A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or more curates, and who operates from a parish church. Historically, a parish often covered the same geographical area as a manor. Its association with the parish church remains paramount.
Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." In 2017, clergy within the Church of England indicated their inclination towards supporting same-sex marriage by dismissing a bishops' report that explicitly asserted the exclusivity of church weddings to unions between a man and a woman. At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
The Anglican Church of Australia, originally known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Roman Catholic Church.
The Anglican Church of Canada is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is l'Église anglicane du Canada. In 2022, the Anglican Church counted 294,931 members on parish rolls in 1,978 congregations, organized into 1,498 parishes. The 2021 Canadian census counted 1,134,315 self-identified Anglicans, making the Anglican Church the third-largest Canadian church after the Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are located in South Africa, and one each in Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Saint Helena.
The Anglican Diocese of North West Australia is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia, founded in 1910. It is situated in the northern part of the state of Western Australia.
The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.
The Diocese of the Arctic is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is by far the largest of the thirty dioceses in Canada, comprising almost 4,000,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi), or one-third the land mass of the country. As the name indicates, the diocese encompasses the Arctic region of Canada including the entirety of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Nunavik region of northern Quebec. The see city is Iqaluit, Nunavut, and the diocese's nearly 34,000 Anglicans are served by 48 parishes. The administrative offices of the diocese are located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA. Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
The Anglican Church in Central America is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering five sees in Central America.
The Anglican Diocese of Athabasca is a diocese of the Northern Lights of the Anglican Church of Canada, in the northern half of the civil province of Alberta. It was created in 1874 by the division into four parts of the original Diocese of Rupert's Land. The Synod of the Diocese of Athabasca was organized in 1876. The diocese was then itself subdivided in 1892 to create the new dioceses of Selkirk and Mackenzie River and in 1933 to create the Diocese of The Arctic.
The Episcopal Church (TEC), also officially the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Sean W. Rowe.
The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
Sir David Okete Vuvuiri Vunagi,, is a retired Solomon Islands Anglican bishop who served as governor-general of Solomon Islands from 2019 to 2024. He was the archbishop of Melanesia and bishop of the Diocese of Central Melanesia from 2009 to 2015.
Terrence Owen Buckle was a Canadian Anglican bishop. He was Archbishop of Yukon from 1995 to 2010 and Metropolitan of British Columbia and Yukon from 2005 until 2010, in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Foley Thomas Beach is an American Anglican bishop. He was the second primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, a church associated with the Anglican realignment movement, and is the first diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South. Beach was elected as the church's primate on June 21, 2014. His enthronement took place on October 9, 2014. During his primacy, he served as chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates Council and led the ACNA through a period that included the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alastair Murray Cutting is a British Anglican bishop. Since July 2024, he has been Bishop of Woolwich, an area bishop in the Church of England's Diocese of Southwark. From 2013 to 2024, he has served as the Archdeacon of Lewisham & Greenwich. He was consecrated as Bishop of Woolwich on July 3 2024 in Southwark Cathedral.
Joseph "Joey" Royal is a Canadian Anglican bishop. From 2019 to 2024, he was one of three suffragan bishops of the Diocese of the Arctic in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC).
Annie Napartuk Ittoshat is an Inuk Canadian Anglican bishop. Since 2019, she has been one of three suffragan bishops of the Diocese of the Arctic in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). Alongside Lucy Netser, who was elected and consecrated at the same time, she is the first female Inuk bishop in the world.
