The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Church of England (Anglican) Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese was founded around 679 by St Theodore of Canterbury at Worcester to minister to the kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the many Anglo Saxon petty-kingdoms of that time. The original borders of the diocese are believed to be based on those of that ancient kingdom. Covering an area of it currently has parishes in: the County of Worcestershire the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley northern Gloucestershire urban villages along the edge of the south-east of the Metropolitan Borough of Wolverhampton the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell Currently the diocese has 190 parishes with 281 churches and 163 stipendiary clergy. The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries: the Archdeaconry of Worcester the Archdeaconry of Dudley On its creation the diocese included what is now southern and western Warwickshire (an area known as Felden). On 24 January 1837 the north and east of Warwickshire (Arden) which formed the Archdeaconry of Coventry in the then Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry was transferred to the Diocese of Worcester. In 1905 an area in northern Warwickshire was split off as the Diocese of Birmingham and in 1918 an area approximate to the rest of Warwickshire was made the Diocese of Coventry. From 1993 until 2002, the diocese operated an episcopal area scheme. Bishops Besides the diocesan Bishop of Worcester (John Inge) and the Bishop suffragan of Dudley (Martin Gorick; which See was created in 1974), there are four retired bishops resident in (or near) the diocese who are licensed to serve as honorary assistant bishops: 2002–present: Christopher Mayfield, retired Bishop of Manchester and former area/suffragan Bishop of Wolverhampton, lives in Worcester. 2002–present: Mark Santer, a retired former diocesan Bishop of Birmingham living in Moseley in the neighbouring Birmingham diocese. 2005–present: Jonathan Ruhumuliza, a Rwandan bishop, lives and works as a parish priest in Worcestershire. 2009–present: Michael Hooper, retired Bishop of Ludlow, lives in Eckington. Since 1994, alternative episcopal oversight for parishes in the diocese which do not accept the sacramental ministry of women priests is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, who is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his ministry. History The Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–680, bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum. The boundaries are believed to have been roughly those of the Kingdom