An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than before the development of nation states. They were experts in interpreting canon law, a basis of which was the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, which is considered the source of the civil law legal tradition.
The Episcopal Church (TEC) is governed by a General Convention and consists of 99 dioceses in the United States proper, plus eleven dioceses in other countries or outlying U.S. territories and the diocese of Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, for a total of 2 dioceses.
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is a jurisdiction of the United States-based Episcopal Church created in 1859 by an action of its general convention. The convocation includes all Episcopal congregations in continental Europe. Along with dioceses in New York, New Jersey, Haiti, Cuba, and the Virgin Islands it belongs to Province II of the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Diocese of New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing three New York City boroughs and seven New York state counties. Established in 1785, it is one of the Episcopal Church's original dioceses. The current diocesan bishop is the Rt. Rev. Andrew Dietsche, whose seat is at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine; the Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd was consecrated as bishop coadjutor in 2023 and will succeed Dietsche as diocesan bishop in 2024.
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, USA is one of 20 dioceses that comprise Province IV of the US Episcopal Church, and is a diocese within the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current bishop is Frank S. Logue, who succeeded Scott Anson Benhase on May 30, 2020 when he was consecrated 11th Bishop of Georgia at a service held in Christ Church in Savannah, Georgia.
The Episcopal Church of Cuba is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States. The diocese consists of the entire country of Cuba. From 1966 to 2020, it was an extra-provincial diocese under the Archbishop of Canterbury. As of 2021, it had nearly 1,600 members and an average worship attendance of more than 600 in forty-four parishes, including the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Havana.
Thomas Gerard Wenski is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami by Pope Benedict XVI on April 20, 2010 and was installed on June 1, 2010. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Orlando (2004–2010), coadjutor bishop of Orlando (2003–2004), and auxiliary bishop of Miami (1997–2003).
The Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) is a Roman Catholic episcopal conference. Its members are bishops and archbishops from current and former British, Dutch, and French colonies and dependencies in the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America. The conference's membership includes five archdioceses, fourteen dioceses, and two missions sui iuris. These particular Churches minister to Catholics in thirteen independent nations, six British Overseas Territories, three departments of France, three countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and 3 municipalities of the Netherlands proper.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 977 congregations and 124,999 members in 2022. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.
The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the area in the center of New York state. It is one of ten dioceses, plus the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, that make up Province 2 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The Episcopal Diocese of the Virgin Islands is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) which includes both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. The diocese is a part of Province II of the Episcopal Church. The current Diocesan Bishop of the Virgin Islands is the Edward Ambrose Gumbs. The cathedral church of the diocese is the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Charlotte Amalie. The diocese currently comprises 14 churches. There is a functioning parish school on St. Thomas All Saints Cathedral School there was an academic campus on St. Croix, St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School. St. Dunstan's closed in the 1990s. There is also the St. Georges School located on the parish property of St. Georges Episcopal Church in Road Town, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, which also opened the St. Georges School in Palestina Estate near to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Sea Cow's Bay, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. There is also the St. Mary's School located on the parish property of the St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Valley, Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.
The Episcopal Diocese of Puerto Rico is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in Puerto Rico.
Haiti, for much of its history and up to the present day, has been prevailingly a Christian country, primarily Roman Catholic, although in some instances it is profoundly modified and influenced through syncretism. A common syncretic religion is Vodou, which combined the Yoruba religion of enslaved Africans with Catholicism and some Native American strands; it shows similarities, and shares many deity-saints, with Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The constitution of Haiti establishes the freedom of religion and does not establish a state religion, although the Catholic Church receives some preferential treatment.
The following is a list of Anglican churches in the Americas.
The Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic is the diocese of the Anglican Communion which covers all of the Dominican Republic. It is in Province IX of The Episcopal Church and includes about 60 parishes. Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Epiphany in the see city of Santo Domingo. Moisés Quezada Mota is the current diocesan bishop.
The Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, formerly the Missionary Diocese of CANA East, is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). It was one of the four missionary dioceses of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a dual church body of the ACNA and the Church of Nigeria. It is officially a full member diocese of ACNA since June 2013. It comprises 43 congregations in 19 American states, with congregations as far as California and Florida but with most concentrated in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions. The diocese is divided into nine archdeaconries: Central New York, the Chesapeake, Long Island, the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, northeastern New York, the Ohio Valley, the South and the Midwest. The diocese also sponsors a mission in Haiti that includes nine additional congregations. The diocesan office is located at McLean, Virginia. The diocese also includes two affiliated religious communities: the Franciscan Brothers of Bucksport and the Community of St. Mary (East) in New York.
Jeffery William Rowthorn is a Welsh retired Anglican bishop and hymnographer. His early career was spent in parish ministry in the Diocese of Southwark and the Diocese of Oxford of the Church of England. He then moved to the United States where he worked at two seminaries: Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. He was elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church, serving as a suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut from 1987 to 1994, and as Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe from 1994 to 2001.
Chilton Abbie Richardson Knudsen is a bishop of the Episcopal Church. Knudsen served as the diocesan bishop of Maine for a decade (1997-2008). Upon retiring from that position, she then served as interim bishop in the Diocese of Lexington and as assistant bishop in the Diocese of New York (2013-2014) and the Diocese of Long Island (2014-2015). In May 2015, she began serving as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Maryland. On December 6, 2018, Knudsen announced her resignation from that temporary position after accepting a position as assisting bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington as of February 20, 2019. In August, 2021 she was appointed assisting bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago due to Bishop Paula Clark having to delay her consecration for health reasons.
