Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands

Last updated
Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands
Diocese Jamaica Cayman Islands.png
Location
Ecclesiastical province West Indies
Archdeaconries Kingston, Mandeville, Montego Bay
Information
CathedralCathedral of St. Jago de la Vega
Current leadership
Bishop Howard Gregory, Archbishop of the West Indies, Bishop of Jamaica
Suffragans Robert McLean Thompson, Bishop of Kingston
Leon Paul Golding, Bishop of Montego Bay
(vacant) , Bishop of Mandeville
Archdeacons Patrick Cunningham, Archdeacon of Kingston
Winston Thomas, Archdeacon of Mandeville, Justin Nembhard, Archdeacon of Montego Bay
Website
www.anglicandioceseja.org

The Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands [1] is a diocese of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. It was originally formed as the Diocese of Jamaica, within the Church of England, in 1824. [2] At that time the diocese included the Bahamas and British Honduras (now Belize); in 1842, her jurisdiction was described as "Jamaica, British Honduras, the Bahamas". [3] The Bahamas became a separate Diocese (as the Diocese of Nassau) in 1861 and British Honduras in 1891. In 2001, the title of the Diocese of Jamaica was extended to include ‘and the Cayman Islands’ to recognise the growth of the Anglican Church in those islands, which had become part of the diocese of Jamaica in the 1960s. [4]

Contents

History

Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega St.-Jago-de-la-Vega.JPG
Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega

The Church of England arrived in Jamaica after the conquest of the Spanish-held island by an English Army during the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660). The first Anglican clergymen arrived in 1664, by which time the island had been divided into 7 parishes.

The first church was built between 1661 and 1664. This was the church of St Catherine in Spanish Town, constructed on the site of the earlier Spanish Church of the Red Cross, which had been destroyed by the fighting between 1655 and 1660. Other churches followed in the parishes of St Andrew (Half-Way-Tree), Vere (Alley), Port Royal, St David's (Yallahs), St Thomas in the East (Morant Bay), St John's (Guanaboa Vale), St Dorothy's (Old Harbour) and Clarendon (Chapleton).

Prior to the creation of the Diocese of Jamaica in 1824, the island's churches were under the notional jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. Practicality meant that in reality it was dominated by the local administration and planter elite and failed to gain the support of the slave population. Christopher Lipscomb, with no local loyalties, was sent over to change the situation.

During his 19 years as Bishop of Jamaica, Lipscomb firmly established the Anglican Church on the island, ordaining 73 deacons and 66 priests, consecrating 31 churches and licensing 41 other buildings for worship, and attracting many enslaved Africans class into the congregation. His successor, Aubrey Spencer, continued his evangelical work, converting St Catherine's church in 1843 to the Diocesan Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega and establishing three Archdeaconries (Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey).

In 1866, Courtenay was coadjutor Bishop of Kingston, and there were three archdeaconries: William Rowe was "Archdeacon and Commissary for Cornwall", Thomas Stewart for Surrey, and J. William Acting for Middlesex. [5]

Bishops

Christopher Lipscomb Bishop Christopher Lipscomb.jpg
Christopher Lipscomb

The bishops of the diocese have included: [6] [7]

  1. Christopher Lipscomb 1824–1843
  2. Aubrey George Spencer 1843–1872
    Courtenay was consecrated coadjutor Bishop of Kingston in 1856 [5]
  3. Reginald Courtenay 1872–79
  4. William George Tozer 1879–1880
  5. Enos Nuttall 1880–1916
    A. Albert Ernest Joscelyne was consecrated bishop on 18 October 1905 by Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster Abbey [8] to serve as coadjutor bishop
    de Carteret was consecrated assistant bishop in 1913
  6. Cecil de Carteret 1916–1931
  7. William George Hardie 1932–1950 (also Archbishop of the West Indies, 1945–50)
    Edmund Sara, Assistant Bishop (1937–1940) [9] [10]
  8. Basil Montague Dale 1950–1955, returned to England as Assistant Bishop of Guildford
  9. Percival William Gibson 1955–1967
  10. John Cyril Emerson Swaby 1967–1974
  11. Herbert Da Costa Edmondson 1974–1979
  12. Neville De Souza 1979–2000
  13. Alfred Charles Reid 2001–2012
  14. Howard Kingsley Gregory 2012-

Notes

  1. Diocesan web-site Archived 2009-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Crockford's Clerical Directory Lambeth Church House 1976 ISBN   0-19-200008-X
  3. The Colonial Church Atlas, Arranged in Dioceses: with Geographical and Statistical Tables (second ed.). London: SPG. May 1842. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  4. "The History of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands". Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  5. 1 2 The Clergy List for 1866 (London: George Cox, 1866) p. 452
  6. “Who was Who” 1897-2007 London, A & C Black, 2007 ISBN   978-0-19-954087-7
  7. Who’s Who 2008 (London, A & C Black, 2008 ISBN   978-0-7136-8555-8
  8. "Consecration of bishops" . Church Times . No. 2230. 20 October 1905. p. 462. ISSN   0009-658X . Retrieved 19 September 2019 via UK Press Online archives.
  9. "The Living Church Annual". 1938.
  10. "Personal" . Church Times . No. 4056. 18 October 1940. p. 675. ISSN   0009-658X . Retrieved 12 June 2019 via UK Press Online archives.


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island</span> Diocese of the Anglican Church in Canada

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Barbados</span>

The Diocese of Barbados is one of eight dioceses of the Anglican Communion that is part of the Province of the West Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of Cape Town</span> Diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa

The Diocese of Cape Town is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) which presently covers central Cape Town, some of its suburbs and the island of Tristan da Cunha, though in the past it has covered a much larger territory. The Ordinary of the diocese is Archbishop of Cape Town and ex officio Primate and Metropolitan of the ACSA. His seat is St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of Adelaide</span> Diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia

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 Church in the Province of the West Indies is one of 40 member provinces in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church comprises eight dioceses spread out over much of the West Indies area. The present position of Archbishop and Primate of the West Indies is held by the current bishop of Jamaica, Howard Gregory. Gregory was elected as the thirteenth Archbishop of the Province by clergy and laity attending the 40th Synod of the CPWI at the Cascadia Hotel, in Port of Spain, Trinidad in May 2019. The position was previously held by John Holder who retired in 2018. Drexel Gomez was the primate before Bishop Holder until 2009. The church is also part of the Global South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enos Nuttall</span> Anglican Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies

Enos Nuttall was the Anglican Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, elected as such in 1892.

The Diocese of Pretoria is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It is divided into seven archdeaconries and has 61 parishes.

The Diocese of the Free State is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of Belize</span>

The Anglican Diocese of Belize was established in 1883. The current bishop is Philip Wright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Chapman (bishop)</span>

James Chapman (1799–1879) was the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in British Ceylon, serving from 1845 to 1861.

George Frederick Cecil de Carteret was an Anglican cleric, and the long-serving Bishop of Jamaica from 1916 until 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Lipscomb</span>

Christopher Lipscomb was the first Anglican Bishop of Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Jamaica</span>

Christianity was introduced by Spanish settlers who arrived in Jamaica in 1509. Thus, Roman Catholicism was the first Christian denomination to be established. Later, Protestant missions were very active, especially the Baptists, and played a key role in the abolition of slavery.

Arthur William Goodwin Hudson was a coadjutor bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of the North East Caribbean and Aruba</span>

The Anglican Diocese of North East Caribbean and Aruba was originally established in 1842 as the Diocese of Antigua and the Leeward Islands when the Anglican Diocese of Barbados, then with the Diocese of Jamaica, one of the two dioceses covering the Caribbean, was sub-divided. In 1842, her jurisdiction was described as "Montserrat, Barbuda, St Kitt's, Nevis, Anguilla, Virgin Isles, Dominica". In 2017 the diocese celebrated its 175th anniversary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands</span>

The Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands was originally established in 1861 as the Diocese of Nassau. Retitled the Diocese of Nassau and The Bahamas in 1942, it is now known as the Diocese of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is a diocese of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, a constituent province of the Anglican Communion.

The archdeacons in the Diocese in Europe are senior clergy of the Church of England Diocese in Europe. They each have responsibility over their own archdeaconry, of which there are currently seven, each of which is composed of one or more deaneries, which are composed in turn of chaplaincies.

The Anglican dioceses of Mombasa are the Anglican presence in and around Mombasa and south-east Kenya; they are part of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The remaining dioceses of the Church are in the areas of Maseno, of Mount Kenya, and of Nakuru.

Edmund Willoughby Sara was an English Anglican clergyman who served as Bishop Coadjutor of Jamaica from 1937 to 1940.

The Anglican dioceses of Burundi are the Anglican presence in Burundi; together they form the Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi. The Anglican churches of the area were under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury until 1965, when the Province of Uganda and Ruanda-Urundi was created; Burundi was then part of the Province of Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire from 1980 until its own church province was erected in 1992.