Anglican Diocese of Peterborough

For the Canadian Catholic diocese, see Roman Catholic Diocese of Peterborough.

For the Canadian Anglican diocese that includes Peterborough, Ontario, see Anglican Diocese of Ontario.

Diocese of Peterborough
Location
Ecclesiastical province	Canterbury
Archdeaconries	Northampton, Oakham
Statistics
Parishes	352
Churches	386
Information
Cathedral	Peterborough Cathedral
Current leadership
Bishop	Donald Allister, Bishop of Peterborough
Suffragan	John Holbrook, Bishop of Brixworth
Archdeacons	Richard Ormston, Archdeacon of Northampton Gordon Steele, Archdeacon of Oakham
Website
peterborough-diocese.org.uk

The Diocese of Peterborough forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. Its seat is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, which was originally founded as a monastery in AD 655 and re-built in its present form between 1118 and 1238.

History

Founded at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1541 (it was until then part of the Diocese of Lincoln), the Diocese has parishes in:

• The Soke of Peterborough
• The county of Northamptonshire and
• The county of Rutland.

Until 1927 the Peterborough diocese covered what is now the (modern) Diocese of Leicester.

Peterborough Abbey became a cathedral at the Reformation, one of six wholly new bishoprics founded under Henry VIII. On 4 September 1541 letters patent were issued converting the abbey church of Peterborough into a cathedral church, with a dean and chapter and ecclesiastical staff. The last abbot, John Chambers, was consecrated in his former abbey church on 23 October 1541 as the first Bishop of Peterborough.

A link with the Anglican Church of Kenya Diocese of Bungoma was formed by the two bishops following the Lambeth Conference in 1998.

Organisation

The Diocese is divided into two Archdeaconries:

• The Archdeaconry of Northampton, and
• The Archdeaconry of Oakham.

The parts of the Peterborough unitary authority that are south of the River Nene and so, were in the historic county of Huntingdonshire rather than the Soke of Peterborough, fall within the Diocese of Ely. The Bishop of Peterborough has been commissioned as Assistant Bishop in the Ely Diocese so he can exercise pastoral care in these parishes, which include Stanground, Orton, Woodston, Yaxley and Fletton. Thorney, historically in the Isle of Ely and now within the boundaries of the Peterborough unitary authority, is unaffected by this arrangement.

Bishops

The Bishop of Peterborough (Donald Allister) leads the diocese, and is assisted by the Bishop suffragan of Brixworth (John Holbrook). The suffragan see of Brixworth was created by Order in Council on 26 July 1988.

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 in order to facilitate his work there. There are also three former bishops living in the diocese who are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:

• 2003–present: John Flack, retired Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome & Archbishop's Representative to the Holy See and former Bishop of Huntingdon, lives in Whittlesey, Cambs (in the neighbouring Diocese of Ely, where he is also licensed).
• 2011–present: Lindsay Urwin, Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, is a former Area Bishop of Horsham. He lives outside the diocese in Walsingham, Norfolk.
• 2012–present: Wallace Benn, area Bishop of Lewes, retired to Burton Latimer.

See also

• Bishop of Peterborough
• Peterborough Cathedral

External links

• Diocese of Peterborough