VST gets new principal

Dr. Ken MacQueen, a United Church minister and former principal of Huntingdon University College in Sudbury, Ont., is the new principal of the Vancouver School of Theology (VST).

Mr. MacQueen taught ethics at Huntingdon for 12 years, and also worked in communications with United Church staff in Montreal and Ottawa. He also served as a parish minister and youth worker in Nova Scotia and Quebec.

The aim of VST is to keep tuition and other costs low, since students will be going into ministry, which is not a high-paying profession, Mr. MacQueen said. They do not need to be saddled with high debt, he added.

Under Mr. MacQueen, VST intends to remain a seminary of the Anglican Church of Canada. VST’s 16-member board of governors includes representatives from its three supporting denominations – with seven each from the Anglican and United churches and two from the Presbyterian church.

Retiring bishop of Cariboo Jim Cruickshank, will be “bishop in residence” until June.