As in the past, there will be no fixed term for the elected head of the Anglican Church of Canada when he or she is chosen Monday, May 31.
General Synod Saturday rejected a proposal to limit the term of office for its next primate (presiding bishop). The new primate will continue to be chosen to serve for a term that could last until he reaches age 70. The rejected proposal would have seen the primate limited to a term of nine years, extendable by an additional three years by agreement between the primate, the house of bishops, and the Council of General Synod (the church’s governing body between triennial meetings of General Synod).
There are three candidates for the office of primate: Bishop Ronald Ferris of Algoma, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison of Montreal and Bishop Caleb Lawrence of Moosonee. A fourth candidate, Bishop Victoria Matthews, dropped out of the election last week after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
In the debate over the fixed term, some members suggested in debate that the longer a primate is in office, the more important it would be to build relationships both within the church and ecumenically. Also, some members suggested, if a younger bishop were elected and forced to retire at age 50, for instance, he or she might have difficulty finding employment. It was also pointed out that when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada agreed to take episcopacy into their system (upon agreeing in 2001 to full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada), the Anglicans committed themselves to a periodic review of the office of primate.
The two most recent primates served for 18 and 14 years respectively. All 11 previous Primates served an average of about nine years. The longest serving primate was S. P. Matheson, who served for 21 years from 1909 to 1930.