Diocese of Niagara, Anglican Church of Canada
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The Anglican Church of Uruguay has always had important connections to the Anglican Church of Canada. Rev. Miguel Tamayo, now the Diocesan Bishop, and his wife Rev. Marha López came as missionaries from Cuba to Uruguay in 1995 with the support of the Anglican Church of Canada.
In 2005 the Anglican Church of Uruguay established a companion relationship with the Diocese of Niagara in the Anglican Church of Canada. The Diocese of Niagara has been in a companion relationship with the Episcopal Church of Cuba for a number of years and decided to extend this link to the Diocese of Uruguay in recognition of the close links between the Diocese of Uruguay and the Episcopal Church of Cuba.
A short history of the Diocese of Niagara in the Anglican Church of Canada
The Diocese of Niagara was established in 1975 having been created from the western part of the larger Diocese of Toronto. It is situated in what is called the Golden Horseshoe and the Niagara fruitbelt area of southern Ontario. The Niagara Escarpment runs through this area and the Niagara Rivers flows out of Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. Their levels differ by 326 feet and the great Niagara Falls are created by the river's fall over the escarpment - a drop of 176 feet. An extraordinary engineering feat built the Welland Canal, which permits ocean going ships and lake vessels to navigate the Seaway from April to December. These great ships can travel inland almost half way across this great country.
The area of the Diocese is a mixture of fruit farming, dairy farming, heavy and light manufacturing and a growing residential area. Niagara is the smallest Canadian Diocese in size about 3320 square miles, but the third largest Diocese in Canada in terms of Anglican families and churches.
The Bishop, The Right Reverend Ralph Spence, is the 10th Bishop having been consecrated on September 21, 1997. There are 52,000 Anglicans on the Parish Rolls, with 110 parish clergy in 115 congregations. Synod meets annually in the Steel City of Hamilton, which is less than a 2 hour drive from any parish in the Diocese. Clergy and licensed lay workers meet for an annual 2 day conference on some important subject and led by a well known speaker. Incumbents hold their license at the pleasure of the Bishop and are chosen by a parochial committee composed of the Church Wardens and Lay delegates to Synod. At present some 25% of our parish clergy are women.
The Diocese is divided into 6 Archdeaconries each under an Archdeacon, who is also a parish priest, and 6 Regional Deaneries, each under a Regional Dean, also a parish priest. These persons assist and advise the Bishop on various Diocesan matters, as requested.
Visit the website of the Diocese of Niagara here.
Learn more about the links between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of Cuba here.