The Indigenous Anglican church is beginning work on mental health ministries amid a national epidemic of suicides and overdoses in Indigenous communities, Archdeacon Rosalyn Elm, the church’s Indigenous ministries coordinator, told the Council of General Synod (CoGS) in November.
![“I [would be] basically telling you guys we would not be here in 2029” if asked to forecast national office finances for 2026-2029 given current trends, General Synod treasurer Amal Attia told CoGS. Photo: Matthew Puddister](https://i0.wp.com/anglicanjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/DSCF9490JPG.jpg?fit=800%2C543&ssl=1)
The Anglican Church of Canada’s national office has a balanced budget ready for 2025, Amal Attia, treasurer of General Synod, told Council of General Synod (CoGS) at its latest meeting in November 2024. While a plan has been approved to draw on reserve money to keep the budget stable through the year, some cost-cutting measures have already begun—including a gradual plan to reduce funding to the Council of the North—and more cuts will be needed in the years to come, she said.
The food bank at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Halifax, N.S. is facing a “perfect storm” this year, says the Rev. Tammy Hodge Orovec, the church’s rector.
Canon David Garrett, dean of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Charlottetown has served a three-day prison sentence and paid a $1,500 fine plus a $450 victim surcharge following an Oct. 15 conviction for impaired driving, according to the Rev. Ann Turner, executive director of the diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The conviction concerned an incident on Aug. 6 in which Garrett got into a collision that severely damaged the front of his vehicle at 1:37 pm and subsequently tested at 150 mg of alcohol in
Two provincial synods have passed a resolution to call on General Synod to review the impacts of cuts to Council of the North funding. The resolution, passed this September by the ecclesiastical provinces of Ontario and British Columbia and Yukon, follow a 2023 decision which would see the council’s funding reduced by $100,000 yearly, beginning in 2024, until its annual apportionment is equal to 25 per cent of the donations the national church receives through diocesan proportional giving.
“Do we still want a publication that holds up a mirror to the church?” the Rev. Cynthia Haines Turner, chair of General Synod’s communications committee, asked Council of General Synod (CoGS) in a Nov. 9 session on a primatial committee’s suggestion that the church stop funding the Anglican Journal. “Sometimes the picture we will see may not be flattering and sometimes it will be. But is that still a value for the church?”
Church leaders are seeking a new chair for the Jubilee Commission, a group of Indigenous Anglicans tasked with examining possibilities for funding the Indigenous Anglican church. The commission’s previous chair, Judith Moses, stepped down in April. Speaking to the Journal in September, Moses cited her age, diminished energy levels and the difficulty of doing the commission’s work with limited resources.
But problem more diocesan than national, bishop says It might be time for the church to hold weekend-only meetings and provide onsite child care even
National Indigenous Archbishop Chris Harper has announced he will slow down his schedule of travel in 2025 following two years of extensive visits to church communities across the country.
The church should stop to consider how the work done by General Synod or the ecclesiastical provinces would be replaced before it responds to a suggestion by a primatial commission to eliminate one of those levels of governance, Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told members of Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov. 9.
The national office has a balanced budget ready for 2025, Amal Attia, treasurer of General Synod, told members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov. 8.
Across the Anglican Church of Canada, governing bodies from the national to the diocesan level are in the process of reviewing, updating and in some cases introducing for the first time sexual misconduct policies.
All across the bustling show floor at Collision 2024, startup companies display laptops, flyers and signs promising to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to security, data analytics, online shopping, code optimization—on and on it goes. Between quirky intro and outro music, panels of experts at the North American tech expo give prognostications ranging from the optimistic (AI will drastically increase productivity) to the very optimistic (AI will boost longevity to the point of making everyone immortal) to the catastrophic (AI will interfere with democracy or become a threat to human life)
Bishop of the diocese of Rupert’s Land Geoffrey Woodcroft has been admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of cancer shortly after announcing his intention to retire in June 2025. The diocese’s executive archdeacon Simon Blaikie told the Anglican Journal Woodcroft made the announcement on the final day of the diocesan synod, Oct. 19, then felt unwell and was in the hospital within 12 hours. He was diagnosed with cancer, said Blaikie, and has gone on sick leave, expecting to transition directly into long-term disability leave. Blaikie confirmed a Facebook post that the cancer had been diagnosed as terminal. The diocese is asking for prayers and held a mass for his healing and comfort Oct. 23.
Members of the board of the Anglican Church of Canada’s global charity arm, until now known as the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), have voted to rename it Alongside Hope.
Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, a specialist in frailty and geriatric care and a lifelong Anglican, was appointed to the Order of Canada in June for his
Council of the North chair blasts paper drafted by panel with no Indigenous members as ‘offensive’ Two bishops in the Council of the North, a
The Rev. Michael Creal, a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada, refugee activist and professor at York University, died August 23 at the age of 97. Creal had received the Order of Canada in June in recognition of his lifelong efforts on behalf of refugees.
The Rev. Ben Tshin is a priest at St. Paul’s Bloor Street in Toronto. Tshin says many of those who engage with St. Paul’s for the first time do so through its ESL program, which invites members of the communities in to hone their English skills and—perhaps more importantly—find a sense of belonging among people who have similar experiences as newcomers to Canada. Often, he says, it attracts people whose English is already very strong, but who are just looking for somewhere to make friends. In the process, he says, the program exposes them to the church’s sanctuary space, developing a sense that they are safe and welcome there even as they form community ties.
‘Intentionally provocative’ documents broach deep restructuring of church Eliminating General Synod and the Anglican Journal are among a set of measures some members of the