The Diocese of Algoma is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of 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 ...

of the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

. It comprises nearly 182,000 square kilometres of the Ontario districts of Algoma (from which it takes its name),

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

, Sudbury,

Manitoulin Manitoulin District is a district in Northeastern Ontario within the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1888 from part of the Algoma District. The district seat is in Gore Bay. It comprises Manitoulin Island primarily, as well as a ...

, and parts of the districts of Nipissing and Timiskaming. The diocese forms a wide band stretching from just west of

on the northern shore of

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

east to the border of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Neighbouring Anglican dioceses are

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

to the west, Moosonee to the north,

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

to the east, 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 ancho ...

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 ...

to the south.

History

The Diocese of Algoma, founded in 1873, was one of four carved off from the original Diocese of Toronto. Consisting of a large

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

population, the primary focus of the new diocese was intended to be

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

activity combined with ministry to the growing European settlements in the Muskoka and

Parry Sound Parry Sound is a sound or bay of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, in Ontario, Canada. It is highly irregularly shaped with many deep bays and islands. Killbear Provincial Park is located on the large peninsula that separates the sound from Georgian B ...

areas around

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. By the turn of the twentieth century, the

demographics Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

of the territory had shifted considerably, as mining and forestry attracted more European settlement. By 1906, Algoma ceased to be a missionary diocese of the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

and held its first independent

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

. The mission of the diocese is "To share in the gathering work of Christ so that His newness of life overflows into our hearts, homes, churches, and community."

Bishops of Algoma

Organization of the modern diocese

Algoma's

See city See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

is Sault Ste. Marie, and its Anglican population of 18,000 on the parish rolls is served by 50 parishes. The current bishop of Algoma is Anne Germond. The current

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Algoma and rector of St. Luke's Cathedral is James McShane. Apart from Sault Ste. Marie, other major centres in the diocese include North Bay, Sudbury, and

. Nineteen of the diocese's fifty parishes are located in these communities. Most of the rest of the parishes are located in small towns and First Nations communities. The Diocese of Algoma is currently divided into five deaneries including: Algoma, Muskoka, Sudbury-Manitoulin, Temiskaming, and Thunder Bay-North Shore. The diocese operates three camping ministries: Camp Gitchigomee located on Sandstone Lake near Thunder Bay; Camp Temiskaming on

Fairy Lake Fairy Lake is a lake in Gallatin County, Montana at the base of Sacagawea Peak, a part of the Bridger mountains in south central Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered ...

, near New Liskeard; and Camp Manitou near

Whitefish Falls Rainbow Country is a local services board in the Canadian province of Ontario. It encompasses and provides services to the communities of Whitefish Falls and Willisville in the Unorganized North Sudbury District and Birch Island and McGregor Bay ...

. The diocese maintains active chaplaincies at

Thorneloe University Thorneloe University, also known as Thorneloe University at Laurentian, is an Anglican affiliated university formerly federated with, and still inset on the campus of, the larger Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Programs The ...

located in Sudbury and the

Mission to Seafarers The Mission to Seafarers (formerly The Missions to Seamen) is a Christian welfare charity serving merchant crews around the world. It operates through a global Mission 'family' network of chaplains, staff and volunteers and provides practical, em ...

, located in Thunder Bay. The archival collection of the Anglican Diocese of Algoma is held at Algoma University in the Engracia de Jesus Matias Archives and Special Collections. The dean of Algoma is also rector of St Luke's Cathedral, Sault Ste. Marie. * 1935–1940: Percy Alfred Paris * 1941–1944: William Lockridge Wright (Bishop of Algoma, 1944) * 1944–1951: James Hannington Craig * 1951–1957: Walter Bruce Jennings * 1957–1974:

Frank Foley Nock Frank Foley Nock (February 27, 1916 - August 17, 1989) was a Canadian Anglican bishop in the 20th century. Nock was born on 27 February 1916 in Toronto. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1938, his Bachelor of Divinity in 1946, and his Doctor ...

(Bishop of Algoma, 1974) * 1975–1992: I. Lawrence Robertson * 1993–2001: Allan R. Reed (7th dean; Dean of Kootenay, 2001) * 2001–2007: Garry Dobinson * 2007–2010: Nelson Small * 2011–present: James McShane

Diocesan newspapers

The first diocesan newspaper was established in the Algoma region in 1874 by the Rev. Edward Francis Wilson, the first principal of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. This newspaper was first known as the ''Algoma Missionary News'' and was published out of the Shingwauk School. In 1978 an Ojibway-language supplement to the ''Algoma Missionary News'' was published under the name ''The Peace Pipe'' with the tag line "an Ojibway newspaper published monthly at the Shingwauk Home". Over the years the name of this paper changed a number of times and was known successively as ''Algoma Quarterly'', ''The Algoma Missionary News and Shingwauk Journal'', and finally ''Algoma Missionary News''. Publication of the ''Algoma Missionary News'' ceased in 1956. In 1957, the newspaper was replaced by the ''Algoma Anglican'', which is still in publication today. The publisher of the ''Algoma Anglican'' is always the current bishop of Algoma, with the editor being assigned by the bishop. The newspaper has a mandate to share with the Algoma Anglican community about ongoing diocesan issues, news, and events. The paper also includes updates about the numerous parishes within the Anglican Diocese of Algoma. Editors of the numerous iterations of the newspaper have included:

References

External links

Diocesan website

Article on the diocese from the ''Anglican Journal''

Deanery of Thunder Bay website

Archive of the Algoma Missionary News (newspaper)

Archive of the Algoma Anglican Newspaper

1967 experimental liturgy {{DEFAULTSORT:Algoma Religious organizations established in 1873 Algoma, Anglican Diocese of Anglican Church in Ontario Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century Anglican bishops of Algoma 1873 establishments in Ontario Anglican Province of Ontario