- Diocese: A suburb of a national church, e.g., the Diocese of Adelaide
- Clergy: The bunch of people who are specially chosen (ordained) to work for the church
- Laypeople: A layperson (plural: the laity) is anyone in the church who is not ordained
- Parish: A parish is (1) a local church district and (2) the people involved in it
- Rector: The main clergyman in a parish
- Bishop: The clergyman overseeing a diocese
- Synod: The council that makes decisions for a whole diocese
- Vestry: A meeting to make decisions for a parish (named after a multi-purpose room in church buildings)
26 August 2007
Church site 6: Angli-speak
Anglicanism has some unusual words. Some of them hark back to the land divisions and politics of feudal Europe.
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Just a few corrections just so you've got your information right. To begin with this information is only really valid for the Anglican Church of Australia, though you can assume that other dioceses and parts of the Anglican Church will have similar structures you can not guarantee that it will be the same.
The Diocese is the Base unit of the Anglican Communion. It is represents within the Communion by its Bishop.
Clergy: These are all the ordained Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
Laity: Arthur is indeed correct they are the body of the Church.
Parish: This is a unit that is not universal in all Dioceses however, for those places that have a Parish it is a region in which ministry is undertaken by the Church.
Rector: The Rector of a Parish is the Priest that has been appointed to "Rule" the Parish by the Bishop. Rector is Latin for Ruler. The Rector is to act on behalf of the Bishop in that region to do and facilitate ministry.
Bishop: Is the most Senior Priest in a region and has been installed as the Bishop of a Diocese.
Synod: Yet again what Synods do is not universal and are not found everywhere in the Anglican Communion. In Australia a Synod is a body of elected representatives from Parishes from a whole diocese. Its role is not to make decisions for a whole diocese. It is simply to advice a Bishop on how to guide a diocese. A Synod can not act without a Bishop, though a Bishop can but generally doesn't act with out a Synod.
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