Leslie Peterson
Leslie Peterson, former bishop of Algoma, died of a heart attack on July 25 in London, Ont. after returning home from a visit with family and friends in British Columbia. He was 73. A funeral service was held July 30 at St. Paul?’s Cathedral in London. Born in Rouyn, Que., Bishop Peterson earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1952 and received a licentiate in theology from Huron College in 1954. He was ordained as a deacon in 1954 and became a priest in 1955. He served parishes in several Ontario towns, including Elliot Lake, North Bay and Parry Sound. He was elected coadjutor bishop in Algoma in 1983 and served as diocesan bishop until his retirement in 1994. Bishop Peterson said in 1993 that he identified with people who were struggling and, therefore, worked with youth, native issues and women’s ministries. He established a youth synod in 1985 and said the annual event was a highlight of his ministry. He and his wife, Yvonne, moved to London after his retirement, where Mrs. Peterson had family ties. He remained an active volunteer with the Daily Bread food bank in London and performed interim ministry within the diocese of Huron. In addition to his wife, Bishop Peterson leaves five children, along with their partners and children.
Celia Hannant
Celia Hannant, a former program executive for 21 years with the Anglican Church of Canada’s national office, has died at 72.
“She was a good and fine and fun colleague,” said Canon John Rye, the now-retired mission co-ordinator for Africa, who worked with Ms. Hannant in the national church?s World Mission department, now known as Partnerships.
In the ’80s, she worked for the church’s World Program department, another predecessor to Partnerships, in various jobs and was instrumental in the organization and launch of the Volunteers in Mission program. Approved by General Synod in 1986, VIM sends Canadian Anglicans overseas for one to two years to volunteer for the church. In 1987, it sent its first volunteer to Japan.
At the same time, she assisted the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada in starting its own Volunteers in Mission program and for some time ran both programs.
She was still heading the VIM program in 1994, when she was laid off in a restructuring of the national church office.
Both during and after her years with the Anglican Church of Canada, she served on the board of management with the Canadian Churches Forum for Global Ministries, an organization that offers orientation and re-entry programs for people involved in cross-cultural missions.
She leaves three children and three grandchildren.
William Robinson
Bishop William Robinson, retired bishop of Ottawa, died July 10 at the age of 85.
Born in Kemptville, Ont. in 1916, he attended school there and graduated from Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Que. in 1939 with a theology degree. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1940 in the diocese of Ontario and served in parishes in Trenton, Napanee, Belleville, Ottawa and Guelph, all in Ontario.
He was elected bishop of Ottawa in 1970. At the time, he caused some anxiety among members of the electoral synod since it took him two hours to accept his election by telephone. He had been out on parish visits.
Before his election, he was a member of the joint hymnal committee of the Anglican and United churches, which in 1971 jointly released The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada, also known simply as “the Red Book.”
Bishop Robinson retired in 1981 and lived in Kingston, Ont. at the time of his death.
Bishop Robinson leaves his wife, Isobel, and four children: Thomas, Nancy, Elizabeth and Margaret. His funeral took place July 13 at St. George?s Cathedral, Kingston.
David Ragg
Bishop David Ragg, former bishop of Huron, died on July 1 in Victoria. He was 82.
A funeral service was held on July 4 at St. Luke’s church, Cedar Hill, Victoria and a memorial service was held the same day at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, Ont., with Bishop Bruce Howe, the current bishop of Huron, presiding.
Bishop Ragg, who was the son of Harry Ragg, third bishop of Calgary, was ordained in Toronto and served parishes in the dioceses of Qu?Appelle, New Westminster and British Columbia before moving to London, where he was rector of Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church and later of St. George?s church in Owen Sound, Ont.
He was elected bishop in 1973 and retired in 1984.
He leaves his wife, Dorothy, and children Lee, Mark and Maxine.
Suzanne Radley Hiatt
Rev. Suzanne Radley Hiatt, one of the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church in the United States and a leading theologian, author and speaker on women’s ordination, died May 30 of cancer. She was 65.
She was born in Minneapolis and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1958. She held a Master of Social Work degree from Boston University and a Master of Divinity and honorary doctorate from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., which has established the Suzanne Hiatt Chair in Feminist Pastoral Theology.
In 1971, she co-authored the book Women Priests: Yes or No? which became an important resource for those favoring the ordination of women.
Rev. Hiatt also organized and participated in an “irregular” ordination of women priests in 1974, three years before the Episcopal church officially allowed women to enter the priesthood.
She leaves a brother, a sister and five nieces and nephews.
