Mishamikoweesh: Larry Beardy acclaimed new bishop
(Staff) ON SUNDAY Sept. 23 at the Minopimatizowin Treatment Centre at Sagkeeng First Nation, Isaiah Larry Johnson Beardy was consecrated as the Indigenous Suffragan Bishop of Northern Manitoba Area Mission of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh and Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Brandon and Missinipi Northern Saskatchewan in the Diocese of Saskatchewan.
Rev. Beardy and his wife the Rev. Elizabeth Beardy are from Tataskweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba.
Beardy will oversee the Northern Manitoba portion of The Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh but also a northern portion of the Diocese of Saskatchewan.
People from all the Anglican churches and communities across Northern Manitoba and Northern Saskatchewan were invited to 1) nominate candidates for the position of Area Bishop for Northern Manitoba and Northern Saskatchewan and to 2) send delegations to the Sacred Assembly to elect and ordain the Bishop. As was outlined at the Provincial Synod of Rupert’s Land, if there was only one nominee or if the Elder’s Group, which acts as a search committee, only passed on one nominee, the bishop would be elected by acclamation when the Sacred Assembly gathered.
The Rev. Larry Beardy was the only nominee and the Elder’s Committee decided to forward his name for acclamation at the Sacred Assembly.
The selection of the first of two new Indigenous bishops for the Province of Rupert’s Land was announced on Sept. 10 on the Facebook page of Epiphany Indigenous Anglican Church in Winnipeg, MB. It was signed by Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, Metropolitan of the Rupert’s Land Province, The Rt. Rev. Lydia Mamakwa, Bishop of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop and Acting Area Bishop of Northern Manitoba, and The Rev. Norman Meade, Chair of the Elder’s Committee.
The Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada that was created June 1st, 2014 from the northern portion of the Diocese of Keewatin, and includes more than 25 First Nations communities in north-western Ontario and northern Manitoba. (The Diocese of Keewatin was disbanded on July 31, 2014.)
Lydia Mamakwa, who had previously served as suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Keewatin with responsibility for Northern Ontario, was installed as the first Bishop of Mishamikoweesh on June 4th 2014 in Kingfisher Lake, the see.
The diocese covers a vast area of 250,000 square miles from the southwestern shore of Hudson’s Bay in the north, along the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg but north of English River in Ontario. It has only 1 stipendiary priest but 48 non-stipendiary clergy and 75 lay readers serving in 28 parishes. There are approximately 10,000 Anglicans on the parish roles.
Another indigenous bishop is expected to be selected for Mishamikoweesh before General Synod opens in July 2019. This will help fulfill the dream of a self-determining Indigenous church within the Anglican Church of Canada.
On Aug. 8th Bishop Mark MacDonald told the Ninth Indigenous Anglican Sacred Circle in Prince George, B.C., “I believe the best days of Indigenous ministries are ahead of us.”
Psychologist Dr. Martin Brokenleg, who gave the final address of the day, declared:
“An Indigenous Anglican church uses its strength as a community to love Indigenous peoples enough to begin to heal their trauma … We use our ceremony of Holy Communion to nourish spiritually our new relatives and ourselves. All of these ceremonies teach us how much we are loved by God, and how we can then love others.” He observed that Canadian culture as a whole has become “less and less religious and more embarrassed about spiritual matters … An Indigenous Anglican church can help Canadian culture recover its spiritual side.”
