Churchy Q&A: What is a Province?

This evening, several of us at the chaplaincy are heading out to the wilds of New Hampshire to the Province I Chaplaincy Retreat.

What is this "province" thing, you say? Well, you've come to the right place!

In the Episcopal Church (USA), there are several levels to the institutional 'stuff' of the church. The basic unit in our polity is the diocese, and we have 111 of them, not only in the United States proper, but also in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, Haiti, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Europe and Venezuela. A diocese is led by a bishop, who serves as a pastor, teacher, and administrator. He or she authorizes the ministry of priests and lay people in parishes (your local church).

For organizational purposes, the Episcopal Church gathers together the dioceses in a particular region. This is what we call a province, and the dioceses of a province often work together to develop programming and resources. The Diocese of Massachusetts is located in Province I, along with Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts.

Quite helpfully, Anglicans also refer to member churches of the Anglican Communion as provinces. Many are national churches, some incorporate part or all of several nation-states, and others include parts of a nation. Consequently, "province" can refer to part of a member church or to the member church itself.