Anglican Diocese of New Westminster
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The Diocese of New Westminster is one of six dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and the Yukon of the Anglican Church of Canada. The See city is Vancouver. The current bishop (the diocese's eighth) is the Right Rev. Michael Ingham and the Dean of New Westminster is the Very Rev. Peter Elliott. The diocese encompasses about 78,000 square kilometres of the Lower Mainland in the civil province of British Columbia, comprising the Regional Districts of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Sunshine Coast, Powell River and part of the Regional District of Squamish-Lillooet (including Squamish and Whistler).
The Diocese was founded in New Westminster in 1879, but with the phenomenal growth of the City of Vancouver, the See city was moved there in 1912. There are, therefore, two churches styled as "cathedrals" in the diocese — Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver has been the cathedral since 1929, while Holy Trinity Cathedral in New Westminster was the cathedral from 1892 to that date. Although no longer a cathedral, the Diocesan Synod allowed Holy Trinity to keep the title "cathedral" as a courtesy for historical reasons (it is, strictly speaking, a pro-cathedral).
The diocese has 76 parishes, 79 active congregations, and approximately 30,000 on its parish rolls, according to the 2006 Anglican Church Directory.
The diocese has traditionally been at the forefront of progressive causes in the Anglican Communion. In 1976, the Most Rev. David Somerville was one of the first bishops of the Canadian Church to ordain women. In 2003, the diocese became the centre of an international controversy within the Anglican Communion due to its decision to bless same-sex unions. Several conservative ecclesiastical provinces in the Communion, particularly those in Africa, have severed relations with the diocese over the issue (see Anglican views of homosexuality).
