bishop-elect Tom Corston
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Archdeacon Tom Corston, a senior aboriginal priest in the diocese of Algoma, who was elected the ninth bishop of the diocese of Moosonee at an electoral synod on April 10.
Bishop-elect Corston, currently the archdeacon of Sudbury and Manitoulin, Ont., was ordained a priest in the diocese of Moosonee in 1975 and spent his first 12 years as a young priest there.
“While it was 20 years ago when I left, I have never been all that far away. I think I am fully aware of the problems, the concerns, the fears as well as the hopes and the riches of the church in the north,” Bishop-elect Corston said in a written response to a question put forward to nominees about why they were interested in being a bishop.
He succeeds Archbishop Caleb Lawrence, who retired in January, and he assumes leadership of a diocese that is a member of the Council of the North.
Bishop-elect Corston described his leadership style as “enthusiastic and compelling,” and said that his priorities as bishop would include fostering spiritual growth, strengthening financial responsibility and walking “in partnership toward the implementation of an Indigenous Covenant” in the diocese.
Since 2002, Bishop-elect Corston has served as archdeacon of Sudbury and Manitoulin, Ont., and as rector of the Sudbury-based Church of the Epiphany since 1998. He has been active in a number of diocesan and national church activities, as a member of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) and since 2005, as a member of the Anglican Journal board of directors. Through his membership with ACIP, Corston said that he has “brought front and centre” issues that are important to the aboriginal community.
In addition, he has served as editor of two diocesan publications-The Northland and The New Brunswick Anglican. Ω
