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Updated 10 November, 2006 |
Diocese of Canterbury |
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St James' Church, Westgate & Garlinge is located within the Diocese of Canterbury. For at least fourteen hundred years the worship of God has been offered on the site of this Cathedral. The first Archbishop of Canterbury was St Augustine who arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. The one who became most famous of all was Thomas Becket, who was murdered in the cathedral on 29 December 1170. Appointed by his King and friend, Henry II, to bring the Church to the heel of the monarchy, he did the reverse. He espoused its rights in the face of the King’s desire to control them. The present Archbishop of Canterbury is Rowan Williams. He has jurisdiction over 29 dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury, and is bishop of the diocese of Canterbury, which consists of the eastern part of the county of Kent and the rural deanery of Croyden. He presides over the upper house of the Convocation of Canterbury; the Church Assembly, the representative body for the entire Church of England; and the Lambeth Conference, a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion. By tradition he is a member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament and crowns the British monarch. |
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| . For further information on The Diocese of Canterbury and the Cathedral, Take a look at the websites below. |
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