Slideshow image

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Zion. As for our harps, we hung them up on the trees in the midst of that land.

For those who led us away captive asked us for a song, and our oppressors called for mirth: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

How shall we sing the Lord's song upon an alien soil?
PSALM 137:1-4
 

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY-DESIGNATE

 

Bishop Townshend joins with our Primate, Archbishop Shane Parker, and the rest of Anglican Church of Canada in rejoicing at the appointment of the Bishop of London, the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBC, as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Archbishop-Designate will legally assume the role at the end of January 2026 and will be installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury in March 2026. 

Additional information may be found at https://www.anglicancommunion.org/communications/announcing-the-next-archbishop-of-canterbury.aspx.

Parishes may wish to add  “Archbishop of Canterbury-Designate Sarah” to the list of bishops for whom we pray.
 

CONSECRATION

Bishop Townshend will preside at a service of Consecration for St. James’, Ingersoll, 130 Thames Street South, Ingersoll ON, N5C 2T4, on All Saints Sunday, 2 November 2025, at 2:00 p.m.

There will be a time of fellowship, with light refreshments, after the service. Clergy are invited to vest, the colour being white.
 




DECONSECRATION

Bishop Townshend will preside at a service of Deconsecration for St. Matthew’s, Florence, 6219 Fansher Rd, Florence ON  N0P 1R0, at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, 26 October 2025.
 

RETIREMENT

The Reverend Canon Steve Harnadek will conclude his post-retirement appointment as Associate Priest of the new parish in Sarnia at the end of October. 

We thank him for his ministry and wish him well in his actual retirement.  
 

APPOINTMENTS

 

Bishop Townshend announces that the Reverend Diana Boland, having successfully completed her curacy, has now been appointed the Vicar of St. James’, St. Marys, St. Paul’s, Stratford, St. Stephen’s, Stratford, and St. James’, Stratford, with primary responsibility for St. James’, St. Marys, effective 5 October 2025.
 


Bishop Townshend appoints the Reverend Patrick Martin as the Rector of Old St. Paul’s, Woodstock; St. John’s, Eastwood; Christ Church, Oxford Centre; and St. Paul’s, Princeton, effective 1 November 2025.
 

Bishop Townshend appoints the Reverend Thomas Stradwick as the Rector of St. John’s, Tillsonburg, effective 1 November 2025. Tom is currently the Incumbent of St. Peter's on the Rock, Kirkland Lake, and the Incumbent of St Mark's, Iroquois Falls (Diocese of Moosonee).
 

Bishop Townshend appoints the Reverend Gilles Haché as the Chaplain to Lay Readers, effective 1 October 2025.

 
 

Bishop Townshend announces that the following will be called to the Presbyterate at a service of Ordination to be held on the Commemoration of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, Tuesday, 18 November 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London.  

Clergy are invited to vest, the colour being red.

  • The Reverend Allison Agius

    Curate to the Rector of St. John’s, Windsor (Sandwich)

     

  • The Reverend Tianna Gocan

    Curate to the Rector of St. James’, Stratford, St. Paul’s, Stratford, St. Stephen’s, Stratford, and St. James’, St. Marys, with primary responsibility for St. James’, Stratford

     

  • The Reverend Maya-Melé Okazaki

    upon ordination, Priest Assistant to the Priest-in-Charge of the Rondeau Bay-Transfiguration Partnership Ministry

     

  • The Reverend Gerard Phillips

    upon ordination, Priest Assistant to the Rector of All Saints, Windsor

     

  • The Reverend Janet Ternes,

    Curate to the Rector of St James’, Paris.

Please hold our ordinands in your prayers as they prepare for ordination to the ministerial priesthood.
 

MEETINGS / EVENTS

Monday-Tuesday: Archdeacons' Residential
Wednesday: Church House Staff Meeting
Thursday: HR Committee, Doctrine & Worship Committee
Sunday: Bishop's Visit - St. James, Brantford - 140th Anniversary