Sean Frankling

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  • Sean Frankling

    Sean Frankling’s experience includes newspaper reporting as well as writing for video and podcast media. He’s been chasing stories since his first co-op for Toronto’s Gleaner Community Press at age 19. He studied journalism at Carleton University and has written for the Toronto Star, WatchMojo and other outlets.

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ARTICLES

Bishop of the Arctic leaves church with predictions of renewal

Bishop of the diocese of the Arctic David Parsons has announced he will retire Dec. 31, 2024. In a career he describes as beginning with a small voice calling him to share the gospel despite his reluctance, Parsons today says his greatest highlight was meeting the people of the Arctic, whom he was called to share it with. 

This concept image shows a mixed-use affordable rental and community housing development proposal for St. Matthew's Regina in the diocese of Qu'Appelle by real estate company Arwel Living and the Trinity Centres Foundation. Image provided by Trinity Centres Foundation

Redeveloping the house of God

Amid land use anxieties, churches seek to hold and transform rather than sell off property “If I could, I’d burn it all down and start

Nicholls shares joys and trials of primacy

Mississauga “The closer it gets, the better I’m feeling about it,” Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told the Council of

In this still from Season 3, Jesus of Nazareth (Jonathan Roumie) lays hands on Veronica (Zhaleh Vossough), healing her from a bleeding disorder that would have marked her as unclean in first-century Judea. Photo: Courtesy of The Chosen

The Chosen: Writers approach task with ‘fear and trembling, but also anticipation’

Fleshing out the gospel accounts of Jesus’ disciples, the TV series The Chosen adapts the bedrock of Christianity as a high-production-value drama. To do so, it dives deep into the text, directly lifting key moments from Scripture, but also attempting to flesh out the characters, setting and political realities of the first century A.D. That work, the show’s creators say, involves a careful process of bringing sainted and beloved characters like Mary Magdalene and Simon Peter to life in ways audiences can relate to while ensuring their portrayals remain true to the historical accounts of their lives. 

For Richard Liu, finding a home in Christianity meant first finding somewhere he could safely question it. Photo: Sean Frankling

Beyond the pew: trying to reach Canadians at a time of waning familiarity with Christianity

As the Anglican Church of Canada sets the church up for a renewed focus on evangelism with a discipleship and evangelism task force, it faces a changing society—one in which familiarity with Christianity is waning. More and more Canadians, like Liu, have never encountered church before. If the church wants to reach out to Canadians today, several specialists in evangelism tell the Anglican Journal, it will need to consider how to introduce the faith to these people.

Dancers perform at a Black Heritage Celebration Service February 2020 in Toronto. One of the conference’s goals is to examine how worship can represent more of the diverse backgrounds of Anglicans, including styles that involve more expression through movement, says Berringer. Photo: Michael Hudson

Conference to examine inclusivity in liturgy

Meeting in Regina this summer for the first time since before the pandemic, the National Worship Conference will examine how church liturgy and worship practices can better reflect the diversity of modern congregations, says the co-chair of the event’s planning committee, Kate Berringer.

Conference explores discipleship and church vitality

During You Are Leaven, conference attendees discussed definitions of spiritual formation, talked about how to promote it and participated in hands-on workshops teaching skills designed for them to take home and share in their home parishes. There were workshops on spiritual journaling; applying Examen, a method of prayerful reflection and gratitude, to meditate on the outcomes of church meetings and policy planning; and on improvisational theatre, among other topics.

Primate to write Ottawa about MAID expansion plan

Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, says she intends to write Ottawa on medical assistance in dying (MAID)—one of a slate of MAID-related actions Council of General Synod (CoGS) approved at a special online session March 9.

‘A space for people to be cared about’

Many people suffered like Mary during the especially isolating early period of the pandemic. And, according to some mental-health professionals, many could also benefit from the community, support, and sometimes even counselling resources churches can provide. With the public system struggling to affordably meet the nation’s needs for mental health care services, they say, faith organizations may be able to help ease the burden.

Primate to retire Sept. 15

Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, plans to retire effective Sept. 15, she announced April 9. In a letter to the church, she wrote that she had earlier offered her resignation to Archbishop Anne Germond, metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, who will become acting primate on her retirement.

Germond seen as possible acting primate

All the church’s other metropolitans “concur in their desire” to see Archbishop Anne Germond, bishop of the diocese of Algoma and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, serve as acting primate if current primate Archbishop Linda Nicholls retires by September, reads a statement from Canon (lay) Ian Alexander, prolocutor of General Synod and Archdeacon Tanya Phibbs, deputy prolocutor, released April 2.

Bishop George Bruce, former military intelligence director, remembered as ‘healer of the breach’

Born in England, Bruce emigrated to Canada in 1958 at age 16 where he lived in Montreal before attending the Royal Military College of Canada. He then began a military career that would eventually see him serve as director of defence intelligence at Department of National Defence headquarters in Ottawa, according to an online obituary. After retiring from the military, Bruce began theological studies and was ordained a deacon in 1987; he would serve in the Anglican Church of Canada until just a few months before his death. His church career included postings as a priest in several parishes in the dioceses of Ottawa and Ontario, and he was dean of St. George’s Cathedral, diocese of Ontario, before being elected bishop in 2002.  

No clear down trend in conversions: study

The most surprising thing about his recent study on faith formation among Canadians is that conversions don’t seem to be significantly on the decline, says Jeremy McClung, transitional director of the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College.

The study, “Finding Faith in Canada Today,” found that among converts who had come to the faith as adults over the past 50 years, “there’s a little dip in the last 10 years, but not enough to see a trend at this point,” McClung says. “That was a shock to us. We thought we would see just a downhill slope.”

Fatigue and hope define outlook for Ukrainian charity

As the war between Russia and Ukraine approaches the end of its second year, Fight for Right, a charity supported by the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), has changed its focus from evacuating people in urgent need to advocacy for a more accessible Ukraine, says Tanya Herasymova, the charity’s director.  

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