Diocese of Worcester | |
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Location | |
Ecclesiastical province | Canterbury |
Archdeaconries | Dudley, Worcester |
Coordinates | 52°11′31″N 2°13′26″W / 52.192°N 2.224°WCoordinates: 52°11′31″N 2°13′26″W / 52.192°N 2.224°W |
Statistics | |
Parishes | 180 |
Churches | 284 |
Information | |
Cathedral | Worcester Cathedral |
Current leadership | |
Bishop | John Inge, Bishop of Worcester |
Suffragan | Graham Usher, Bishop of Dudley |
Archdeacons |
Nikki Groarke, Archdeaconry of Dudley Robert Jones, Archdeacon of Worcester |
Website | |
cofe-worcester.org.uk |
The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Church of England (Anglican) Province of Canterbury in England.
The diocese was founded around 679 by St Theodore of Canterbury at Worcester to minister to the kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the many Anglo Saxon petty-kingdoms of that time. The original borders of the diocese are believed to be based on those of that ancient kingdom.
Covering an area of 671 square miles (1,740 km2) it has parishes in:
Currently the diocese has 190 parishes with 281 churches and 163 stipendiary clergy.
The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries:
On its creation the diocese included what is now southern and western Warwickshire (an area known as Felden). On 24 January 1837 the north and east of Warwickshire (Arden) which formed the Archdeaconry of Coventry in the then Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry was transferred to the Diocese of Worcester. In 1905 an area in northern Warwickshire was split off as the Diocese of Birmingham and in 1918 an area approximate to the rest of Warwickshire was made the Diocese of Coventry. From 1993 until 2002, the diocese operated an episcopal area scheme.
Besides the diocesan Bishop of Worcester (John Inge) and the Bishop suffragan of Dudley (Graham Usher, whose see was created in 1974), there are five retired bishops resident in (or near) the diocese who are licensed to serve as honorary assistant bishops: