Archbishop Shane Parker graciously took time a few weeks after his installation as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada to reflect on his time as Bishop of Ottawa and election as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada with Perspective :
How are you navigating this change?
One of the peculiar things about the office of Primate is that you’re quickly elected and installed, and you’re it right away. For me, as everybody knows, this was not something that I had intended to have happen and then in the mix of the Holy Spirit and the election it came to me, and so very quickly I went from not being in and believing I shouldn’t be in, to being in, and two days later, it happened…. On the Monday, the day after I was installed, I stopped by Church House to begin the onboarding, after a meeting early that morning to be briefed…. And so, for the last three short weeks, I have essentially been holding two offices, managing both.
Having been approached many times in the months leading up to General Synod and the election, you were aware that you could still become a candidate?
During the Eucharist that morning, I just had this sense of “I don’t know if I can resist this,” and a deep sense that “it’s not my decision to make anymore. I need to allow whatever will happen,” not knowing that there would be a call from the floor. …The bishops were cloistered, and then when the motion came for more names, that was really the moment of relinquishing. It was not a joyful moment, it was just a profound moment of finally letting go. I think when we let go and allow ourselves to follow God or to respond to a call, there’s a sense of having crossed a threshold from spending a lot of energy resisting to just almost being freed in a way. …And, at some level, I knew it was going to happen without knowing it was going to happen. I think that’s what discernment is all about. You almost see the thing unfolding. And I was very much at peace during that time.
Do you see parallels with your election as bishop here?
I had the privilege of being in our diocese for a long time, being in senior leadership for almost 25 years as the executive archdeacon, or diocesan archdeacon as I was known, and as the dean. ….I had a pretty good sense for where our Diocese was at and what it was ready for and capable of, and so, I didn’t come to it confused about what I was called to do. In the roadshow, as we affectionately call [great chapter meetings] in the election, I was very clear about what I would do. And I did what I was said I was going to do. The pandemic made it challenging in some ways. On the other hand, not much else was happening. And we did a lot of work, even during lockdown. People are wise. The people of our diocesan church know what’s going on, they were well-aware something needed to happen and were primed for change. It was a matter of creating a vehicle for that to be expressed and then leading through it with many, many people alongside.
So, there was a sense of rightness about being elected when I was 62 at the end of a career. I was thankful to be called then because of all the things I was able to bring to it. And oddly enough, I feel that same sense of rightness growing in me with respect to this new position. I understand why God has called me to this at this time. And the way I’m wired seems to be aligned with where our national church is at in much the same way it was with our diocesan church.
You have been very focused on seeing our Diocese through that process of change. Are you concerned about its implementation going forward?
I have to say that I was not concerned about our Diocese in those moments of relinquishing and being elected. And every day since then, that belief has been validated. We have so many skilled people who have been part of the last five years, and our Diocese is in very good shape, and frankly, I think one of the reasons why people may have been interested in me is because our Diocese has such a good reputation. We have addressed a number of the big issues together, and that’s been a strength of our Diocese. And without getting too far ahead, many of those things are precisely what needs to be addressed in terms of the national church as an organization, not so much the dioceses, although most dioceses need to face the same questions….
The Learning Commons and our triennial cycle … are underway, but they’re not firmly landed yet. I believe that our Diocese is aware of the importance of those two things, … so the steering of those for the next half year or so, absent a bishop…, will be where the lay and ordained leadership of our Diocese will need to bring them forward….The approach that we’ve taken, that I’ve tried to lift up, is we have tremendous talent across our diocesan church. [Similarly,] there’s tremendous talent across the national church. It’s not possible for Ascension House or Church House to make enough hires to equal that talent, so it comes back to that convening and coordinating and communicating role [outlined in the Pathways document approved by General Synod as the way forward for change.]
In many ways what we have done is really kind of classic cultural change in an organization. You consult, you listen, you build consensus, you articulate proposals, you refine them, and then you implement them…. People often underestimate the degree of difficulty and the depth of change. Often [people think], ‘We’ll just do a few little operational things, or we need a new strategy,’ when in fact we actually have to change the way we think about ourselves, and that change will result in changes to the other things.
Are we there yet, in terms of changing the way we in the diocese think?
One of the best sorts of evaluations of leadership is when you leave. And what I sense is that the changes that we have undertaken together are firmly embedded in the culture of our Diocese. Not everywhere uniformly, but I think in the principal clusters of leadership, there’s a sense in which we have parish ministries, we have community ministries, clergy are priests of the Diocese. We can largely resource our central operations independently from relying on parishes for that money. We leverage all the assets and so on in order to make Ascension House as self-funding as possible to leave more money for ministry and parishes, to have more money for the core ministries of the community ministries. So, I think that way of thinking, it’s not just language when we say our diocesan church, the church is the Diocese and it has parishes. That awareness of the whole, that sense in which … we are much stronger when we don’t “other” one another or other our central office or other the bishop. There’s a sense in which we’re journeying through time together and we have so much we can offer to one another. And yes, it needs to be the highest standards of not-for-profit governance. [The image of the church as a stained-glass window offered by theologian Henry Chadwick] I think is extremely powerful. We have paid attention to the oak and iron where it was needed, and we’ve placed the glass in the frame in a way that it’s ready to shine. And we just need to turn it towards the light a bit.
Can experiences in this Diocese serve the national church?
There is no program staff in Ascension House. It is all enabling and serving staff, people who keep the connections, who serve and support our ministries, who enable people to share their gifts, so I think that model has a lot of merit, and I believe that’s a proper use of the national function, the office of the Primate even, to convene, to coordinate, to communicate, very important. The Pathways document is an extremely astute. The fact that it received over 90% approval means that there is a will to implement it and that’s not lost on me….
We’re a diocesan church with parish communities and community ministries, and the national church is a collection of 30 dioceses, and it’s the body that, on the one hand, is the “parliament” that gathers every three years. But it’s also a national not-for-profit organization that’s designed to serve the church. And like a lot of organizations, over the years, there was mission creep. And in the times of largesse in the ‘60s, it grew. We’re not there now, and we need to understand, as the Pathways say, if our core purpose is to convene, to communicate and to coordinate, what falls under those categories in terms of what we have been doing, what doesn’t and what we need to do, so there will be deep change.
I have three years. This is a finite term with an unambiguous mandate. What we did in our diocese during the Shape of Parish Ministry Consultation has already been done. The consulting has been done, the consensus has been built. We now need to kind of faithfully operationalize those six pathways,. to create a provisional structure to steer change, to staff it, and sort out the sequence of change and work in six different pods or teams to bring about as much change as possible, leading to the next General Synod, where many of those changes would be ratified. Having said that, there are lots of ways to gain approval between General Synods. The Council of General Synod is one. It is also possible to convene a General Synod between General Synods if necessary, so there are many tools which I’m anxious to explore and to use. But the principle we observed of lots of consultation, lots of iteration before we land will continue. Things will be tested and shaped and refined.
What were some of the highlights of your years as bishop?
Without exception, every parish visit was a highlight. I began this journey the day after the world shut down and the early months starting with the very unusual consecration being seen by more people than most consecrations but having only five people in the room at the time.
I don’t know how it came into my head but the idea of ADOn The Move, the podcast, that was very special because it wasn’t about me. It was me talking to people across our diocese. And I think it allowed people to see me not as the bishop, but as a person who really loves the people of God. It was a lot of work and could not be sustained once the pandemic ended, but those 15 episodes remain quite precious… So that was a wonderful way to share the scope of our Diocese with one another. I enjoyed that very much.
And our Synods where we had those remarkable moments of unanimously or overwhelmingly approving the proposals emerging from the Shape of Parish Ministry Consultation. That represented the culmination of us working together in a way that is rare. Those moments when virtually every hand in the room approved of those three proposals, that was very powerful and very meaningful, because it spoke to the excellent leadership that had been given by many, many clergy and lay leaders to bring that about. That was special. And it’s been five years, almost precisely five years, funnily enough, of pure joy. I’ve always felt thankful.
Your time as Bishop of Ottawa will wrap up with a worship service of thanksgiving on September 20. What’s the plan for that service?
Our experience here was very positive and something that’s very important to me as I leave, is that we celebrate our five years together as bishop, clergy and people. It’s not a celebration of me and my ministry. On September 20th when we meet, it will be very much the story and celebration of our time together, because that’s what matters. A bishop is a servant leader, is a facilitator, lifts up the body and its parts and enables them to grow into the full stature of Christ, and that’s very important.
Tell me about the idea for the Hearts of Compassion Fund, which will support our Community Ministries?
The ministry that we’ve shared in the last five years is our story, our history, our collective legacy. Often when a priest leaves a parish or a bishop leaves, there’s a wish on the part of people to somehow express thanks, and I do not want to gain materially from that thanks. We walk alongside the most vulnerable people in our communities, and I want our thanksgiving for our time together to be expressed as compassion and love for those who live precariously that we care for in many, many ways. And so that fund is an expression of our collective thanksgiving for the journey we have had together.
And it is to remember the poor, to remember the children of God that Jesus calls us to walk with.
What are your prayers for our diocese?
I pray for our Diocese in the sense that I hold it with affection, with love, and with much hope in my heart. I pray that what we have enjoyed together continues to be felt and flourishes as the life of our Diocese goes on. It was my joy to be in every parish in our diocese, at least once during my time, and to feel our diocesan church from the level of some of the smallest congregations, and the life and love that’s in their communities, to the feeling of our Synod achieving consensus, is a remarkable and privileged place for a bishop, and I hope that deep sense of connectedness is something that’s felt by everyone as we go forward.
To honour and celebrate Bishop Shane’s dedication and service, our diocese is establishing the Hearts of Compassion Fund to reflect his commitment to enabling our church to serve the most vulnerable members of society. Donations to the Hearts of Compassion Fund will be distributed annually amongst the Community Ministries of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa as they continue to provide loving service, friendship, and support to people who live precariously and suffer.
St. Stephen’s, Ottawa — Deanery of Central Ottawa