Church of the Province of Melanesia
The Church of the Province of Melanesia is a member church of the Anglican Communion . It became independent in 1975 and extends over Vanuatu , New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands .
Today it has around 250,000 members. It became its own church in 1975. Until then she was part of the New Zealand Church . Today it has eight dioceses with an archbishop in Honiara . There are also two religious orders for men - the Melanesian Brotherhood and the Society of Saint Francis - and two sister orders - the Sisters of the Church and the Sisters of Melanesia .
The Church of the Province of Melanesia has no ordination of women . She is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pacific Conference of Churches
The province comprises 8 dioceses in three countries:
diocese | Country | bishop |
---|---|---|
Banks & Torres |
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Patteson Worek |
Guadalcanal |
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Nathan Tome |
Hanuato'o |
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Alfred Karibongi |
Isabel |
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Ellison Quity |
Malaita |
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Samuel Sahu |
Temotu |
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|
Vanuatu and New Caledonia |
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James Marvin Ligo |
Central Solomon Islands |
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Ben Seka |
Primates
- John Wallace Chisholm (1967-1975)
- Norman Kitchener Palmer MBE (1975-1987)
- Amos Stanley Waiaru OBE (1988-1993)
- Sir Ellison Leslie Pogo CFU (1994-2008)
- David Vunagi (2009-2016)
- George Takeli (since 2016)
Web links
- Church site
- Entry on the website of the WCC
- Book of Common Prayer of the Church of the Province of Melanesia