Deanery - Anglican Usage

Anglican Usage

In the Church of England and many other Anglican churches a deanery is a group of parishes forming a district within an archdeaconry. The more formal term, rural deanery, is less often used, though the superintendent of a deanery is the Rural Dean. Rural Deans are customarily one of the senior incumbents within that deanery and will arrange for clergy to cover interregnums in one of the parishes and preside at ruridecanal chapters. Rural deaneries are very ancient and originally corresponded with the hundreds. The title "dean" (Latin decanus) may derive from the custom of dividing a hundred into ten tithings. In medieval times rural deans acted as officers of the diocesan bishop and prepared business for the archdeacons to determine at their visitations. Archdeacons gradually took over most of the duties of rural deans and the office was allowed to become a sinecure by the 16th century. The office was revived in 1836 and the role of rural deans became more significant during the late 19th century. Modifications to deanery boundaries may be made according to the provisions of the Archdeaconries and Rural Deaneries Act of 1874 (37 & 38 Vict., cap. 63).

The deanery synod has a membership of all clergy who are licensed to a parish within the deanery, plus elected lay members from every parish. They were established in the 1970s.

The term is also often used to refer to the house, or official residence, of the dean of a cathedral. The term is also used to apply to the ecclesiastical districts of Jersey and Guernsey, which are Royal Peculiars and whose deans hold a status more nearly equivalent to an Archdeacon than a rural dean.

In the Episcopal Church, deaneries are synonymous with convocations and are headed by deans.