The lack of local ownership of the diocese due both to its size and to the distancing of parishes from the support of the diocese has a number of consequences. In Sydney ideology has filled the vacuum left by weakened corporate identity. The debates around the election will thus centre not on a candidate's capacity to unify and lead an organisation the ordinary parishioners value. It will depend instead on a candidate's ability to demonstrate ideological commitment of a kind supported by power brokers. The other characteristics of the diocese, its alleged monolithic character, its evangelicalism and its conservatism are more difficult to locate.
Diocesan advocates deny that the diocese is monolithic.
They point to the existence of such high profile different parishes as St James', King Street, in the city and Christ Church St Laurence, near Railway Square. St James' is usually regarded as 'high church', that is, having an ornate liturgy, while Christ Church is usually described as 'Anglo-Catholic', in contrast to the diocese as a whole, which is usually described as 'low church', 'Protestant' and 'evangelical'. These are not the only examples of difference in the diocese. Some parishes represent an older form of conservative evangelicalism, continuing to use prayer book forms of worship, while others have a charismatic tradition. Thus the monochrome conception of the diocese is more complex than outside observers might perceive.