Andison stepping down as bishop
By Sue Careless
MANY A RECTOR may think about becoming a bishop, but for a bishop to become a rector again is unusual. The Rt. Rev’d Jenny Andison has taken that step.
The Toronto suffragan bishop for York-Credit Valley stood for and has been selected as the next rector of St Paul’s Bloor Street.
Bp Andison had been elected suffragan (area) bishop in 2017 and stood for election as diocesan bishop in 2018 but lost to Dean Andrew Asbil.
As rector Bp Andison will retain her title as bishop, but will no longer sit or vote in the Toronto College of Bishops or the national House of Bishops.
With 700 worshippers attending weekly before the pandemic struck, St Paul’s Bloor Street is the largest congregation in the Anglican Church of Canada. Bp Andison knows St Paul’s well, having served there as assistant priest from 2006-2013. During that time, she helped redesign the Bridge service and led courses for new believers such as Christianity 101 and Following Jesus.
Later, from 2013 to 2017 she was incumbent of St Clement’s in north Toronto.
The current rector of St Paul’s, Canon Barry Parker, announced his retirement last February after serving the parish for 22 years. He had hoped to retire at the end of the summer, but the pandemic delayed his plans. Bp Andison will take over on Feb. 28th.
There will be no immediate electoral synod to replace either Bp Andison or Bp. Peter Fenty, suffragan of York-Simcoe, who retires Nov. 30. Last spring, Bp Asbil created an Episcopal Leadership Working Group to consider whether the diocese should revise its 40-year-old system of four suffragan bishops and one diocesan.
In a letter dated Oct. 14th, Bp Asbil wrote: “Our system is unique in the Anglican Communion. How do other dioceses, of similar size and complexity, organize themselves? What can we learn from them?”
The Group is due to file its report this February. Next March only three bishops, instead of the current five, will oversee the largest diocese numerically in the denomination. TAP
