In a press statement issued today, Bishop Tom Corston of Moosonee said he fully supports the decision made by the diocese’s synod to become a mission area under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Provincial Synod.
“What drove this decision so forcefully was the parishes’ determination to stay together and keep the strong links and personal relationships that they have with each other,” said Bishop Corston in the statement.
A resolution passed by the 45th diocesan synod, which met June 3 to 5, directed its executive council and officers to enter into discussion with the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario about the establishment of a mission area that comprises all of 26 parishes in the diocese.
Other options considered included separating the diocese’s parishes and transferring them to surrounding dioceses.
Discussions about the mission area will now begin with the Ontario Provincial Synod, the Council of the North (of which Moosonee is a member) and the General Synod, the governing body of the Anglican Church of Canada, according to the statement. There will also be continuing consultations within Moosonee’s parishes and deaneries.
A transition plan will be developed and put before another diocesan synod session for approval before being sent to the Ontario Provincial Synod in October 2011. Once a decision is made, General Synod, which meets again in 2013, will be asked to affirm the plan.
Described as one of the great historic missionary areas of the Anglican Communion and of Canada in the 1780s, the diocese of Moosonee has parishes in northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec. Created in 1872, it covers about 350,000 square miles.
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