Bishop’s Opinion

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We need to talk

God is love. God is good. Not all people behave well all the time, even though we are all formed in the image of God. ...

I am excited by what’s in store

In a couple of months, I will retire as Bishop of Toronto. I have already retired as Metropolitan of Ontario and Bishop of Moosonee. Many ...
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We must uphold the dignity of others

In Chapter 4 of the Acts of the Apostles, we read of the strong emphasis by the early Church on the importance of community. Members ...

We need to take an active stand

Racist graffiti was sprayed recently across property at the back of one of our churches. It was a vile display of bigotry and racism that ...
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How the Creeds shape us

Texting is a non-negotiable aspect of staying in touch with our teenage daughters, and so I’ve adopted many of the abbreviations that make texting such ...
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Seeking the Lord’s face

Twenty-five minutes seemed like an eternity on that warm, spring day in North York. Ordinary people were out doing ordinary things in the afternoon sunshine ...
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Our work is resurrection work

God is good. When I was about 15 years old, there was “the incident of the running cows” that is forever seared on my mind, ...

Thy Kingdom Come

I don’t remember how I first learned about prayer or how to pray. I guess it was as a small child. I was taken to ...
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There is nothing that we cannot face

The wonderful seasons of Easter and spring are with us once again as we anticipate warmer weather, outdoor activities, longer days, gardening and enjoying spring. ...

Listen to the leading of the Spirit

In early March, I presided at the election of the Coadjutor Bishop of Niagara, my last as Metropolitan of the Province. I am delighted that ...
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Youth ministry needs to be a priority in parishes

“A Church without youth is a Church without a future.  Moreover, youth without a Church are youth without a future.” Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria ...

Pilgrims on a journey

Wikipedia defines “pilgrimage” as “a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of ...
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Live into our vows this Lent

It’s never too late to go back to school, as the three not-so-new suffragan bishops in our diocese can attest. Since our consecration as bishops ...

Meet Jesus in John’s gospel

When I was in seminary four decades ago, I spent part of Lent meditating on the life of Jesus. Over the period of those six ...
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Lean into reverence in 2018

God is good. I have met the peace and beauty of God in living colour. By early January, we will have made it through the ...
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He came to show us a way to love and live

In Luke 2:11 we read, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” We ...
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Reclaiming disciple-making

William Temple – an Archbishop of Canterbury in the ’40s – once famously remarked that the Church is the only institution that exists primarily for ...

Pastoral statement

This is a pastoral statement on the commitment to diverse theological positions in the Diocese of Toronto, written by Archbishop Colin Johnson and endorsed by ...
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In our music, God is glorified

As a boy growing up in the parish of Holy Trinity, Thornhill, there was a rule that you had to be 10 years old before ...

The Reformation, five hundred years on

I stood on a street corner in London, Ontario after the morning service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Mass had just ended at St. Peter’s Basilica ...
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Serving in the name of Jesus

God is good. I have seen God at work through our vocational deacons in Trent-Durham. We can see them wearing their stoles over their hearts, ...

Discovering Jesus in our midst

Did you know that a giraffe’s tongue is about a foot-and-a-half long, is black, and like a human hand, is prehensile, able to curl around ...

Our Faith-Our Hope is changing lives

I came across a pastoral letter from the Bishop of Toronto to the clergy and laity proposing a significant fundraising effort. In it he proposed ...

He lived his life abundantly

I was privileged but deeply saddened to participate in the funeral of Archbishop Terry Finlay in March.  He was my mentor and friend. Twenty-five years ...
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We must be led by God’s vision for us

I am writing this shortly after Ash Wednesday, a day when we acknowledge to one another that we need God’s mercy far more than we ...

God’s invitation to fear not

Fear motivates us to do many things. We often fall into the fight-flight pattern. We turn around and put up strong resistance, sometimes more than ...
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Lent is an invitation to tear down walls

Over the past two years, Anglicans across Canada have stepped up to sponsor hundreds of refugees, mainly from war-torn Syria. Many parishes across our diocese ...
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