Parishes 309 Bishop Stephen Conway Cathedral Ely Cathedral Ecclesiastical province Province of Canterbury | Churches 339 Church 339 Phone +44 1353 652701 | |
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Archdeaconries Cambridge, Huntingdon and Wisbech Suffragan David Thomson, Bishop of Huntingdon Archdeacons Hugh McCurdy, Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech
Alex Hughes, Archdeacon of Cambridge Address Diocesan Office, Bishop Woodford House Ely Barton Road, Ely CB7 4DX, United Kingdom Profiles | ||
Youth adviser rachael heffer ely diocese
The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely. There is one suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. The diocese now covers the modern ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire (excluding the Soke of Peterborough) and western Norfolk. The diocese was created in 1109 out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln.
Contents
- Youth adviser rachael heffer ely diocese
- Fresh expressions 2012 conference keynote by rowan williams
- Bishops
- References
The diocese is ancient, and the area of Ely was part of the patrimony of Saint Etheldreda. A religious house was founded in the city in 673. After her death in 679 she was buried outside the church, and her remains were later reburied inside, the foundress being commemorated as a great Anglian saint.
The diocese has had its boundaries altered various times. From an original diocese covering the historic county of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire were added in 1837 from the Diocese of Lincoln, as was the Sudbury archdeaconry in Suffolk from the Diocese of Norwich. In 1914 Bedfordshire became part of the Diocese of St Albans, and western Suffolk became part of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, whilst Ely took a western part of the Diocese of Norwich. Peterborough remains the seat of the Diocese of Peterborough.
Today the Diocese covers an area of 1,507 square miles (3,900 km2). It has a population of 705,000 and comprises 209 benefices, 303 parishes and 335 churches with 145 stipendiary parochial clergy.
Fresh expressions 2012 conference keynote by rowan williams
Bishops
The diocesan Bishop of Ely (Stephen Conway) is assisted by David Thomson, Bishop suffragan of Huntingdon.
There are also six retired bishops living in the diocese who are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:
Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese which reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor, Norman Banks, Bishop suffragan of Richborough, who is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese to facilitate his work there.
The Bishop of Peterborough has also been commissioned as assistant bishop in the diocese so that he can exercise pastoral care in several old Huntingdonshire parishes now within the Peterborough unitary authority: including Stanground, Orton, Woodston, Yaxley and Fletton.