Bishop of Kuching

Bishop of Kuching
Bishopric
anglican
Incumbent: Bolly Lapok
Province	South East Asia
Diocese	Kuching
Cathedral	St. Thomas' Cathedral
First incumbent	Francis Thomas McDougall
Formation	1855, current establishment in 1962

The Bishop of Kuching is the ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Kuching in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. The bishop exercises episcopal authority over Anglican churches in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and in the independent nation of Brunei Darussalam.

The see is in the city of Kuching where the seat of the bishop is located at St. Thomas' Cathedral, originally built in 1848 and consecrated in 1851 as the home church and base for the Borneo Church Mission in Sarawak. The first Bishop of Kuching to be styled as such was appointed in 1962.

In 1968, the Right Reverend Datuk Basil Temenggong was appointed the bishop of the diocese, becoming the first native Malaysian and Sarawakian to be appointed to the seat. The current bishop is the Most Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok who is also concurrently the Archbishop of South East Asia.

The bishop's residence is in The Bishop's House on a small hill in Kuching known as College Hill within the compound of the Cathedral. Initially constructed in 1849 as The Mission House and served as the first dispensary in Kuching.

Anglican missions to the Kingdom of Sarawak began in 1848 under the auspices of the Borneo Church Mission. Episcopal authority of the mission was placed with the Diocese of Calcutta. Initiatives were made to create a separate diocese for the mission with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel supporting the move and contributing a sum of £5,000 towards the endowment.

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