Bishop of Sabah
The Bishop of Sabah is an Anglican prelate who oversees the Diocese of Sabah in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. Following the death of Bishop Datuk Albert Vun Cheong Fui on 14 July 2014, Bishop Datuk Melter Jiki Tais was installed as the sixth bishop on 14 May 2015. His seat is All Saints Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu.[1]
Bishop of Sabah | |
---|---|
Bishopric | |
Anglican | |
Incumbent: Melter Jiki Tais | |
Location | |
Country | Malaysia |
Territory | Sabah |
Ecclesiastical province | South East Asia |
Archdeaconries | 3 |
Information | |
First holder | Francis Thomas McDougall |
Established | 1855, current establishment in 1966 |
Diocese | Sabah |
Cathedral | All Saints Cathedral |
Website | |
History
Anglican worship in the territory administered by the diocese today began as early as 1846 when the Lieutenant Governor of Labuan, John Scott, was given authority by the Bishop of London to perform burials and weddings using the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
The Revd Dr Francis Thomas McDougall was one of the first group of Anglican missionaries to arrive on the island of Borneo in 1847. He laboured in the ministry from his base in Kuching. In 1855, McDougall was consecrated in Calcutta as the Bishop of Labuan and its Dependencies. Bishop McDougall continued to operate, however, from Kuching, the title of his bishopric being due to the then Church of England’s practice of only setting up a diocese in a Crown possession, which Labuan was, while the Kingdom of Sarawak under Rajah James Brooke was not.
The first church in the present-day diocese, the Church of Our Holy Saviour, Labuan was built and consecrated by the bishop on 18 December 1866 [2].
The diocese then included Anglican churches in the Labuan, North Borneo, and Sarawak. With the transfer of jurisdiction of the Anglican churches in the Straits Settlements from the Diocese of Calcutta to the diocese, it was renamed the Diocese of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore in 1869. In 1909, the Straits Settlements was separated from to form its own diocese and the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak [3]. In 1949, the diocese was again renamed the Diocese of Borneo [4] .
In 1962, the diocese was divided into the Diocese of Jesselton and the Diocese of Kuching. The Diocese of Jesselton was renamed the Diocese of Sabah in 1968 after the renaming of the Jesselton to Kota Kinabalu and to reflect the new political situation after the formation of Malaysia [5].
In 2015, the first native Sabahan of the Kadazan people, Melter Jiki Tais, was consecrated the Bishop of Sabah [6].
List of bishops
Bishop of Labuan and its Dependencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1856 | 1869 | Francis Thomas McDougall | ||
Bishops of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1869 | 1881 | Walter Chambers | Churches in the Straits Settlements separated from the Diocese of Calcutta and placed under the Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak. Diocese renamed Diocese of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore. | |
1882 | 1908 | George Frederick Hose | ||
Bishops of Labuan and Sarawak | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1909 | 1916 | William Robert Rupert Mounsey | Churches in Singapore were separated from the Diocese to form its own Diocese of Singapore. The Diocese reverted to the name of Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak. | |
1917 | 1931 | Ernest Denny Logie Danson | ||
1932 | 1937 | Noel Baring Hudson | ||
1938 | 1948 | Francis Septimus Hollis | ||
Bishop of Borneo | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1948 | 1962 | Nigel Edmund Cornwall | The diocese was renamed the Diocese of Borneo and included Anglican missions in Kalimantan. | |
Bishops of Jesselton | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1962 | 1964 | James Wong Chang Ling | The diocese was separated into the Diocese of Jesselton and the Diocese of Kuching. | |
1964 | 1968 | Roland Koh Peck Chiang | ||
Bishops of Sabah | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1968 | 1970 | Roland Koh Peck Chiang | The diocese was renamed the Diocese of Sabah | |
1971 | 1990 | Luke Chhoa Heng Sze | ||
1990 | 2006 | Yong Ping Chung | ||
2006 | 2014 | Albert Vun Cheong Fui | ||
2015 | present | Melter Jiki Tais | First native Sabahan to be appointed Bishop | |
Sources: [4][5][7][8][9][10][6] |
See also
References
- Home
- "History of the Diocese". Diocese of Sabah. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- "Diocese of Singapore - History". Diocese of Singapore. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- "Cornwall; Nigel Edmund (1903-1984); Bishop of Borneo". National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives. Lambeth Palace Library. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- Hall, R. O. (1966). The First Years - Being the early history of The Council of the Church in South East Asia (PDF). Hong Kong: The Anglican Literature Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- "First local Anglican Bishop to be installed today". The Borneo Post. Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- Green, Eda (c. 1909). "Borneo: The Land of River and Palm". Borneo Mission Society. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- "Allenby; David Howard Nicholas (1909-1995); bishop of Kuching". National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives. Lambeth Palace Library. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- "Our Bishops". Diocese of Sabah. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- Poon, Michael. "CSCA Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Archives on Borneo Mission. A Guide". The Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.