The Church of England is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the 3rd century and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury. Its adherents are called Anglicans.
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." "Church of England clergy have appeared to signal support for gay marriage after they rejected a bishops' report which said that only a man and woman could marry in church." 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, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. As of 2016, the Anglican Church of Australia had more than 3 million nominal members and 437,880 active baptised members. For much of Australian history since the arrival of the 'First Fleet' in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.
Phillip John Aspinall is an Australian Anglican bishop who served as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane from February 2002 to December 2022. and was also the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia from July 2005 until he stood down on 4 July 2014.
The Anglican Diocese of Perth is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The constitution of the Diocese of Perth was passed and adopted in 1872 at the first synod held in Western Australia. In 1914, the Province of Western Australia was created and the diocesan bishop of Perth became ex officio metropolitan bishop of the new province and therefore also an archbishop.
The Anglican Diocese of Bathurst is located in the Province of New South Wales. It includes the cities of Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo. The Bishop is the Right Reverend Mark Calder, installed on 23 November 2019.
The Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, also known as Anglican Church Southern Queensland, is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The diocesan bishop's seat is at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane. The diocese stretches from the south-eastern coastline of Queensland, down to the New South Wales border and west to the Northern Territory and South Australian borders. The diocese currently markets itself as "Anglican Church Southern Queensland" (ACSQ). The "Anglicare Southern Queensland" brand is also heavily promoted by the diocese.
The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is centred in the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia and extends along the eastern shore of the Gulf St Vincent from the town of Eudunda in the north to Aldgate in the south. The diocesan cathedral is Saint Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide. The diocese was founded in 1847 with Augustus Short as the first bishop. The incumbent Archbishop of Adelaide since 2017 has been Geoffrey Smith, who has also been the Anglican Primate of Australia since 2020.
The Diocese of Willochra is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is situated in the northern and western parts of the state of South Australia, Australia. As part of the Province of South Australia it covers the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and the towns of Coober Pedy, Port Augusta and Minlaton. The diocesan cathedral is Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Port Pirie. The diocese was founded in 1915, with Gilbert White installed as the first bishop. On 29 October 2022, the diocese elected Jeremy James, currently assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Perth, as its next bishop;, replacing John Stead who retired on 2 July 2022. James was installed on 25 February 2023.
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, Australia. As part of the Province of Western Australia, it covers those parts of the state north of Perth including Geraldton, Karratha and Broome and is geographically the largest Anglican diocese in Australia and the largest land-based diocese in the world. The diocese has 18 parishes and three Mission to Seafarers’ ministries; the cathedral church of the diocese is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Geraldton.
The Anglican Diocese of Tasmania includes the entire Tasmanian archipelago and is an extraprovincial diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Kay Maree Goldsworthy is an Australian bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia. She is the current archbishop of Perth in the Province of Western Australia. Upon her installation as archbishop, on 10 February 2018, she became the first female archbishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. Previously, she served as diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Gippsland in the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria.
Garry John Weatherill is the current Anglican Bishop of Ballarat in the Province of Victoria, Australia. He was previously the sixth Bishop of Willochra (2000–2011).
The Anglican Diocese of Carpentaria was an Anglican diocese in northern Australia from 1900 to 1996. It included most of northern Queensland, the islands of the Torres Strait and, until 1968, all of the Northern Territory. The see was based at Quetta Cathedral on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait.
Ivan Yin Lee was an Australian Anglican bishop. He was an assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, serving from 2003 to 2019 as the Bishop of the Western Region. and then until early 2020, as bishop undertaking a role working on strengthening church growth within the Diocese.
Martyn James Snow is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2016, he has been the Bishop of Leicester. He previously served as Bishop of Tewkesbury from 2013 to 2016, and as Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham from 2010 to 2013.
John Stead is an Australian-English Anglican bishop who served as the Bishop of Willochra from 30 June 2012 to 2 July 2022.
Jonathan Robert Gibbs is a Church of England bishop. He is the current Bishop of Rochester, the diocesan bishop for the Diocese of Rochester. He served as the first Bishop of Huddersfield between 2014 and 2022.
Clarence Edgar Bester is a South African-born Australian bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. He has served as the 11th Bishop of Wangaratta since February 2020.
The Bishop of Willochra is the diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Willochra, Australia.
