A new Anglican diocese is born in Philadelphia

In historic Philadelphia, representatives of twenty-one parishes and twelve mission congregations met to ratify a Constitution and Canons for the newly-formed Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) Diocese of the East. 

Bishop Julian Dobbs, bishop of the Diocese of the East, noted that it was in Philadelphia on July 28, 1789, that the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States adopted a new Constitution and Canons that resulted in the creation of a new Anglican province in America, separate from the Church of England.

The Diocese of the East joins the Diocese of the Trinity and the Diocese of the West in CANA.  The Anglican Church in North America, the larger entity of theologically-orthodox Anglican dioceses and congregations in North America, includes the Diocese of the Great Lakes, and the Diocese of the Carolinas, the Diocese of the Holy Spirit, the Gulf Atlantic Diocese, and the Diocese of New England.

There are currently 841 congregations in the Anglican Church in North America, of which CANA is a member jurisdiction.

The Diocese of the East met in synod beginning on Thursday and concluding on Saturday in the worship home of Christ Church Anglican on the Mainline, in Wayne, PA.  Christ Church worships at Wayne United Methodist Church in Wayne.

The new diocese received consent earlier this year from the Church of Nigeria, the largest province of the Anglican Communion.  The Church of Nigeria numbers 20 million members of the 85 million members of the Anglican Communion.

For more photos from the Synod, go to: http://pinterest.com/tonyseel/cana-east-inaugural-synod/