Provinces and Dioceses

This page is retained as of historical interest only.  It shows how our member congregations had aligned themselves jurisdictionally during the period prior to our becoming a Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America.

The worldwide Anglican Communion is comprised of thirty-eight independent Anglican churches with historic ties to the Church of England ("Anglican" is the medieval and Late Latin word for England).  When missionary bishops established churches throughout the British Empire, and beyond, they raised up indigenous clergy so that the local people could build their own churches.  These independent Anglican Churches have continued in communion with the Church of England, and with each other, not because of hierarchical ties but through bonds of affection and the shared tradition of Anglican worship, based on the Book of Common Prayer.

The member churches of the Anglican Communion are called Provinces.  Each is headed by an archbishop, called a Primate.  Each Province consists of a number of (usually) geographic subdivisions, called Dioceses.

The member congregations of The Association of Western Anglican Congregations have provisional canonical connections to two of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion: the Province of Uganda, and the Province of the Southern Cone of South America.

The Anglican Church of Uganda

The Anglican Church of Uganda is a member church of the Anglican Communion.  It was founded in 1877 by the Church Missionary Society and has grown through Africans evangelizing Africans.  The church claims about 7 million members, although in the 2002 census some 8.7 million Ugandans (of a population of 24 million) considered themselves to be Anglicans.  It is a church founded on the blood of martyrs. In 1876 the king had twenty-three of his page boys (mostly Anglican and Roman Catholic) roasted over a fire because of their loyalty to King Jesus.  The event is commemorated annually.  Today the church is active in the leadership of southern hemisphere churches that have provided provisional oversight to orthodox Anglican churches in America.  In September, 2007 the church consecrated an American priest, John Guernsey of Virginia, a bishop for pastoral oversight of the more than 30 American churches that have affiliated with the Church of Uganda.

There are currently 31 dioceses of the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop.  The dioceses in turn are divided into smaller units called parishes and sub-parishes and headed by Priests and Lay Readers, respectively.

Primate:  The Most Revd. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop

Bishop:  The Rt. Revd. John Guernsey

Bishop of Luweero Diocese:  The Rt. Revd. Evans Kisekka

Bishop of North Mbale Diocese:  The Rt. Revd. Daniel Gimadu

Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of South America

British immigrants brought Anglicanism to South America in the nineteenth century.  The Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America (Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of America) was founded in 1974 as a new province of the Anglican Communion.  Included are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.  The province is one of the largest in territory but one of the smallest in congregants, with approximately 30,000 church members.  The Primate has been vocal in behalf of Christian orthodoxy within the Anglican Communion.

Primate: The Most Revd Gregory James Venables, Archbishop

Bishops: Rt. Revd Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia.  The Rt. Revd William Atwood is providing pastoral oversight for the churches of the Diocese of Argentina.

At present eight of the Western Anglican congregations are aligned with Uganda, two with Bolivia and three with Argentina.