cathedral is the Our Lady of Fatima Cathedral in Makeni.
The Diocese of Gambia and Guinea was founded in 1935 and had been renamed the Diocese of Gambia and The Rio Pongas by 1940. Today it is simply styled the Diocese of Gambia, is one of 17 dioceses in the Church of the Province of West Africa, and comprises The Gambia, Senegal, and the Cape Verde Islands. In 1985, French-speaking Guinea was split off from it to form the Anglican Diocese of Guinea.
The Inter-territorial Catholic Bishops' Conference of The Gambia and Sierra Leone (ITCABIC) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Sierra Leone is officially a secular state, although Islam and Christianity are the two main and dominant religions in the country. The constitution of Sierra Leone provides for freedom of religion and the Sierra Leone Government generally protects it. The Sierra Leone Government is constitutionally forbidden from establishing a state religion, though Muslim and Christian prayers are usually held in the country at the beginning of major political occasions, including presidential inauguration.
From 1961 to 1971, Sierra Leone was an independent constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II as Queen of Sierra Leone and its nominal head of state. The Queen was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone Creole people is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African American, West Indian, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Sierra Leone Creoles are 1.3% of the population of Sierra Leone.
The Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos is one of the 14 ecclesiastical provinces of the Church of Nigeria. It comprises 13 dioceses. The first archbishop was the Most Rev. Ephraim Ademowo, since the province of Lagos was created, in 2002 until 2013. The current archbishop is the Most Rev. Michael Fape.
The Anglican Diocese of Guinea is one of 17 dioceses in the Church of the Province of West Africa and comprises the nation of Guinea. It was created in 1985 by the partition of the Diocese of Gambia and Guinea into the English-speaking Diocese of Gambia and the French-speaking Diocese of Guinea.
The Anglican Diocese of Bo is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its partner diocese is Chichester, England.
Thomas Arnold Ikunika Wilson is an Anglican bishop and scholar in Sierra Leone: he is the current Bishop of Freetown.
