Perspective asked the Rev. Canon Stephen Silverthorne, the Clerical Synod Secretary, about how an episcopal election works. He thoughtfully answered our questions and walked us through all the proceedings.

How do you discern if you should nominate someone?

First, to be a nominator requires that you be a member of Synod. The diocesan canons and bylaws specify who is a member, but in most cases, this is someone who is either a clergyperson in active service, or a lay person who was elected to be a member by their parish vestry.  Others are members by virtue of serving on Diocesan Council, or by being appointed by the bishop. It’s best to check with the Synod Secretaries if you’re unsure of your membership status. Of course, those who aren’t members of Synod are welcome to share their thoughts on a potential nominee with their parish’s members of Synod.

Beyond that, many of the questions to ask yourself before nominating someone are the straightforward ones: is the proposed candidate a good manager, a good communicator, and a good pastor? Do they clearly love Christ and his church? Do they themselves discern that God is calling them to this role? But just as importantly, our discernment cannot neglect prayer. Many leaders in the Bible, like Esther or King David, might not have distinguished themselves from others by their past achievements. Yet, God raised them to leadership because they were people who would rise to the unique challenges of the moment. Discerning this capacity in others is more than a rational calculation, though it includes that. It is a genuine openness to the Spirit which can only be accessed through patient, prayerful listening. Our hope is that this kind of listening will play an important part in people’s discernment as they consider whether to nominate someone.

What are the required qualifications for candidates?

The core requirements for candidates are set out in the Canons of our Diocese and of the Ecclesiastic Province of Ontario. We’ve posted an FAQ document on the diocesan website [https://ottawa.anglican.ca/episcopal-elections-2026 ] outlining these in more detail. Briefly, however, candidates must be a cleric in good standing within the Anglican Communion, must be at least 30 years old, must have served as a priest for at least seven years, and must conform to the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada.

What is the process for nominating a candidate for the election?

The first step in nominating a person is to discuss it with the person you are hoping to nominate. Before all other considerations, a nominee must consent to being nominated, and must meet the minimum criteria I just mentioned. If both of these conditions are met, the next step is to download the nomination form from the diocesan website. This will be available later this fall. The form will ask for information on the nominee’s formal qualifications, such as their date of ordination. It will also require the signatures of at least five clergy and five lay members of Synod. These are the nominators, and by signing they assert their belief that the nominee is qualified to serve our church as bishop. Once completed, the form should be forwarded to the Secretaries of Synod. Nominations will be accepted up to the moment that the Electoral Synod is called to order, but only nominees whose form is submitted by the first nomination deadline on January 24, 2026, will be eligible to participate in the series of public meetings held in the runup to the election. These are intended to introduce nominees to the wider diocese and help us better to discern who God might be calling to the office of bishop.

I understand that the House of Bishops may play a role in the nomination process.

Yes, the nomination process allows for input from the House of Bishops. This input comes through our diocesan Supplementary Nominations Committee. That body is an ad hoc committee empowered by our canons to nominate up to two individuals to add to the list of nominees. The committee is given this power in order to enhance the diversity of candidates in the electoral process, allowing it to bring candidates forward who might not otherwise have been considered. The House of Bishops is an important resource for fulfilling that purpose, as it can help identify people from around our Communion who could be the right fit for our Diocese. So, the committee values the bishops’ advice very highly. It’s important to note however, that the bishops’ role is strictly advisory. While it values their opinion, the committee has the final say on who it may nominate based on its own evaluation of our diocesan needs and on the suitability of potential candidates.

What is required of the candidates in the election process?

The greatest requirement is a commitment to careful discernment. It is a privilege to serve as bishop, but it’s not an easy calling. Among other things, the office of bishop involves serving as a pastor, an administrator, a theologian, and a communicator. We believe in God’s providence and in God’s power to equip people for the roles they are called to, but it is a challenging role which requires candidates to consider carefully the costs involved. So, we encourage everyone in our diocese to pray that the Holy Spirit would embolden and encourage the right people to allow their names to be put forward for nomination.

Once candidates are nominated, they will be invited to respond to a set of questions prepared by our Episcopal Election Committee. These are intended to provide a platform for nominees to express their views on matters important to the church, and to give more information to electors as they discern who to vote for. Those whose nominations were received by the first nomination deadline will also be invited to participate in four public meetings, which will be held in the weeks leading up to the election. These will be moderated by a member of the Episcopal Election Committee and will be held at different locations throughout the diocese. The format for each will be consistent and will give nominees the chance to provide personal introductions as well as to reflect on their approach to the opportunities and challenges facing our Diocese.

How does the episcopal election work? Who votes?

All lay members of the 145th Annual Synod (to be held in October 2025) are eligible to vote in the Electoral Synod, as are all active clergy in our diocese.  Some retired clergy will also be eligible to participate. Under our canons, only 10% of clergy who are retired as of August 1, 2025, will be eligible to vote in the Electoral Synod. In October, the Secretaries of Synod will initiate a process for selecting retired clergy for these purposes.

The Electoral Synod itself will be held at Christ Church Cathedral on February 28, 2026. The Synod will convene following a celebration of the Eucharist. Electors will be issued ballots and invited to vote for the nominee they feel is most qualified. Voting is conducted by orders. In other words, the votes of clergy and laity are counted separately. To be elected, a nominee must receive a majority of votes both among the clergy and among the laity. If a round of balloting does not achieve this, more rounds of balloting follow until a nominee has achieved a majority in both houses.  The Most Reverend Anne Germond, Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario, will chair the Electoral Synod.

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The event is the culmination of efforts by each congregation to grow in love and partnership with our fellow Christians. Starting in 2017 with CtF, and in 2021 with SMCK, St. Paul’s has shared its building with each congregation. Each exercises their own worship and ministry, and each enjoys office space for their administrative needs. In return, St. Paul’s receives help in covering its financial obligations. But these relationships are about so much more than a blessing of space and finances: they have brought about a flourishing of spiritual vitality and mutual care.

For St. Paul’s, one of the spiritual benefits of this partnership is regular exposure to church traditions very different from our own. Holy Week, for example, revealed both the unity and diversity of Christian traditions in a striking way. With some creative scheduling due to the Coptic season overlapping with the Anglican, the people of St. Paul’s and the SMCK were encouraged to visit each others’ services to experience them for themselves.

As a church founded in first century Egypt, Coptic musical and linguistic traditions are very different from Anglican practice. However, the points of unity were just as profound. The Nicene Creed and Lord’s Prayer were immediately recognizable to all, and the Eucharistic Prayer pointed to the common trust we have in Christ and in his sacraments. Mutual visitation has only increased the sense of unity which Jesus has preserved within the diversity of Christian expression.

Catch the Fire is distinctive in a different way. Founded in 21st century Canada, it embraces a Pentecostal tradition of spontaneity and liveliness in worship. Its members and St. Paul’s parishioners often attend one another’s services, and they pray for each other regularly. Jeff Duncan, Catch the Fire pastor, sees this as one of the greatest benefits of cooperation: “I remember the first time I saw a St. Paul’s bulletin and our congregation was listed as a regular prayer request. I was deeply touched.”

This commitment to prayer, along with social gatherings like the potluck, has been a powerful sign of care for one another. With each passing month, parishioners have grown more committed in friendship and in appreciation for each other’s way of living out Christian life. Fr. David Azer, priest at SMCK, echoes this: “The blessings have been many. Our two communities have developed genuine friendships and deeper understanding of Christian unity. Joyful moments—like the potluck and celebrating feasts together—stand out.”

None of this cooperation has resolved all the barriers to visible unity between the churches. There remain differences that prevent sharing some ministries and sometimes even sharing the Eucharist. We’re still saddened by these barriers, as they still detract from our common witness to the world. Yet, the simple commitment to deeper friendships, greater understanding, and mutual appreciation has laid the foundation for that deeper unity Jesus calls his church to embrace. In God’s grace, it is something we should all continue to strive for.

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Most difficult are those times when clergy are called to the bedside of a dying person. Like me, most clergy come into that hospital room filled with a sense of powerlessness. What can we offer that will change anything? Prayers of comfort and words of condolence can bring some relief, but they cannot change the reason why we were summoned. A person lies dying.

Non-clergy may not face these situations as often, but they will face them. We all lose loved ones, and we all proceed through life with the knowledge that we are mortal. We too will face the end of our life, and we too will be powerless to prevent it.

These gloomy truths are the kind of thing we usually prefer to avoid thinking about. Yet Good Friday and Easter ask us to think about them a lot. We are asked to consider Jesus’ betrayal, his arrest, his abandonment, and his death. In Good Friday’s service, we hear once again the whole sordid story of our innocent Lord’s death as a criminal, and we look at the ugliness on display as crowds bay for his blood. These make us think about our own sorrows, our own sins and sins inflicted upon us, and about our own mortality.

So why not avoid looking? Why be reminded of death’s power and humanity’s frailty? We do it because we cannot avoid these things forever. And we look at them without fear because doing so is the only way we can be reminded of the greater power of Christ. At the heart of the Easter story is the proclamation we all need to hear: that through Jesus’ power, death’s claims have been proven false. He has crushed them under his feet.

In a funeral sermon by Rev. James Goodloe, he puts it well:

“Death pretends to be Lord over us. It’s not. God alone is the Lord over our lives. Death tries to have the last word about who we are. It doesn’t. God has plans for our lives that even death cannot destroy. Death struts its seeming great power, but its power is broken. To Christ belongs the victory. Though death will lay claim to all of us, it will not hold us all, for we do not belong to death. We belong to God in life, we belong to God in death, and we continue to belong to God in that new life on the other side of death.”

All this is true because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Good Friday and Easter reveal that we belong to Jesus. We were bought with a price.

Sin claims power over us, and it mocks us whenever we stray from God’s path. It tells us that we are worthless, guilty, and unwanted. Death claims power over us, and pushes us to despair whenever we feel its approach. It tells us that it will take us, and never let us go. Jesus’ work at Easter shows us that these are lies.

Jesus took the sin of the world upon himself at the cross, even the sins of those who crucified the Son of God. Jesus took the sting of death upon himself at the cross, even the deaths of those who had not yet been born. In bursting from the tomb, he showed that these had no power over him. In welcoming us as his brothers and sisters, he shows us that they can have no power over us as well.

This Easter, don’t be afraid to acknowledge your fears and frailties. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your sins and mistakes. Jesus knows all about them. Instead, bring them to him. He will bear them on the cross, and he will reassure you that they have no claim on you. You are his, and you always will be. When things go wrong in this life, he still has plans for you. And when this life comes to an end, he will still have plans for you. He will not let you go.

This is the reason we cry out: Alleluia! Christ is risen. It is good news for all who are burdened by the cares of this life, and it is good news for you.

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 “St. Paul’s history begins with Irish settlers who arrived here in 1818,” notes Canon Roger Young, a member of the congregation and a descendant of one of the parish’s founding families. While local Anglicans first met in a church used communally by several local denominations, they soon outgrew it. “To meet the needs of a growing community, a larger new Anglican or ‘English Church,’ called St. Paul’s, was built and opened across the road in 1874.” 

Since then, the building has been replaced twice: once in 1937 to rebuild after a devastating fire in 1935, and once to replace that church with the current modern building in 2004.

With Bishop Shane Parker presiding, the anniversary celebration featured a service of Eucharist with confirmation and the reaffirmation of baptismal vows, followed by a potluck luncheon. “The service was beautiful and very meaningful for me” said Lynn Williams, who along with Marsha Fisher reaffirmed her baptismal vows in the service. “We even sang two hymns that we had 45 years ago in the U.K. when I was baptized and confirmed.”

For Margaret Anthony, a fellow parishioner, the “celebration service was topnotch! It was a joyful experience made even more so by the attendance of so many familiar faces from the past. I was particularly moved by Tabea [Silverthorne]’s confirmation. It reminded me of my confirmation in May 2022, which I considered to be a huge step in claiming publicly and proudly that I am a Christian.”

In gratitude for their past service, two former incumbents and their spouses were honoured through the rededication of different areas of the church building. The late Canon Rick Marples and his wife Judy were honoured with the rededication of the parish nursery in their name, while Canon John and Gayle Bridges were honoured with the rededication of the parish chapel in theirs. Both couples were instrumental in the parish’s growth over the past three decades.

The service also celebrated the parish’s history with an extensive display of photographs and other artifacts from the church’s past and with greetings shared from past clergy. “I was here when they broke ground for this church,” said Bishop Peter Coffin (ret.). “This has always been a faithful and a passionate congregation, and so you built a new church.”

Parishioner Heather Colls agreed, noting the church’s involvement with the Kanata Food Cupboard (KFC) as an example. Founded in 1985, “it started actually as an inter-church council referral line. We wanted the community to tell us what they wanted or needed,” she said. With the volume of grocery requests going up dramatically, St. Paul’s partnered with other local churches to start a food bank in the church’s basement. It remained there until the Food Bank outgrew the space in 2020. Heather still coordinates the St. Paul’s contingent of volunteers who help at the KFC’s new space.

St. Paul’s plans to keep up an emphasis on the parish’s history over the coming year with a number of events and pictorial displays.

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