Moosonee votes to have its own bishop again

The synod of the diocese of Moosonee voted unanimously June 26 to elect a dedicated bishop for the first time in a decade—a milestone in the history of the regional church, according to Archbishop Anne Germond, metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario and currently the bishop ministering to Moosonee. 

It will likely take more than nine months to create a profile of the diocese’s demographics and ministries, select candidates for bishop based on how well they fit the profile and hold an election, Germond says.  

In 2011, the diocese voted to become a mission area of the Anglican Church of Canada—having the metropolitan serve as bishop—due to financial difficulties. At the time, Germond says, the diocese was overstaffed, the bishop’s residence was in need of costly repairs and donations had fallen to the point where the diocese could no longer afford the salary, travel expenses and other requirements of maintaining their own bishop.  

“They realized that within a few more years, they would literally run out of money,” she says. 

That decision took effect with the retirement of former bishop of Moosonee Thomas Corston in 2014. Thereafter, then-provincial metropolitan Archbishop Colin Johnson served as bishop until Germond succeeded him as metropolitan in 2018. First Corston, then Archbishop Fred Hiltz, former primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, have served as assistant bishops to Johnson and Germond.  

But with her responsibilities to the ecclesiastical province of Ontario and her own home diocese of Algoma, and with Hiltz being retired, Germond says they cannot dedicate as much time as the region’s own bishop would. 

Germond will also become acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada Sept. 15, on the retirement of current primate Archbishop Linda Nicholls. 

In a decade with no bishop of its own, the diocese of Moosonee has saved enough money to support one again, which is a commitment that lasts from that bishop’s election until their retirement, says Germond. 

“The covenanting relationship is for the bishop to say ‘I will serve this people with all my heart,’ ” she says. “And so when a bishop comes into place, it’s the promise of the people to support that bishop [with] a living wage, housing, a travel allowance.” 

The relationship between diocese and bishop is therefore one of mutual and permanent devotion, she says. That’s why one of the things she has asked from the diocese as the preparations continue is for it to show in writing that it has saved enough money to financially support its decision. 

“We never want to get into a position where we say, ‘Well, we can no longer afford this and now the bishop has to go,’ ” she says. “That’s not how the episcopate works. You’re not in for two or three years. If you’re elected to be a bishop, you’re in until you retire.” 

Other preparations will include the drafting of a document surveying the state of the diocese’s parishes and ministries; and discernment as to what qualities the successful candidate will need. 

It was Germond and Hiltz who first raised the question of whether Moosonee was ready to become a diocese with its own bishop again at two 2020 meetings of the area’s deaneries. There, they found that the people of the diocese were interested in having a new bishop, but also that they did not want to rush into the decision. Now, four years later, the people of Moosonee, Germond says, have shown by their vote that they also believe it’s time. 

One thing that will be important for the new bishop is a passion for making faith relevant and exciting to the diocese’s youth, says Germond. Where confirmations in other dioceses she visits might turn up two, three or a dozen young people, she says confirmations of up to 200 people at a time are common in Moosonee. That shows a genuine interest on the part of the local youth which the church should work to develop into meaningful discipleship, she says.