Carole Breton, who was hired as director of Communications and Development in April, introduced herself and highlighted some of the work of the department.

Sharing stories, information and connecting Anglicans through the digital and print newspaper, social media, and other platforms

Populating the Learning Commons platform on the diocesan website

Working with the Synod Secretaries to prepare for the episcopal election

Hosting the Anglican Editors Association annual conference in May 2026 with the Primate as guest speaker

Launching the Hearts of Compassion Fund as a successor to the past Today for Tomorrow campaign to raise funds for the Community Ministries

Noting that one of the key triennium priorities is that the diocesan staff will provide increased assistance and support to parish leaders, Ms. Breton introduced the directors at Ascension House and encouraged people throughout the diocese to reach out and call Ascension House when they need support and advice in their ministries and work.

Stewardship

Carole Breton said she is making efforts to visit parishes and get to know their unique contexts. She recommended drawing on the Stewardship Resource Hub for guidance and expertise. The members serving with her are Derwyn Sangster from St. Thomas the Apostle, who is also the chair of the Stewardship Resource Hub; Barb Dransch from St. John the Evangelist, Ottawa; and the Rev. Jonathan Askwith from St. Clare, Winchester. “Together we are here to listen, to support, and to help shape stewardship initiatives that are grounded in real life of our parishes, of your own reality.”

She encouraged everyone to benefit from the resources available to all parishes in the diocese through the partnership with The Episcopal Network for Stewardship.

Financial Update

Sanjay Grover, director of Financial Ministry, said the 2024 audit had been completed with total assets increased to $155 million from $139 million in 2023. He noted that property sales including that of St. Martin’s Church in Ottawa had increased revenue.

In keeping with the strategic plan, Parish Proportional Share decreased from about 20% to 12%.

One area of concern were deficits in the Community Ministries for Belong Ottawa and Centre 105 in 2024 amounting to about $700,000 combined. Belong Ottawa was able to cover much of its deficit with some reserve funds, and the diocese covered the remainder from its reserves. Grover said that the new management team at Belong Ottawa has done a lot of work to stabilize the situation and is now anticipating a small surplus with hopes to start building up a reserve again. Centre 105 in Cornwall’s deficit was smaller, but the program and needs of the community that it serves are growing, so they are looking for new ways to help break even, Grover said.

Community Ministries Update

The Rev. Canon Peter John Hobbs, director general of the Community Ministries, offered a brief overview of the many essential and compassionate services the five community ministries — Belong Ottawa, Centre 105, Cornerstone Housing for Women, The Ottawa Pastoral Counselling Centre, and the Refugee Ministry Office — provide to some of the most vulnerable people in our midst.

Addressing the deficits referred to in the financial update to Synod, he noted that Belong Ottawa’s new executive director Shauna-marie Young inherited the deficit when she was hired. Under her leadership and that of director of operations Michael Howard many of the problems have been rectified. Hobbs shared the good news that:

• An accurate costing of Belong Ottawa operations led to a much more robust funding agreement with the City of Ottawa.
• Fundraising and donor development has been prioritized and the annual fundraising goal for 2025 has been already surpassed.
• And there is hope that the creation of the Hearts of Compassion Fund in support of the Community Ministries established by Archbishop Shane Parker this summer will rekindle the support previously received through the Today for Tomorrow campaign.

Hobbs said that Centre 105’s deficit, though smaller, is as concerning.  Contributing factors were cost overruns in a capital project to construct showers and washrooms, a change in United Way funding that meant a $30,000 reduction in funding, and an exponential increase in demand for services among the people Centre 105 serves. Currently, the City of Cornwall does not provide core funding the way the City of Ottawa does for Belong Ottawa and Cornerstone but talks with the city council are ongoing. Monica Patten, Chair of the Community Ministries Committee, is leading a task force exploring ways to make Centre 105’s important ministry in Cornwall sustainable.

“We know God calls us to this work, these ministries. We know we are invited to follow Jesus. We know we are to use our gifts, resources to bring something of God’s infinite compassion to bear upon this world,” said Hobbs.

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 At the opening of the sessions on Oct. 24, Dean Beth Bretzlaff introduced and thanked Bishop Michael Bird for serving as Diocesan Administrator until a newly elected bishop is installed in May 2026. L to R: Synod Secretaries Margaret Porter and the Rev. Canon Stephen Silverthorne; Bishop Michael Bird; Dean Beth Bretzlaff and Chancellor Canon Henry Schultz.

A greeting from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem

The Very Rev. Richard Sewell, Dean of St. George’s College in Jerusalem, sent a video greeting. He thanked the people of the diocese for their love, prayers and advocacy during these last two years of war and trauma and thanked God for the ceasefire at that time.

“The ending of the terrible destruction, the decimation, the loss of tens of thousands of lives is one thing and a very important thing, but actually so much more needs to be done to bring that elusive peace which everybody here so desperately needs.” Dean Sewell added a wish for God’s blessing for the Diocese of Ottawa.

“Our heartfelt love and prayers are with you as you enter into this period of your time of Synod fellowship together.”

Report from General Synod 2025

Diocesan representatives — Caroll Carkner, Kate Jordan, Katherine Spencer-Ross, the Rev. Matthew Brown, the Rev. Dr. Jon Martin and the Ven. Kathryn Otley— offered their observations and thoughts about attending the 44th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in London, Ont. in June.

The Ven. Kathryn Otley described her feelings about the primatial election as “shock and awe.” The shock came when the House of Bishops submitted Bishop Shane Parker’s name in response to a request for additional candidates after the second ballot and with his unexpected election. She said the awe came two days later at his very moving installation as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada when the Ottawa representatives were asked to participate by assisting Archbishop Parker as he vested for his new role.

Kate Jordan and the Rev. Canon Jon Martin, both attending General Synod for the first time, reported that although discussion among those attending did become passionate at times, the overall atmosphere was one in which people listened respectfully to each other and made efforts to incorporate the views and experience of others.

Episcopal Election news

 The Rev. Canon Stephen Silverthorne, Clerical Synod Secretary updated Synod on preparations for the episcopal election set for Feb. 28, 2026.

The Supplementary Nominations Committee, appointed by Diocesan Council and advised by the House of Bishops, can appoint one or two nominees who can be from other dioceses.

The Episcopal Elections Committee, chaired by the Synod Secretaries, is developing formal questions to be answered by all of the nominees.

In the weeks leading up to the election, four public meetings will be held different locations across the diocese as an opportunity for people to get to know the nominees. They will include a formal introduction, a question period and a reception. The meetings will also be live-streamed.

Applications are now available through a portal on the diocesan website. Nominations must be supported by at least five lay members of Synod and five clergy and be submitted by Jan. 24, 2026 for the candidate to take part in the public meetings. Additional applications can be accepted until the electoral synod is called to order on Feb. 28.

Who votes

• Diocesan Council members in 2025
• 10 retired clergy (chosen by the retired clergy of the diocese)
• Members of the 2025 Diocesan Synod, including active clergy and lay parish members

Voting is completed in successive rounds until one of the candidates receives a majority of votes in both orders (clergy and lay).

The new bishop will be consecrated at a service on May, 9, 2026.

Update on triennial cycle and current priorities

The Ven. Monique Stone chairs the Evaluation and Priority Setting Task Force, which includes the Rev. Michael Garner, Kate Jordan, the Ven. Brian Kauk, Alec Simpson and Jamie Tomlinson. Archdeacon Stone explained that they have been working “to design a way that we can evaluate the work that we’ve done over the last three years, and to review the impacts that have been made.” She explained that the review and assessment will then help “all of us to work together in developing priorities for our next triennium as well.”

In her presentation, Stone looked back to a previous strategic plan, Embracing God’s Future (2014), to see what goals and objectives were agreed upon by the diocesan church. Moving to more recent work, she gave an overview of the way the Shape of Parish Ministry Consultations, which began in 2020, led to a consensus at the 2022 Synod for three proposals, which developed into 11 actions supported at the 2023 Synod, and finally six desired results presented at the 2024 Synod (see graphic).

Archdeacon Stone encouraged everyone to “acknowledge the importance of all that we have done so far, and to recognize that this is the infrastructure of who we are as a diocese.

The task force has developed tools and processes for a review of the achievements, challenges, and remaining work of this 2024 -2026 triennium. They asked Synod members to discuss and offer ideas and feedback in writing.  Stone added that the task force will be “unfolding opportunities for all of us together to determine the priorities also for the 2027-2029 triennium that we will approve as a synod at next synod.”

Anglican Foundation of Canada

The Rev. Amy Hamilton, acting director of the Anglican Foundation of Canada, brought news of the foundation’s latest initiatives:

•   a new online application portal
•        new legacy giving resources
•        Category C grants of up to $50,000 for strategic, high-impact projects
•        Greater emphasis on funding community ministry projects
•        Growth of Say Yes to Kids — 30 teams raised $160,000 this year

Contextual Mission update

Archdeacon Mark Whittall, co-chair of the Contextual Mission Sub-Committee, reminded Synod of the goals envisioned at the 2023 Synod:

• By 2028, every parish in our diocese will be engaged in a new or renewed contextual mission initiative.

• By the 135th anniversary of our diocese, in 2032, we will have created 35 new worshipping communities.

One resource he recommended was a Certificate in Missional Leadership course offered in partnership with the Center for Missional Leadership in Vancouver, B.C. Five parishes in the diocese are currently participating.

Other presenters offered inspiration from their experiences:

• Carolyn Coffin-Caputo recommended a course on Reimaging Church from the Niagara School for Missional Leadership. And she described a hot lunch program that the Parish of the Lower Valley is just creating in Hawkesbury that will be served in the Church Hall.

• The Rev. Colin McFarland recommended a course on John Bowen’s book The Unfolding Gospel available on the Contextual Mission page of the diocesan website

• The Rev. John Holgate described popular monthly community gatherings and lunches held at St. James, Manotick

• The Rev. Dr. Thomas Brauer described the success and growth of a monthly games night at St. John’s, Smiths Falls

They offered information about how to apply for diocesan Future Fund grants to fund such ventures. (Watch for more in-depth stories on these experiences with contextual mission in upcoming issues of Perspective.)

 Learning Commons report

Caroll Carkner, chair of the Education Committee, reported that a great deal of progress had been made since the last Synod in developing Learning Commons resources, including several in-person training sessions for parish leaders held in several locations in the spring.

The Rev. Dr. Canon Jon Martin, co-chair of the Parish Development Sub-Committee, updated progress on the development of online resources. He noted that they decided to shift from offering introductory modules as videos to written materials because it is easier to update and add to written text and because video was difficult for people without reliable Internet service to access. An introduction to parish development is available, with two more modules on community and pastoral care to be posted soon.

The Rev. Simone Hurkmans, co-chair, introduced Synod members to the Thriving Parish Self-Assessment Tool, a questionnaire to help parishes decide what areas of parish life to prioritize [worship, spiritual growth, community, pastoral care, contextual mission, leadership & governance, financial stewardship and management, property management and maintenance.] She led Synod members through a test run of the tool so that they could guide their parishes through its use.

Motions presented

The All My Relations Panel drew Synod’s attention to the fact that 2025 marks the tenth year since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report. Following a short video with inspiration and challenges from the late Justice Murray Sinclair, AMR co-chair Kathryn Fournier introduced a motion calling on the Diocese to renew its commitment to ongoing education to ensure its members learn about the church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to former residential school students, their families, and communities were necessary. The motion carried with broad support.

The Rev. Canon Hilary Murray introduced a motion for the Diocese to support the UN Declaration for the Decade for People of African Descent being extended for a second decade. The motion carried.

Canon and bylaw amendments

Diocesan Chancellor Canon Henry Schultz led Synod members through numerous amendments to the canons and bylaws, including some updates to the governance of Community Ministries. All motions were carried.

Synod Reflector

The Rev. Canon Dr. Sarah Kathleen Johnson, director of Anglican Studies at Saint Paul University, offered three reflections for the 2025 Synod. Read more in our next issue.

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The Rev. Dr. Christopher Brittain, Dean of Divinity at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College and recently appointed diocesan Canon Theologian, offered the homily. He quoted from Archbishop Shane Parker’s charge opening the 2024 Synod. “We must always remember that God is already at work in the world, and our task is to participate in God’s work by listening in a new way to the Holy Spirit.” He noted that those who heard those words last year were not expecting the change that began when Archbishop Parker was elected to lead the Anglican Church of Canada.

“As you gather as a Synod to discern together what the Holy Spirit is calling you to do as a church in this geographical region of God’s creation during a period of change and transition, I will offer you three points that I think Scripture is suggesting to us tonight.”

First, be prepared to be redirected.

Second, accept that this is going to be disruptive, so we better talk about this honestly together.

And thirdly, stay rooted during this time in God.

Elaborating on the third point, he said: “This is how we are to live in this period of time here in this diocese. Like James at the Council of Jerusalem, by keeping ourselves in the words we’ve heard sung so beautifully from Psalm 1, like trees planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season. This is an image of resilience, of hope, of faith, of being able to withstand drought, withstand uncertainty, withstand frustration, due to remaining in intimate connection with God. Trust in God’s goodness, through prayer, through attention to the movement of the Spirit.”

He added, “I pray that during this Synod, we all might be sufficiently open to the Spirit that Christ can do many deeds of power in our midst or in what follows from the decisions that we make together.”

The service included the installations of the Rev. Canon Dr. Jon Martin to the Cathedral Canonry of St. James; the Rev. Dr. Christopher Brittain to the Cathedral Canonry of Saint Anselm of Canterbury and as Canon Theologian; and the Rev. Dr. Sarah Kathleen Johnson as an Honorary Canon. The Rev. Dr. Caz Ducros was commissioned as Regional Dean of West Quebec. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Brauer was commissioned as Regional Dean of the Southwest in absentia.

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As Bishop of Ottawa at the time, Parker noted “Canon Brittain is a respected scholar of our Church, with published research and expertise concerning relations within the global Anglican Communion, theological responses to crises, political theology, and ethics. He is resident in the Diocese of Toronto and has graciously consented to share his wisdom with our diocesan church when we require learned counsel on complex theological matters.”

Canon Brittain will be formally installed and offer the homily at the opening Eucharist service for the 145th Session of the diocesan Synod on Oct.23. He generously made time to meet with Perspective just as the new academic year was beginning.

How are things at the Faculty of Divinity this year? As the church shrinks is enrollment down?

The number of students applying for the Master of Divinity has been going down in North America for quite some time, for a decade at least, if not more. And that’s across the board, that’s not just at my college. Now, we’re still trying to figure out what the future is. This year, our student numbers are up….We’ve admitted more students to the MDiv this year than we have since I’ve been dean, and I’ve been dean eight years. I don’t quite know what to make of that. Is that a blip? Or is that a sign that the trend is not totally taking over? But certainly, one of the challenges I think most theological schools have is declining enrollment of some kind.

We do have one program at the Toronto School of Theology that’s increasing, but it’s not really preparing students for church ministry, it’s more preparing for them to work as chaplains in public health or as psychotherapists. That’s where, at the moment, there seems to be a growing interest among theological students, but who knows if that’s a momentary blip or going be a growing trend. But sure, there is an impact in slow shrinkage in church attendance and church membership, there’s going to be most likely a shrinkage in the number of students studying in theological programs proportionally.

Would you tell me a bit about Trinity’s Innovative Leadership for a Post-Christendom Church Ministry and its approach?

It’s a five-year program and we’re about halfway through it. We got a large grant to support it, and it has four components that are chiefly focused on training for church leadership. These focus on encouraging a more ‘missional’ and creative imagination among our students, supporting students new to the Anglican tradition, greater attention to issues of diversity and difference, and deepening spirituality for our students as they face the challenges of a rapidly changing society.…As we think about what the future of the church is and what the future needs in leadership will be, we don’t really know what the future will be. … In order for change to happen, we need to let some things go and we need to try new things, … alter or modify or even just ignore some former ways of doing things…. So, it’s sort of an experimental mentality that we’re trying to encourage.

Is decolonialization an element of that change?

That’s part of this project. A big piece of that is expanding the horizons of who is included in our imagination, in our practices in the church, and how we go about things. In one of our courses on issues of race and ethnicity, I have a guest come every year. She is a priest in Barbados, and she describes trying to be a priest in Toronto [15 or 20 years ago] and the politics of coffee hour. You don’t mess with the traditional coffee and cookies model even though it makes no sense from other cultures. If you’re from the Caribbean, you might want to have something else. She just described how that was not permissible….We don’t often recognize how rigid our way of being is at church, right? And the real sticky points are sometimes that mundane, … like what happens at coffee hour after church? We don’t realize how laden that is with tradition and ethnic assumptions and preferences and so on.”

Are there ways of preparing church leaders for ministry in a largely secular society that can also help renew the Church?

Absolutely, part of existing as a thriving, healthy church in a largely secular context, or part of our learning how to do that, is stop acting like we’re the norm. There’s been this sort of cultural presumption that what we do in church is largely an extension of the wider society or that the wider society is familiar with what we do, understands what we do, sometimes even appreciates what we do.

And it’s not imagining the secular society as somehow antagonistic to us, but we still presume that it understands us… And so part of nurturing a future not just church leadership, but also a way of being as a church is just being a little more focused on who we are, [and] … and being better at articulating our self-understanding and our values and what we think our mission is to people who aren’t very familiar with what we’re about. And that’s not been a skill set that we’ve really been teaching and encouraging.

And nor has it been up until recently where most of our students in theology come from. They’re coming from church contexts .. have largely been raised in the church and know the culture and are familiar with it, and so they’re not necessarily really equipped or used to or comfortable with explaining why they’re a Christian or an Anglican and why we do what we do to people who have no idea what we’re talking about.

In the past, you could assume most people had a basic knowledge of Christianity. Right, and increasingly that’s gone in our society, and increasingly my students showing up at Trinity College are relatively new Christians and even newer Anglicans.

So not cradle Anglicans anymore?

Exactly. We still have some of course, but more and more are not. And so that’s an interesting opportunity. It’s also like sort of a unique challenge too. Where do we start and what is our role in helping prepare them for life in the church and ministry in the church? …. They’ve got a different kind of learning curve than the students we’ve had in the past.

We’re looking forward to your visit to Ottawa and our Synod soon.

I’ve been to Ottawa many times. I have some family in Ottawa, and I have met students at Trinity from Ottawa, but I don’t know the diocese really well. I’m really looking forward to getting to know it better in its current challenges and gifts and hopes and vision.

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