New bishop elected for diocese of Moosonee

Archdeacon Tom Corston, a senior aboriginal priest in the diocese of Algoma, is the new bishop of the diocese of Moosonee.

Bishop-elect Corston, who will be consecrated July 6, becomes the ninth bishop of the diocese and succeeds Archbishop Caleb Lawrence, who retired last January.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Bishop-elect Corston, who was elected on the fifth ballot at an electoral synod held April 10 at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Timmins, Ont. He was ordained in the Moosonee diocese in 1975 and spent his first 12 years in ministry there.

“I am fully aware of the problems, the concerns, the fears as well as the hopes and the riches of the church in the north,” Bishop-elect Corston said in a written response to a question put forward to nominees about why they were interested in being a bishop. Since 2002, he has served as archdeacon of Sudbury and Manitoulin, Ont., and as rector of the Sudbury-based Church of the Epiphany since 1998.

He has been active in a number of diocesan and national church activities, as a member of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) and since 2005, as a member of the Anglican Journal Board of Directors. Since 2009, he has chaired the diocese of Algoma’s strategic plan implementation committee.

In addition, Bishop-elect Corston has served as editor of two diocesan publications-The Northland, the newsletter of the diocese of Moosonee (1976 to 1982) and the New Brunswick Anglican, the monthly newspaper of the diocese of Fredericton (1988 to 1992).

As a newly-ordained priest, he began his ministry as incumbent at Foleyet, a community situated between Chapleau and Timmins; at Gogama, in Lake Minisinakwa, Ont., and at Mattagami First Nation, a small community located about 70 km. south of Timmins. He also served as rector of South Porcupine and Schumacher, and as regional dean in the deanery of Cochrane, Ont.

In the diocese of Fredericton he served in various capacities-as rector of St. Margaret’s church, as rector of Chatham, and as regional dean of the deanery of Chatham. In the diocese of Algoma, he served as rector of Holy Trinity Church in Sault Ste. Marie, and as regional dean of the deanery of Algoma.

Bishop-elect Corston received a master of divinity degree at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, in 1975, and a bachelor of arts in sociology and English from Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ont., in 1972.

Founded in 1872, the vast diocese of Moosonee encompasses 350,000 sq. miles and is home to about 8,700 Anglicans. The diocese is a member of the Council of the North and has 16 active clergy and 70 lay readers.