New Bishop of Huron
(Staff) Last July when General Synod elected the Bishop of Huron, Linda Nicholls, as the new Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, it meant that the Diocese of Huron needed to find a new Bishop. And it has.
On Oct. 26th, the Rev’d Canon Dr. Todd Townshend, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Huron University College, was elected 14th Bishop of Huron.
One of five candidates, Townshend was elected on the third ballot by a majority in both orders of clergy and laity. He will be consecrated on Jan. 25th at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Ontario.
“Above all else, I seek to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ,” Townshend told the Diocese before his election. “The gift of this vocation has led me to focus on community leadership and service at work and at home. Fostering healthy communities is the primary goal of my work in ministry as a Christian priest, as a theological educator and administrator, and as a husband, father and friend. Often, this is a ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:16-20).
“After 19 years serving as a parish priest, 19 years teaching in a university seminary, and 27 years of marriage, I have developed gifts as a learner and teacher, a collaborator, a catalyst, a communicator, a pastor, a partner and a parent.”
In 1989 Townshend graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Science. He received his Master of Divinity from Huron College, University of Western Ontario in 1992 and his Doctor of Theology from Wycliffe College, University of Toronto in 2007.
Townshend was ordained in 1992 and has served as rector in several London parishes.
Townshend has also had a long academic career which culminated in 2013 when he was appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Huron College. Although in his capacity as bishop he will sit on the board of the college, he will finish teaching there at the end of this semester.
Townshend also serves as the chair of General Synod’s Theological Education Commission.
Diocese of Huron
The Diocese of Huron is located in the southwestern tip of Ontario and stretches from Windsor & Sarnia in the south to Tobermory and Owen Sound in the north. Much of it covers prime farming land but it also includes such cities as Stratford, Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge. Currently 147 clergy serve its 182 congregations.
The Diocese of Huron is unique in the Anglican Communion for having elected its bishops from the beginning. Benjamin Cronyn, then Rector of St. Paul’s Church in London, England, was elected to the new see in 1857 and Queen Victoria promptly appointed him First Bishop of Huron. Consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lambeth Palace Chapel, Cronyn founded a large diocese, known for its “low-church, evangelical bent,” and populated by missionaries from the Church of Ireland.
The diocesan website notes that “much has changed” in the Diocese “since its foundation” and that its “’low-church character’ has faded a great deal in the past two decades” but that it is still a “vibrant” entity. TAP
