Last update:

02/09/2008

 1874

May 3rd, in the parish church of St. Mary, Lambeth, Archdeacon John McLean, of the Diocese of Rupert's Land, was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be "bishop within the limits of the district of the Saskatchewan and English Rivers, with the sub-district of Fort A La Corne in the Cumberland district aforesaid, and heretofore part of the Diocese of Rupert's Land."    The new Diocese incorporated what is now part of the Diocese of Brandon on the Western edge of Manitoba, all of what is now central and northern Saskatchewan, and what

was then the Provisional District of Alberta, which was the southern part of the province. 

1881

June 10th, Bishop McLean became a Corporation Sole by ordinance number eight to incorporate the Bishop of the Church of England, Diocese of Saskatchewan, of which the see city was Prince Albert.

["Corporation Sole" is a technical term to say that the assets and decision making responsibilities of the new body corporate rest in the person of one individual, in this case, the Bishop of the Dioceses]

1882

April 19th, the Synod of the Diocese of Saskatchewan was incorporated by amending the original Act setting up the Diocese - Act 45, Victoria Chapter 126

1888

A major subdivision of the diocese took place when the Provincial Synod of Rupert's Land designated 'the civil district of Alberta' to become the Diocese of Calgary.  The Synod of the Diocese of Calgary was organized in 1889, but the second Bishop of Saskatchewan, the Right Reverend William Cyprian Pinkham, administered both dioceses, as Bishop of Saskatchewan with Calgary, until 1904, when he became first bishop of Calgary.

(Calgary was subsequently further divided to form the Diocese of Edmonton)

1904

The Right Reverend Jervois Arthur Newnham, second Bishop of Moosonee, was translated to become third Bishop of Saskatchewan.

1922 to 1931

During the episcopate of the Right Reverend George Exton Lloyd, fourth Bishop of Saskatchewan (1922-1931), further immigration and land settlement, particularly in the northern areas of the diocese, led to a decision to establish a new diocese by the re-organization of territorities included within the Diocese of Saskatchewan and the northern areas of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle.  Through the advocacy of Bishop G.E. Lloyd, a donor in England contributed the money required for the endowment of a new diocese. 

1931

Dr. William Hallam was elected fifth Bishop of Saskatchewan.

1932 to 1933

The Diocese of Saskatchewan was divided by Act of Parliament, passed at the fourth session of the 17th Parliament (23 George V) with a subsequent Act of the Provincial Legislature of Saskatchewan (Bill 03, 1933).  The name of the continuing diocese was changed to The Diocese of Saskatoon, Saskatoon becoming the see city.  Bishop Hallam continued as bishop under the new title of fifth Bishop of Saskatoon.

The new diocese to the north retained the old name, Saskatchewan, and received the endowment established to create a new diocese.  The old Diocese, now Saskatoon, retained the original endowment, and assumed all the debts of unpaid mortgages in the diocese to the north, incurred under the name of the original diocese, plus those within its own boundaries.  The first bishop of the new Diocese of Saskatchewan, the Right Reverend Walter Burd, was elected in 1932, and consecrated in 1933.  The Synod of the new Diocese was incorporated by Provincial Act, March 27, 1933 (Bill No. 03 of 1933).

A Historical note from Bishop Stanley Steer (7th Bishop of the Diocese of Saskatoon)

"Early in the 1930's, largely, it is thought, through the advocacy of the late Bishop G.E. Lloyd, a donor in England gave the money to endow a new diocese in northern Saskatchewan.  When it came to establishing this new diocese there was a request from Prince Albert that the new diocese should not be given a new name or be called, as is the Roman Catholic diocese, Prince Albert, but should be allowed to retain the old name, Saskatchewan.  The late Bishop W.T.T. Hallam, who, in 1931, succeeded Bishop Lloyd as bishop of the entire area now comprising the two dioceses, agreed to this request, but to regularize the situation historically and legally and to preserve the seniority of his See he took two actions, often forgotten:

1. with the assistance of the member for Prince Albert, the Right Honorable Mackenzie King, a Private Member's Bill was passed in the Federal Parliament, source of the original charter, changing the name of the Diocese of Saskatchewan to Saskatoon.

2. A Bill was passed in the Provincial Legislature, which had come into being since 1874, to establish a new Diocese in the north of the province, to be called the Diocese of Saskatchewan.

Thus Saskatoon became the continuing diocese, with Bishop Hallam as the continuing bishop.  In 1933, Bishop Burd was consecrated as the new bishop of the new diocese, Saskatchewan, which came into being in 1933".

The Present Diocese of Saskatoon

The Diocese of Saskatoon covers a band of parishes across the central agricultural area of the province of 29,664 square miles, stretching on the northern boundary from Lloydminster to North Battleford, Duck Lake, Pathlow, and Porcupine Plain to the Manitoba border, and on the southern boundary from Macklin on the Alberta border to Wilkie, Biggar, Pike Lake, Watrous, Wynyard and Foam Lake to the Manitoba border.

2001 statistics record 25 parishes, 46 congregations, 27 clergy in parishes, chaplaincies and the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad, 8.25 paid positions for laity in Diocese and Parishes, 19 clergy retired and 4 on leave. Anglicans on parish rolls, 5,782, 1,995 financial supporting single and family units.  In 2001, there were 122 baptisms, 78 confirmations, 60 weddings, 163 funerals.  In 2001, there were 412 members of the Anglican Church Women, 202 in other women's groups, 110 men in various groups, 474 men and women in other groups, and 198 youth in organized youth groups.  In 2001, total Parish and Diocesan income was about $2,500,000.  Estimated value of property is about $33,000.000..