The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is the metropolitan diocese of the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the

Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the ...

. The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847Supplement to the New South Wales government gazette, 31 December 1847
(Accessed 21 December 2015) and includes the cities of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Geelong and also some more rural areas. The

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

church is

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria. ...

. The current Archbishop of Melbourne since 2006 is

Philip Freier Philip Leslie Freier (born 9 February 1955) is an Australian Anglican bishop. He has been the 13th Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Archbishop of Melbourne since 16 December 2006. He served as Anglican Primate of Australia, Primate of Australia ...

, who was translated from the

Anglican Diocese of The Northern Territory The Anglican Diocese of the Northern Territory covers Australia's Northern Territory and is part of the Province of Queensland in the Anglican Church of Australia. The first Bishop of the Northern Territory was consecrated in 1968. The cathed ...

, and who was the

Anglican Primate of Australia The Anglican Primate of Australia is the senior bishop and President of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Chris ...

from 2014 to 2020.

History

The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847 and includes the cities of

and Geelong and also some more rural areas. The

church is

. The ordinary of the diocese is the Archbishop of Melbourne,

, who was translated from the

, and who was the

from 2014 to 2020.

Areas of episcopal care

The Diocese of Melbourne is divided into areas of episcopal care in which assistant bishops exercise a pastoral role on behalf of the archbishop. These areas are divided into archdeaconries with further subdivision into area deaneries. Following consultation with the Wurundjeri people of Melbourne, local Indigenous names have been used for the areas of episcopal care. The areas are: *Marmingatha, covering the inner city, especially along major transport corridors; *Oodthenong, covering the northern and western growth areas in Greater Melbourne and Geelong; *Jumbunna, covering parishes south of the Yarra and to the east, including the South-East Growth Corridor; and *Monomeeth, of which the bishop has responsibilities across the whole of the diocese with a particular focus on people, culture and wellbeing. ''Marmingatha'' means “being with the divine or supreme being, ''Oodthenong'' means “gathering", ''Jumbunna'' means “speaking out” or “proclamation” and ''Monomeeth'' means "rightness, wellness and goodness". Together, they comprise the Woi Wurrung equivalent of the diocesan vision of Making the Word of God Fully Known through “gathering in the divine presence to speak out and proclaim”.

Theological colleges

There are two Anglican theological colleges within the diocese, both in the suburb of Parkville. Trinity College Theological School, founded in 1878, is a college of the ecumenical

University of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university of specialisation in divinity. It is constituted by eleven theological colleges from eight denominations. The University of Divinity is the direct successor of the second oldest ...

and part of Trinity College, a

residential college A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship wi ...

within the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

and is more Liberal and

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

in tradition. Ridley Melbourne was founded in 1910 as an independent college in the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

tradition and is affiliated with the

Australian College of Theology The Australian College of Theology (ACT) is an Australian higher education provider based in Sydney, New South Wales. The college delivers awards in ministry and theology and was one of the first Australian non-university providers to offer an ...

Issues

Churchmanship Churchmanship (or churchpersonship; or tradition in most official contexts) is a way of talking about and labelling different tendencies, parties, or schools of thought within the Church of England and the sister churches of the Anglican Commun ...

within the Melbourne diocese is diverse and the three nineteenth-century Anglican traditions,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

, are all significantly represented. The existence of such differing traditions within the diocese is sometimes a cause of theological tensions, evident in the existence of separate theological colleges. The difficulty with which an archbishop was elected in 2006 provided a recent example. The Diocese of Melbourne has been affected by issues that have been debated in the worldwide

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

. The theological diversity of the diocese means that there is sometimes disagreement over more contentious matters. In addition, it is frequently perceived that there is a significant tension between the theologically broad Melbourne diocese and the far more conservative Sydney diocese.

Ordination of women

The diocese was the first in Australia to ordain a woman, when Bishop Moorhouse ordained Marion Macfarlane as a deaconess in 1884. It has ordained women to the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

since 1986 and to the priesthood since 1992. The September 2007 decision of the Appellate Tribunal opening the way for the consecration of women to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

was welcomed by the present archbishop, Philip Freier. General Synod approved a motion in October 2007 which welcomed the "clarity" of the decision. Melbourne's first woman to become a bishop, Barbara Darling, was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral on 31 May 2008. The ordination of women to be bishops is opposed by some within the diocese, particularly conservative Evangelicals and some Anglo-Catholics, necessitating the provision of

alternative episcopal oversight A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

Homosexuality

The diocese officially subscribes to the traditional Anglican stance on homosexuality. Most conservatives and Evangelicals remain opposed to the blessing of

same-sex unions A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

and the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy. However, the diocese also contains a number of liberal parishes and prominent laypeople, such as Muriel Porter, who have been very vocal in their support for changes in the church's teaching on human sexuality.

Abortion

In November 2007, an all-female committee from the Diocese of Melbourne made a submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission outlining its position in relation to

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

. The submission stated that "the Anglican Church is for life" and acknowledged "diversity of ... views" within the diocese. However it also declared that the diocese "supports the provision of safe and affordable abortions with appropriate safeguards for women who, for whatever reasons, request them". The underlying ethical view concerning embryonic life is that "while the embryo/foetus is fully human from the time of conception, it accrues moral significance and value as it develops ... we believe the moral significance increases with the age and development of the foetus. The significance increases gradually over time, in parallel with its physical development. As a pregnancy advances, more powerful moral reasons are required to allow the destruction of the embryo/foetus." The submission was announced in ''The Melbourne Anglican'', in an article entitled "Decriminalise abortion, say Anglican women". This is seen to be the first official approval of abortion by Australian Anglicans.

List of Bishops and Archbishops of Melbourne

List of assistant bishops

Archdeaconries

Archdeacon of Melbourne

*The first archdeacon was Hussey Burgh Macartney: he was also Dean of the Cathedral.

Archdeacon of Sale

The first archdeacon was Theodore Carlos Benoni Stretch.

Archdeacon of Castlemaine

The first archdeacon was Archibald Crawford.

Archdeacon of Geelong

Lloyd Crossley was Vicar of All Saint's, St Kilda from 18 September 1905 until 1911.Blain, Michael. ''Blain Biographical Directory of Anglican clergy in the South Pacific — ordained before 1932'' (2019) pp. 362–4. (Accessed a
Project Canterbury
26 June 2019)

References

Bibliography

*Porter, Brian, ed. ''Melbourne Anglicans: the Diocese of Melbourne, 1847-1997.'' Melbourne: Mitre Books, 1997.

External links

Diocese of Melbourne website"Critical Mass" - Young Anglicans in the Melbourne dioceseArchbishop Philip Freier's Easter message on YouTubeMelbourne Anglican Study Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anglican Diocese Of Melbourne

Culture of Melbourne 1847 establishments in Australia Anglican archbishops of Melbourne Deans of Melbourne Archdeacons of Melbourne Bishops of Geelong