51°52′01″N2°14′49″W / 51.867°N 2.247°W /51.867; -2.247
Diocese of Gloucester Dioecesis Glocestrensis | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
 Flag | |
| Location | |
| Ecclesiastical province | Canterbury |
| Archdeaconries | Cheltenham, Gloucester |
| Statistics | |
| Parishes | 323 |
| Churches | 396 |
| Information | |
| Cathedral | Gloucester Cathedral Bristol Cathedral (1836–1897) |
| Language | English |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Rachel Treweek,Bishop of Gloucester[1] |
| Suffragan | Robert Springett,Bishop of Tewkesbury |
| Archdeacons | Hilary Dawson,Archdeacon of Gloucester Katrina Scott,Archdeacon of Cheltenham |
| Website | |
| gloucester.anglican.org | |
TheDiocese of Gloucester is aChurch of Englanddiocese based inGloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county ofGloucestershire. The cathedral isGloucester Cathedral and the bishop is theBishop of Gloucester. It is part of theProvince of Canterbury.
The diocese was founded during theEnglish Reformation on 3 September 1541[2] from part of theDiocese of Hereford and theDiocese of Worcester. In 1542 theDiocese of Bristol was created out of part of the southern part of the diocese, to coverBristol. Gloucester diocese was briefly dissolved and returned to Worcesteragain from 20 May 1552[3] until Queen Mary re-divided the two Sees in 1554.[4][5][6]
On 5 October 1836, the Diocese of Bristol was merged back into the Gloucester diocese, which became theDiocese of Gloucester and Bristol[7] until Bristol became an independent diocese again on 9 July 1897,[8] whereupon the Gloucester diocese resumed the nameDiocese of Gloucester.
The diocese has twinning links with the dioceses of Dornakal and Karnataka Central in theChurch of South India, Västerås in Sweden, El Camino Real in California, USA, and Western Tanganyika in Tanzania. It is currently supporting the work of the Diocese of Western Tanganyika to build a new high school.
The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries: Cheltenham, headed by theArchdeacon of Cheltenham (Katrina Scott), and Gloucester, headed by theArchdeacon of Gloucester,Hilary Dawson. The Archdeaconry of Cheltenham consists of the deaneries of Cheltenham, Cirencester, North Cotswold, and Tewkesbury, and the Archdeaconry of Gloucester consists of the deaneries of Forest South, Gloucester City, Severn Vale, Stroud, and Wotton.
The diocesanBishop of Gloucester,Rachel Treweek (the first female diocesan bishop in the Church of England), is assisted by theBishop suffragan of Tewkesbury,Robert Springett. Theprovincial episcopal visitor (for parishes in this diocese – among twelve others in the western part of the Province of Canterbury – that reject the ministry of priests who are women, since 1994) is theBishop suffragan of Oswestry,[9]who is licensed as anhonorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there.
There are four former bishops licensed as honorary assistant bishops in the diocese: