A law firm contracted by the Anglican Church of Canada is in negotiations with the United Church of Canada on the former’s exit from an $8.18 million lease on 300 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Canon (lay) Clare Burns, chancellor of General Synod, told the Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov. 27.
The Rev. Catherine Short has been re-appointed to the position of priest-in-charge at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Corner Brook in the diocese of Western Newfoundland.
Parishioners at St. Jude’s Cathedral in Iqaluit are in danger of losing their place of worship if the congregation and the diocese of the Arctic cannot find solutions to several pressing financial problems, says Bishop Alexander Pryor. An outstanding tax bill with the City of Iqaluit, rising insurance rates, high operational costs and the by-now familiar problem of congregational decline—each exacerbated by the unique challenges of life in Northern Canada—have combined to threaten the parish’s ownership of the cathedral.
In the wake of the declaration by a coalition of conservative Anglican provinces of its intention to reorder the Anglican Communion around itself rather than Canterbury, two Canadian scholars with years of experience in the global South take different views on how much the apparent schism will divide the denomination in theory and in practice.
By year’s end, the ecclesiastical province of Ontario may have a new misconduct policy to cover the conduct of staff, clergy and bishops when they are doing work or holding meetings at the provincial level.
The pages of Scripture are rife with roots and branches. From the fruit trees in the Garden of Eden to the Tree of Life to the wood of the Cross itself, trees appear constantly.
The Council of General Synod (CoGS) has approved key elements of a strategy for streamlining and updating the church, including a task force dedicated to pursuing the six pathways for change recommended by a primatial commission along with other groups working on the national office’s property, programming and staffing.
Those close to Hamel remember him as a tireless advocate for local, national and international causes. He fought for everything from Indigenous land rights to the abolishment of apartheid to natural conservation and the wildlife sanctuary he helped found near Masset, B.C.
Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson of the diocese of Montreal will retire Oct. 5 after a 44-year career in the church—including 10 years as diocesan bishop of Montreal.
When St. Clement’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver, B.C. got a request to use their building for filming a TV production going by the name “Megasword” in 2024, says the Rev. Helen Dunn, the church’s rector, it was the church’s first time being approached for a film rental.
This summer, Kristen Deede Johnson became the first non-ordained principal of the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College, a fact which she says points to the school’s willingness to try new approaches to the traditional work of theological education.
Two prominent Anglican ecumenists were awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal June 20: Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, former president of the Canadian Council of Churches and Archdeacon Edward Simonton, vicar general and archdeacon of the diocese of Quebec. They were nominated by the Canadian Council of Churches and the Anglican Orthodox International Theological Dialogue, respectively.
“The church doesn’t always recognize or value young people. But we are the past, present, and future of this church,” begins a prayer drafted based on table discussions at this summer’s Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth (CLAY) gathering, held Aug. 21 to 24 in Saskatoon. This year’s event, themed “Rooted and Rising,” brought together around 350 youth from around the country, making it larger than the previous gathering of around 300 in 2023, but with substantially fewer than pre-pandemic highs of around 850, says Sheilagh McGlynn, the Anglican Church of Canada’s animator for youth ministries.
Archdeacon Alan Perry is no longer the general secretary of General Synod, per a press release posted on anglican.ca Sept. 3. The release does not specify a reason for the ending of his employment in the role.
!["[A government lawyer] “[He] came up to Crawley and said, ‘You negotiate very, very well and that’s a skill we didn’t expect from clergy.’ And David said, ‘Well, the thing that I’ve had to do that none of you have had to is negotiate with the mother of a bride during a wedding.’" Photo: Provided by the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon](https://i0.wp.com/anglicanjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-154720.jpg?fit=686%2C626&ssl=1)
“David drove change wherever he was. He never accepted the status quo,” says the Rev. Ken Gray, retired dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kamloops, B.C. He’s describing Archbishop David Crawley, former bishop of Kootenay, metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon and acting primate, who died Aug. 17 at age 88. Crawley is remembered by friends and colleagues as an intelligent debater, an articulate leader and a passionate and early advocate—even during his early career—for causes that were not always popular at the time.
Born in Edmonton, Archbishop Shane Parker, elected primate of the Anglican Church of Canada June 26, is a former sociologist.
Emancipation Sunday, canonical changes and charitable donation drives: a roundup of other news from the Anglican Church of Canada’s June General Synod.
General Synod passed a resolution June 29 endorsing an open letter to the Canadian government from the Queer Interfaith Coalition, an organization which supports LGBTQ+ acceptance across different religious groups, which says it is “reclaiming the religious voice from those who have sought to weaponize faith [against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community].” The motion passed after some debate surrounding a clause denouncing “the damaging heresy that some people are more deserving of equality than others.” This statement, said an amendment members added to the resolution, would not be understood to condemn Christians who do not believe Scripture permits same-sex marriages.
General Synod has referred to the Council of General Synod (CoGS) a resolution which would significantly curtail the circumstances under which the leaders of General
Archbishop Shane Parker was installed as the 15th primate of the Anglican Church June 29 in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Ont. Parker was elected June 26 when his name was added to the third ballot after members of General Synod called for additional candidates.