The Diocese of Niagara is one of thirty regional divisions in the Anglican Church of Canada. The see city of the diocese is Hamilton, with the bishop's cathedra located at Christ's Church Cathedral on James Street North. Located within the

ecclesiastical province of Ontario The Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario is one of four ecclesiastical provinces in the Anglican Church of Canada. It was established in 1912 out of six dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada located in the civil province of Ontario, and ...

, it borders the Dioceses of

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. The area enclosed by the Diocese of Niagara includes much of the

Golden Horseshoe The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The ...

, and moves north to include

Erin Erin is a Hiberno-English word for Ireland originating from the Irish word ''"Éirinn"''. "Éirinn" is the dative case of the Irish word for Ireland, "Éire", genitive "Éireann", the dative being used in prepositional phrases such as ''"go h ...

and Orangeville as far as Shelburne. Moving sharply south the line includes Mount Forest and widens, south-westerly to include Elora and

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

. Skirting

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

and the Territory of the Six Nations Confederacy, the line then travels, again, south-westerly to

Nanticoke Nanticoke may refer to: * Nanticoke people in Delaware, United States * Nanticoke language, an Algonquian language * Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, a state-recognized tribe in New Jersey Place names Canada * Nanticoke, Ontario ** Nanticoke Generating S ...

and

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

to include the entire Niagara Peninsula. Major urban centres within its borders are St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Hamilton, Guelph, Oakville, Milton, Burlington, and Orangeville. The current bishop of Niagara is The Right Reverend Susan Bell, who succeeded The Right Reverend Michael Bird as diocesan bishop on June 1, 2018. She was elected bishop by the synod of the Diocese of Niagara in March 2018, and consecrated and installed as a bishop in May of that year. There are just over 80 parishes within the diocese served by approximately 120 licensed parish priests, with a number of honorary clergy, vocational deacons and licensed lay people. The diocese is divided into five regional deaneries: Brock, Lincoln, Hamilton-Haldimand, Greater Wellington and Trafalgar. Each deanery is overseen by a regional archdeacon and regional dean.

Early history

The first Anglican presence in what would become the Diocese of Niagara begin with St Mark's Church in Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), the former capital of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

. The parish was founded in 1790 as Loyalist immigrants arrived from the former American colonies, in what would become the province of Ontario. At this time the area was part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, and subsequently became part of the Diocese of Quebec, then of the Diocese of Toronto. The diocese was formed by an act of the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lie ...

; 39 Vic Chapter 107 in 1875. Royal assent was given in 1876. The first bishop was Thomas Brock Fuller, Archdeacon of Niagara and godson of

Sir Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. Brock was assigned to Lower Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he co ...

, the hero of the Battle of Queenston Heights.

Parishes by Region

Region of Greater Wellington

*St. Alban the Martyr, Acton *Grace Church, Arthur *St. John, Elora *All Saints, Erin *St. James, Fergus *All Saints Lutheran Anglican Church, Guelph *Church of the Apostles (St. James & St. Matthias), Guelph *St. George, Guelph *St. Paul, Mount Forest *St. Mark, Orangeville *St. John, Rockwood *St. Paul's Church, Shelburne

Region of Trafalgar

*St. Christopher, Burlington *St. Elizabeth, Burlington *St. John, Burlington *St. Luke, Burlington *St. Matthew on-the-Plains, Burlington * St. George's, Georgetown *St. Alban the Martyr, Glen Williams *St. Stephen, Hornby *St. George Church Lowville, Campbellville *Grace, Milton *St. John, Campbellville (Nassagaweya) *St. Paul, Norval *The Church of the Epiphany, Oakville *Church of the Incarnation, Oakville *St. Aidan, Oakville *St. Cuthbert, Oakville *St. Jude, Oakville *St. Simon, Oakville *St. Luke, Oakville *St. John, Stewarttown *Grace, Waterdown

Region of Hamilton-Haldimand

*St. John, Ancaster *St. Paul, Caledonia *St. John the Divine, Cayuga *St. John, Cheapside *St. James, Dundas *St. Paul, Dunnville *The Dunn Parish: Christ Church & St John the Evangelist, Dunnville *Christ Church, Flamborough * All Saints, Hamilton * Christ's Church Cathedral, Hamilton *Church of the Nativity, Hamilton *Church of the Resurrection, Hamilton *St. John the Evangelist, Hamilton *St. Michael, Hamilton *St. Paul (Westdale), Hamilton *St. Stephen on the Mount, Hamilton *St. Paul, Jarvis *The Church of the Ascension, Hamilton *St. Paul (Glanford), Mount Hope *The Church of Our Saviour The Redeemer, Stoney Creek *St. John the Evangelist, Winona *Christ Church, Woodburn (Hannon)

Region of Lincoln

*St. Alban, Beamsville *St. Andrew, Grimsby *St. John, Jordan *Christ Church, McNab *St. Mark, Niagara-on-the-Lake *St. Saviour, The Brock Memorial Church, Queenston *St. Luke, Smithville *St. Barnabas, St. Catharines *St. Columba, St. Catharines *St. George, St. Catharines *St. John, (Port Dalhousie) St. Catharines *St. Thomas, St. Catharines *Transfiguration, St. Catharines *St. John the Evangelist, Thorold

Region of Brock

*Holy Trinity, Fonthill *St. Paul, Fort Erie *Christ Church, Niagara Falls *Holy Trinity (Chippawa), Niagara Falls *St. John the Evangelist, Niagara Falls *The Parish of St. James and St. Brendan, Port Colborne *St. John, Ridgemount *All Saints, Ridgeway *Christ Church, Wainfleet *All Saints Church (Dain City), Welland *Holy Trinity, Welland *St. David, Welland

Educational institutions

Appleby College Appleby College, a leading Canadian day and boarding school, is an international independent school (grades 7–12) located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1911 by John Guest, a former Headmaster of the Preparatory School at Upper Cana ...

, Oakville, founded 1911. *St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School, Oakville, founded as St. Mildred's College,

, 1908. * Ridley College, St. Catharines, founded 1889. *St. John's-Kilmarnock School, Breslau, founded 1972 The diocese also has connections to campus ministries at three universities in its jurisdiction. The

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

Brock University Brock University is a public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The university bears t ...

and

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

all have chaplains whose ministries are affiliated with the Diocese of Niagara and its ecumenical partners.

Diocesan Bishops of Niagara

Thomas Fuller Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...

, 1875–1884 # Charles Hamilton, 1884–1896 # Philip Du Moulin, 1896–1911 #

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

, 1911–1925 # Derwyn Owen, 1925–1932 Primate of All Canada, 1934–1947 # Lewis Broughall, 1932–1949 # Walter Bagnall, 1949-1973 # John Bothwell, 1973–1991 Archbishop of Niagara and

Metropolitan of Ontario The Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario is one of four ecclesiastical provinces in the Anglican Church of Canada. It was established in 1912 out of six dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada located in the civil province of Ontario, and ...

, 1985–1991 # Walter Asbil, 1991–1997 # Ralph Spence, 1998–2008 # Michael Bird, 2008–2018 # Susan Bell, 2018–present

Litigation

The diocese was involved with litigation against several former parishes affiliated with Anglican Network in Canada. The courts have generally upheld the diocese as owner of the church buildings and ejected the illegally assumed leadership.

References

External links

Anglican Diocese of Niagara

Anglican Church of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niagara Religious organizations established in 1875 Niagara, Anglican Diocese of Regional Municipality of Niagara Anglican Church in Ontario Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century Anglican bishops of Niagara Deans of Niagara 1875 establishments in Ontario Anglican Province of Ontario