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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 18. He studied journalism at Carleton University and has written for the Toronto Star, WatchMojo and other outlets.

ARTICLES

The Rev. James Spencer built two replicas of his St Mary's parish's churches out of Lego and found an opportunity to meditate on community outreach in the process. Photo: James Spencer

Priest’s Lego church replicas draw life-sized attention

Sean Frankling April 11, 2025

The Rev. James Spencer has been building with Lego since he was eight years old. Today, that lifelong hobby is getting his parish, St. Mary’s Anglican Church with buildings in Clarenville and Burgoyne’s Cove, Nfld. noticed online—and forming the heart of a new ministry to local children. 

Over the last year, Spencer has been building a pair of Lego models of the Clarenville and Burgoyne’s cove church buildings—built at the scale of one Lego “stud” (the basic unit of Lego blocks, demarcated by one of the nubs that let the bricks interlock) to one foot. 

Participants in the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon's parish development course strike a pose for unity. From left to right: The Rev. Jeffrey Mackie-Dernstad, the Rev. Linda Lagroix, Karen Rooke, Liam Patience, Natasha Henderson, Kallee Lins, the Rev. Matt Koovisk and the Rev. David Burrows. Photo: Contributed

Regional parish development programs aim to improve organization and outreach

Sean Frankling April 9, 2025

Now, the diocese of Ottawa has become the latest in a recent wave of regions across the Anglican Church of Canada to begin work on a program of parish development. Like the diocese of Niagara and the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon, which have similar programs, Ottawa is aiming to provide parishes, their clergy and their lay leaders with the education and resources to streamline their decision-making, focus their vision and purposefully reach out to their communities.  

Rod BrantFrancis elected bishop of Moosonee

Sean Frankling March 28, 2025

The newly reinstated diocese of Moosonee has elected the Rev. Rod BrantFrancis, a Mi’kmaq priest currently ministering to a Mohawk parish in Ontario, as its first bishop in a decade.

Hazel Pritchett Harris, former rector’s warden at St. Michael and All Angels in St. John’s, N.L., addresses parishioners at the church’s 2023 disestablishment service. Photo: Emily Rowe

Parishes struggle with money woes, uncertainty

Sean Frankling March 24, 2025

Many parishes in the Anglican Church of Canada are finding themselves torn between their own desire to survive and their obligation to support the higher structures of the church, says Ed Willms, a parishioner at All Saints Anglican Church in Huntsville, Ont.

Bishop of the diocese of Yukon, Lesley Wheeler-Dame (left) poses with commissioner of Yukon, Dame Adeline Webber (right). The two work together in a community partnership between diocese and territory to manage the estate of famous Klondike prospector, Keish, also known as James "Skookum Jim" Mason. They call themselves the two Dames. Photo: provided by Lesley Wheeler-Dame

Bishop Lesley Wheeler-Dame of Yukon to retire in October

Sean Frankling March 21, 2025

Bishop Leslie Wheeler-Dame of the diocese of Yukon will retire Oct. 24 this year, she announced in a letter to the diocese dated Feb. 26. On Oct. 24 she will reach 70, the mandatory retirement age for bishops in the Anglican Church of Canada. In an interview with the Anglican Journal, Wheeler-Dame said she felt reluctant to leave the position amid a period when the diocese is showing promising signs of renewal. Still, she added, she will not be leaving its service, instead planning to serve in Ministry of Presence, a program in which retired Anglicans volunteer to serve as non-stipendiary congregational leaders to supplement the diocese’s limited number of stipendiary clergy. 

The Rev. Chad McCharles elected bishop of Saskatoon

Sean Frankling March 14, 2025

When he initially got the call to let his name stand for bishop of Saskatoon, the Rev. Chad McCharles, a Manitoba priest and part-time school bus driver, said his first impulse was “a hard no.”

Treasurer of General Synod Amal Attia, chancellor Canon (lay) Clare Burns and general secretary Archdeacon Alan Perry update the Council of General Synod on the national office's finances, March 8. Photo: Matthew Puddister

‘Paper gains’ in investments save General Synod from deficit in 2024

Sean Frankling March 10, 2025

The Anglican Church of Canada’s national office would have ended up with a $237,000 deficit—despite $600,000 in pared-back spending and an unusually high contribution from one diocese—if not for the unusually strong performance of its investment fund, which lifted it to a $3.19 million excess of revenues over expenses in 2024. But this investment performance consisted of “unrealized” or on-paper-only gain, and concerns about the office of General Synod’s financial sustainability persist. 

‘General Synod cannot be at the periphery’

Sean Frankling March 7, 2025

The church is approaching a time of important decisions—one which Anglicans can and should embrace with hope, Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told Council of General Synod (CoGS) in her opening remarks March 7.

Bishop Mariann Budde of The Episcopal Church’s diocese of Washington meets U.S. President Donald Trump after her sermon at Washington National Cathedral Jan. 21 Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

The church and Donald Trump

Sean Frankling March 4, 2025

Amid the rising international tensions and overwhelming flood of executive orders under the new Trump administration, it is the duty of Anglicans in Canada to speak up for the marginalized and vulnerable, says Canon Maggie Helwig, rector of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church in Toronto.

"I’ve worked in the leadership of many kinds of churches. I have been involved in national policy choices. And one of the reasons I have this job is because I was shocked and dismayed at the kind of data that is adopted and then guides policy choices." -Scott Mealey, associate director of CIECR. Photo: Sean Frankling

Stats forum draws Christians seeking answers

Sean Frankling February 25, 2025

Not only multidenominational church researchers, but also parish and diocesan strategists and even interested lay people attended December’s second annual gathering of the Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research (CIECR), a research institute at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto. It’s a sign that in an increasingly uncertain faith landscape, people are looking for clarity and data to guide their decision-making, ministry and outreach, Canon Neil Elliot, the Anglican Church of Canada’s statistics and research officer, told the Anglican Journal at the event.

“To me, this is an exciting time in the life of Anglican Church of Canada and indeed Christianity in North America,” says Archbishop John Stephens, new metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of B.C. and Yukon. “We need to determine how we are Church and responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ in our time and in our place. We will need to consider new models and new possibilities related to being Church.” Photo: Contributed

Stephens looks to more teamwork within B.C., Yukon

Sean Frankling January 30, 2025

Archbishop John Stephens, newly elected metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon, says he plans to continue predecessor Archbishop Lynne McNaughton’s work of increasing collaboration between dioceses within the province. 

Kathleen Snow, the new president of Mothers’ Union,poses with local members of the charity on a recent visit to Formosa Province, Argentina. Photo: Contributed

Canadian elected president of Mothers’ Union

Sean Frankling January 13, 2025

Mother’s Union has elected its first worldwide president from Canada: Kathleen Snow, a board member at the international Anglican charity and parish nurse at Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, N.B. She is the second president of the charity to come from outside the U.K., following her predecessor, Sheran Harper from Guyana, who has been president for the past six years, Snow told the Anglican Journal. 

Deborah Barretto, director of Resources for Mission, the Anglican Church of Canada’s fundraising department (centre), sorts through donation envelopes with the department’s database administrators, Fe Bautista (left), and Grace Lança (right). Photo: Matthew Puddister

Canada Post strike delays donations to church, other charities

Sean Frankling January 10, 2025

Deborah Barretto, director of Resources for Mission, the Anglican Church of Canada’s fundraising department (centre), sorts through donation envelopes with the department’s database administrators, Fe Bautista (left), and Grace Lança (right). Photo: Matthew Puddister

“It is encouraging that the number on parish rolls is staying stable, so the people are out there. The question is: how do we turn the occasional attendance and the membership into regular attendance?” says Canon Neil Elliot, the Anglican Church of Canada's statistics officer. Photo: Sean Frankling

Early data show Easter, Christmas up 41, 50 per cent in 2023; Sunday attendance down nine per cent

Sean Frankling January 8, 2025

According to data available so far, attendance at Anglican Church of Canada Easter and Christmas services rose by 41 and 50 per cent respectively in 2023, even while average Sunday attendance fell by nine per cent over the same period—substantially faster than the decline of about 2.5 per cent per year before the pandemic, says the church’s statistics officer, Canon Neil Elliot.

Archbishop Chris Harper (left) speaks to CoGS Nov. 9, accompanied by Indigenous Ministries leaders Archdeacon Rosalyn Elm (centre left), Rosie Jane Tailfeathers (centre right) and Canon Murray Still (right). Photo: Sean Frankling

Indigenous church prepares mental health initiatives for men and youth

Sean Frankling January 3, 2025

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

General Synod starts cuts to Council of the North as ‘gloomy’ financial future foreseen

Sean Frankling January 3, 2025

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.

P.E.I. cathedral rector serves 3 days in prison after impaired driving conviction

Sean Frankling December 19, 2024

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

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