Bishop’s Opinion

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s only novel, when I was a teenager. It contains the famous quip, “Nowadays, people know the ...

God is good. In preparation for our ordination, we had the privilege of spending retreat time at the Community of the Transfiguration – the Episcopal ...

When I was in elementary school, I always hated the post-holiday writing assignment, “What I did on my (summer/Christmas/spring break/fill-in-the-blank) holidays.” I truly enjoyed the ...

My great-great grandparents left the Scottish Hebrides and settled in Ontario in the mid-19th century as a consequence of the potato famines. Canada has been ...

I look forward to welcoming to the College of Bishops of the Diocese of Toronto our bishops-elect, the Rev. Riscylla Walsh Shaw, Canon Kevin Robertson ...

It almost didn’t happen. And when it did, it was truly providential. Back in the early days of my ministry, almost 40 years ago, the ...

A word to bishops-elect: there is a world of discovery awaiting you on your Sunday episcopal visits. There will be surprises, and some of them ...

By the time you read this we will have three new suffragan bishops-elect for the Diocese of Toronto. We have also just approved a new ...

It’s fascinating how packing up and moving house compels you to visit places in your home you haven’t visited in years. The packing process has ...

When I was growing up in small-town Ontario, September was a time of fall fairs – parades, displays of prized local produce, the best of ...

One of the joys of my ministry is having the privilege of being in a different parish each week. I enjoy the opportunity to visit ...

“Which is your church?” It is a question I’m asked in almost every parish I visit, and my answer is almost always a surprise to ...

Easter Week, 2016 To the Clergy and People of the Diocese of Toronto, We are in the midst of the Easter season, when the death ...

Paul sat down in his tiny cell after saying goodbye to his friend and marvelled at the irony of his present circumstance. He resented being ...

A proposed change in the Canon on Marriage will come before our General Synod in July. Because statements from the gatherings of the Anglican Primates ...

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth; and though this body be destroyed, yet ...

“Can I be buried from my church?” It’s a sensitive question and one that is difficult to raise in the emotional turmoil following the death ...

My wife and I recently took a mid-winter break and travelled to the Galapagos Islands. It was fascinating to see the islands and their unique ...

Some years ago, Brother Martin Smith, former Superior of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, gave a lecture at an event for the training ...

The first time I heard Jesus called a refugee, I was surprised and wanted to protest – until I remembered that they were right. Jesus ...

I decided to write this article early in September, as I was inspired by two events that took place on Sept. 10 and 11. On ...

Will the real clergy please stand up? When we think about clergy, the image that first comes to mind is a priest, particularly the full-time, ...

The politics of fear are insidious. They appeal to that place in all of us that feels unsafe and vulnerable, the part of us that ...

It was the last. Twice a week, on schedule, a horse drawn wagon made its way up Charlotte Street, then home to the rectory of ...