Diocese of Niagara | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Canada |
Ecclesiastical province | Ontario |
Archdeaconries | 5 |
Headquarters | Cathedral Place, Hamilton |
Statistics | |
Parishes | 80 (2022) [1] |
Members | 12,967 (2022) [1] |
Information | |
Denomination | Anglican Church of Canada |
Rite | Anglican |
Established | 1875 |
Cathedral | Christ's Church Cathedral, Hamilton |
Current leadership | |
Bishop | Susan Bell |
Website | |
niagaraanglican.ca |
The Diocese of Niagara is one of thirty [2] regional divisions in the Anglican Church of Canada. The see city of the diocese is Hamilton, with the bishop's cathedra located at Christ's Church Cathedral on James Street North. Located within the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, it borders the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. The area enclosed by the Diocese of Niagara includes much of the Golden Horseshoe, and moves north to include Erin and Orangeville as far as Shelburne. Moving sharply south, the boundary includes Mount Forest and widens, south-westerly to include Elora and Guelph. Skirting Brantford and the Territory of the Six Nations Confederacy, the line then travels, again, south-westerly to Jarvis and Lake Erie to include the entire Niagara Peninsula. Major urban centres within its borders are St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Hamilton, Guelph, Oakville, Milton, Burlington, and Orangeville.
The current bishop of Niagara is Susan Bell, who succeeded Michael Bird as diocesan bishop on June 1, 2018. She was elected bishop by the synod of the Diocese of Niagara in March 2018, and consecrated and installed as bishop in May of that year.
There are just over 80 parishes within the diocese served by approximately 120 licensed parish priests, with a number of honorary clergy, vocational deacons and licensed lay readers. The diocese is divided into five regional deaneries: Brock, Lincoln, Hamilton-Haldimand, Greater Wellington and Trafalgar. Each deanery is overseen by a regional archdeacon and regional dean.
The first Anglican presence in what would become the Diocese of Niagara begin with St Mark's Church in Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), the former capital of Upper Canada. The parish was founded in 1790 as Loyalist immigrants arrived from the former American colonies, in what would become the province of Ontario. At this time the area was part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, and subsequently became part of the Diocese of Quebec, then of the Diocese of Toronto.
The diocese was formed by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada; 39 Vic Chapter 107 in 1875. Royal assent was given in 1876. The first bishop was Thomas Brock Fuller, Archdeacon of Niagara and godson of Sir Isaac Brock, the hero of the Battle of Queenston Heights.
The diocese also has connections to campus ministries at three universities in its jurisdiction. The University of Guelph, Brock University and McMaster University all have chaplains whose ministries are affiliated with the Diocese of Niagara and its ecumenical partners.
The diocese was involved with litigation against several former parishes affiliated with Anglican Network in Canada. The courts have generally upheld the diocese as owner of the church buildings and ejected the illegally assumed leadership.
St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2017, St. Catharines has an area of 96.13 square kilometres (37.12 sq mi) and 140,370 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, 51 kilometres (32 mi) south of Toronto across Lake Ontario, and is 19 kilometres (12 mi) inland from the international boundary with the United States along the Niagara River. It is the northern entrance of the Welland Canal. Residents of St. Catharines are known as St. Catharinites. St. Catharines carries the official nickname "The Garden City" due to its 1,000 acres (4 km2) of parks, gardens, and trails.
The Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada of the Anglican Church of Canada. It encompasses the provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and has two cathedrals: All Saints' in Halifax and St. Peter's in Charlottetown. Its de facto see city is Halifax, and its roughly 24 400 Anglicans distributed in 239 congregations are served by approximately 153 clergy and 330 lay readers according to the last available data. According to the 2001 census, 120,315 Nova Scotians identified themselves as Anglicans, while 6525 Prince Edward Islanders did the same.
William Hamilton Merritt was a businessman and politician in the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada in the early 19th century. Although he was born in the United States, his family was Loyalist and eventually settled in Upper Canada. Merritt fought in the War of 1812, was captured by the invading American forces, and held as a prisoner of war. After the war, he returned to the Niagara region and began a career in business. He was one of the founders of the Welland Canal. He was a supporter of the Abolitionist cause to end slavery in the U.S., and of the settlement of escaped slaves in St. Catharines.
The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the entire state of Connecticut. It is one of the nine original dioceses of the Episcopal Church and one of seven New England dioceses that make up Province 1.
The Diocese of Hamilton is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Canada. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese in Toronto.
The Diocese of Montreal is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada of the Anglican Church of Canada, in turn a province of the Anglican Communion. The diocese comprises the 21,400 square kilometres (8,300 sq mi) encompassing the City and Island of Montreal, the Laurentians, the South Shore opposite Montreal, and part of the Eastern Townships. The See city is Montreal, and the cathedral is Christ Church. The diocese maintains approximately 9,000 on its parish rolls in about seventy parishes.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Catharines is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Toronto in St. Catharines, Ontario. It covers the municipalities of Niagara Region and Haldimand County.
The Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, in the geographical area of the Limpopo province in the north of South Africa.
Municipal elections were held in municipalities across Ontario, Canada on November 14, 1988 to elect mayors, reeves, councillors and school trustees.
The Niagara District Junior B Hockey League was a Canadian Junior ice hockey league in the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario from 1954 until 1979. The league was a part of the Ontario Hockey Association of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and was eligible for the Sutherland Cup.
The 1997 Ontario municipal elections were led in all municipalities across the Canadian province of Ontario on November 10, 1997, to elect mayors and reeves, councillors, and school trustees. There were also referendum questions in some municipalities.
William James Robinson was a Canadian Anglican bishop in the second half of the 20th century.
Thomas Brock Fuller was a Canadian Anglican bishop in the second half of the 19th century.
John Charles Bothwell was a Canadian Anglican bishop and author in the second half of the 20th century.
David Ralph Spence is a Canadian retired Anglican bishop.
The Right Reverend Michael Bird is a retired Canadian Anglican bishop. From 2008 until 2018 he was the Bishop of Niagara in the Anglican Church of Canada.