Voices from the Arctic

Sharon Dewey Hetke catches up with the three newly consecrated suffragan bishops of the Arctic: Lucy Netser, Annie Ittoshat and Joey Royal.

TAP: Congratulations to all three of you!  You will each be overseeing a different region in your vast diocese–this regional model was used in the past, wasn’t it?

JR: Yes, it was probably in the 1990s that they last had four bishops. But yes, there’s a precedent for that.

LN: It’s a vast diocese, and for one or two bishops to travel it, it’s just too much.  One bishop I remember was home for only a few months of the year. So I’m very glad there are three Suffragan bishops now, to help Bp. Parsons. 

TAP: Can you tell me a bit about the day of the election, what was on your heart that day?

AI: I had a peace with what will be because I knew that God had ordained it already. He sees and knows everything.

LN: I felt ready for whatever God had in mind! So it really wasn’t stressful at all. Except for getting there! My whole region couldn’t get in because of a blizzard. That’s travel in the north. I  made it the night before the consecration.

TAP: So did they end up electing you in your absence?

LN: I was able to speak and address the synod on Facetime.

JR: We all gathered in Yellowknife (we have a synod every 3 years because travel is expensive) and what was on my heart was a sense of peace and surrender to the will of God. These things can go any way, right? But my wife and I had had lots of conversations. I had thought and prayed over it and thought, well, however this pans out, I’m confident that I’m in the path God wants me to be. It was a pretty overwhelming experience.

TAP: Bp Annie, I believe you grew up in the Diocese of the Arctic, and I know that you went to Wycliffe as well: can you tell me about that journey?

AI: I was in Pangnirtung at the Arthur Turner Training School for two years. I was made a deacon in 2006 and Bishop Andrew Ataguttaaluk met with me and told me that I would go to Kangiqsujuaq in northern Quebec. We were there for about two and a half years, and through some circumstances there was no longer a house for us to live in. So back in my hometown, I started thinking, “Maybe I should go back to school.” So in 2011 I went to Wycliffe and got my Masters.

TAP: Right. And I think were you the first person from the Arctic to graduate from Wycliffe?

AI: I was the first Inuk woman to become a priest in northern Quebec, and the first Inuk to graduate with a masters from Wycliffe. And Lucy and I are the first women Inuk bishops.

TAP: Bp Joey, what do you love about the diocese and the work you’ll be doing?

JR: What do I not love about it? The people, the fact that there is a deep vibrant faith here. The land–it’s beautiful. We have our challenges, of course, many of them, but there’s a vibrancy to faith here. There’s a kind of directness in the way people read the Bible and the way they encounter God. It’s a wonderful thing. My call to ministry came at the same time as my call to the north and was pretty much inseparable from it. So I don’t really have any sense of call abstracted from this particular place.

TAP: Bp. Lucy, can you tell us a bit about your background, and your call to ordained ministry?

LN: Yes, I grew up in the Arctic, in Pangnirtung. I was over 40 when I felt called into ministry. I didn’t want to be a minister in the first place, but it was clear that God wanted me to. I thought about it for a year with my husband. We prayed about it and I applied and got accepted to the Arthur Turner Training School.

TAP: What were you doing before that?

LN: I was an economic development officer at the time.

TAP: Why did you initially not want to be a minister?

LN: My father was a minister. And we moved to different communities–totally different environments for me, so I was never going to put my kids through that. But then I began doing non-stipendiary ministry, and was able to stay in one community for 9 years when my kids were younger.

TAP: What are some of the challenges that you hope to address as one of the Suffragan bishops, whether it’s local things in your region or diocesan challenges?

JR: To ensure that a strong Christian faith is passed on to the next generation. The faith took hold in a very deep way in previous generations and that’s due to the faithfulness of northern people as well as people who came from elsewhere. What we are seeing now, especially among younger people, is a more secular outlook. People in the north have iPhones and have the internet and have exposure to the same media as people in the south. And so although the north is generally less secular than the rest of Canada, I am seeing a progressive secularization happening, especially among the young. We have a lot of work to do in connecting with younger people and showing them the Gospel, teaching them the faith, and inviting them into a relationship with Christ. It’s clear to me that we can no longer coast on the fumes of a previous generation’s faithfulness.

AI: I’ll be overseeing 15 communities, on the Hudson Coast and in the Ungava deaneries.  One of the challenges we have is a lack of ministers.  And quite a few that we have are close to retirement. With the lay leaders and ministers that we have, I want more training for them so that we can become stronger.  Also, it’s a huge diocese, and I would want to have more communication and connection with each of the communities.  One of the strengths we have is strong layleaders in those communities that don’t have a priest or deacon.

LN: We have a lot of suicides in the North. Maybe one of the highest rates in Canada. And what help can we give to people? There are lots of broken families and broken marriages. These are the ones that I think about the most–what can we do to help?  We also need more ministers in the North. Some smaller communities that don’t have ministers feel abandoned. In a lot of them, the communities don’t have mission houses, so there’s no house to house the ministers. So that makes it more difficult and we need to have money to make buildings. But their faith, it’s very strong. And those that went to the north to teach had a very strong faith and that was taken very, very seriously. But the younger generation does have some issues with substances. And, like everywhere else, a lot of people don’t really want to go to church anymore and there’s loss of trust and it’s happening in the north too.

TAP: Travel is a major challenge. Bp. Lucy, in your region there are six communities that you’ll be overseeing. When is the best time to travel and how?

LN: Always by plane. Occasionally people travel in the winter, but they usually wait until it’s warmer. Most people don’t really hunt in midwinter because it’s way too cold. If you’re warming up your vehicle, some days, ice forms from the exhaust pipe right down to the ground!

TAP: Bp. Joey, having lived in both the south and the north, what do you think the church in the south can learn from the church in the north?

JR: A confidence in the Scriptures as the Word of God. Many Christians here expect to hear God speak through the Bible in ways that are directly relevant to their lives. Even the hardest parts of the Bible are generally received as the word of God and people believe they are to submit their lives to that. Throughout the rest of North America there is often a big gulf between the world of the Bible and between our modern world, and preachers and teachers are often met with skepticism which interferes with people’s ability to receive the Bible on its own terms. And I understand that. But that’s less the case here. People are receptive to the Bible in a less critical mode and are able to hear God speak more directly to them through the words of Scripture. So that’s a wonderful thing. Going along with this, you could say that the spiritual dimension to life is an experiential reality for many – – people talk about seeing answers to their prayers and God speaking to them in dreams, or encountering God out on the land. Also, Christians from the north often understand spiritual or demonic oppression to be the cause of troubles in people’s lives, and look to the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver people from that oppression. And so I find that you can open the Bible, you can describe the things that happen in the Bible and it makes intuitive sense to people. Being exposed to this sense of immediacy and expectation with regard to Scripture has changed me in ways I’ve yet to fully comprehend. On the whole I think the north is similar to other places around the world in being less secularized and more open to the world of the Spirit.

TAP: In other parts of the Church, there’s a sense with many people that we’ve moved past that in our secular, very modern way of thinking. They see it as progression, but they don’t realize the blinders that they actually have on and the aspects of life that they’re actually shutting out.

JR: It’s the result of a series of theological decisions, right? It’s not a neutral vantage point. That’s clear. When you get into a different culture and you’re able to see the fragile nature of secularism, it’s an historic anomaly.

TAP: We’re heading into General Synod with some momentous decisions: election of a new Primate, second reading of the proposed change to the Marriage Canon, and Indigenous self-determination. Can you share any thoughts on each of those, and the impact those decisions could have ultimately on the Diocese of the Arctic:

AI: About self-determination, I would say that the thoughts are out there, but it is God who opens doors. I also want people to know that the Inuit are resilient, and very strong in their faith.

JR: With regard to the new Primate, obviously one of the big issues is how do you hold this fracturing thing together? That will be a big job, and whoever is elected can be assured of my prayers. Regarding the proposed change to the Marriage Canon, that is something of great concern to us. As a diocese we’ve been very clear that we’re opposed to changing it, and our opposition on this is due simply to our conviction that male-female marriage is divinely given and rooted in creation itself. That is how I understand Scripture. I am convinced as well that a change to the Marriage Canon will be destructive to community and relationships at the local, national and international level. The whole thing reflects a cultural confusion that the church is tied up in. But, to be honest, we in the Arctic are focused primarily on other things, like mission and evangelism and ministry to all people in our communities. If anything, the theological confusion in the church has strengthened our resolve to teach Scripture and to proclaim the gospel in a gracious but unashamed way.

LN: A lot of things going through our mind, those of us that are going to General Synod. For us Inuit, our culture is a little bit different, maybe quite a lot. Even the way we go visiting, we don’t knock or anything, we just go in the house. And we don’t acquire anything. We don’t have schedules in the same way, for example. If there are some changes made that are different from our beliefs in the north, it would affect our Inuit tremendously. Whatever outcome is going to be is going to be. But for sure it’s going to affect us.

TAP: How would it affect you?

LN: Some people that I’m talking to say our culture is different and we need to be heard too. Even if Indigenous ways change, we Inuit need to be heard too. Southern Indigenous are different from northern Indigenous. People feel that it’s going to attack the church, how they see the church and what they believe in.

TAP: Are you saying that if the Marriage Canon is changed it will make them feel like there’s a barrier between them and the church?

LN: Yes, for sure. It’s going to be like some say “Things are changed, then who are we?”

TAP: So would it affect their sense of identity?

LN: It would affect their identity for sure. Because we strongly believe what we believe just like other people believe what they believe. And in our culture and tradition, we’ve been taught this way.

TAP: I’ve heard people say, “Well, you know, the Bible was brought by the missionaries.” But I have been told that the traditional Inuit understanding of marriage has a lot in common with the Christian understanding. All in all I can see how this proposed change would be upsetting and challenging to a person’s identity.

LN: Yes. From what I hear, as Inuk to Inuk: “Why are they trying to change it? Why are they trying to change the beliefs that were taught to us? Is the Bible changing?” This is what we believe, and this is what the Bible says, but I can’t speak for everybody.

TAP: I was at the 2016 General Synod and I remember a number of delegates from the Arctic spoke on the floor of General Synod and it was very powerful and they spoke very well. And I think it was difficult for them – maybe they didn’t always feel like they were being heard. But many of us are just very thankful for their witness. And there are lots of people, in the south too,  who feel the same way. It’s a really difficult time in the Church–that’s for sure.

LN: I have heard people say (in the north too) as soon as they hear that we were sticking on to what we believe, then they bring up the word “hate” right away.  “Why do you hate us?”  But we don’t hate anybody. It’s just that we have different beliefs; it is not hate. There is no hate in that.

TAP: Bp. Annie, unlike the other two bishops you will be making a big move from Montreal, where you’ve been ministering to the Inuit community of that city, back to the Arctic. How are you feeling about that move?

AI: It’s definitely unsettling, but at the same time I’m excited to see what God will do. Well, he’s already at work, but I’m excited to be a part of what the Lord is doing in northern Quebec.

TAP: As part of your duties, Bp. Joey, you’ll continue to oversee the Arthur Training School.  Can you update us on how it’s doing?

JR: It’s going well, in spite of a few recent challenges. We didn’t accept students this past year because we were under review by the Government of Nunavut, which is normal for any school at this stage. But after months of revising and creating policies and all that administrative stuff, we got word that we’re now designated for five years. So the government has once again recognized us as a post-secondary institution. It’s really, really positive and I’m delighted. So God willing, we’ll accept another cohort in the fall in 2019.

TAP: That’s wonderful. Do you have a number of people that are looking towards ordination?

JR: There’s probably ten applications to go through for people who are interested in coming in the fall, but the issue in the north is always housing. We will accept as many as we can, provided we can secure housing for them. I should also say how amazing it’s been to see my former students, now ordained, serving in churches across the Diocese. They are strong leaders and are holding their own and doing great work. Praise the Lord for that. 

TAP:  The Diocese of the Arctic is probably a Canadian diocese with a closer relationship with GAFCON than most others. Bp. Joey, can you tell us about that relationship?

JR: Well, I suppose the simple reason it matters is that we view ourselves as aligned with the majority of the Anglican Communion, and GAFCON numerically represents a very large segment of Anglicans worldwide.  Of course, you could counter that by pointing out that North America is not well represented at GAFCON, at least in the Communion churches. And that’s true. But I think it shows you how, theologically, “Western” churches – especially The Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church – represent a minority opinion in the global context. I attended the last GAFCON gathering in Jerusalem, together with 2000 people from many nations across the Communion. I was struck by how focused they were on the gospel, while we in North America seem often to be narrowly focused on politics and social issues. We spoke about the urgent need for evangelism, and the unique threats to the gospel that have taken hold in different cultures – relativism, syncretism, cultural captivity, the prosperity gospel. And I was really impressed by the boldness and directness and joyfulness that pervaded the entire gathering. And, on the whole, I didn’t detect bitterness or anger or a spirit of divisiveness. 

TAP: So given this connection you have and your sense of kinship with other parts of the Communion, can you tell me why you are still in the Anglican Church of Canada?

JR: Well, the simple answer is because God called me here and God put me here, and faithfulness for me requires being bound to these people in this place at this time. I think I understand why some have felt the need to leave the Anglican Church of Canada, but I’ve never considered that an option for me. I don’t know why God called me to serve within an increasingly fractured church, but he has, and – with God’s help – I’ll do my best, amidst these troubles and confusions, to bear witness to the truth God has given to us in Scripture.   TAP