New metropolitan

Bishop John Clarke, of the diocese of Athabasca, was elected archbishop and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Rupert?s Land at the provincial synod on May 29 in Lloydminster, Sask.

There are four ecclesiastical (church) provinces in the Anglican Church of Canada, each led by a metropolitan who is also a diocesan bishop. The province of Rupert?s Land comprises the dioceses of the Arctic, Athabasca, Calgary, Brandon, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Qu?Appelle, Rupert?s Land and Keewatin.

Bishop Clarke, who is 65, was elected diocesan bishop in 1991 and is also chair of the Council of the North, a committee of bishops of 11 northern dioceses that receive support grants from the national church.

Consecrated deacon in 1963, Bishop Clarke served as a parish priest in the dioceses of Toronto, Niagara and Huron before arriving in Athabasca, which occupies the northern third of Alberta. Prior to his election as bishop, he was the diocese?s executive archdeacon.