New Anglican primate ready to implement change

Winnipeg Free Press

02-08-2025

'I want to see it thrive, to be an enlivened church. I want it to be a church that lifts the spirits of everyone.' That's the message Shane Parker, the new primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, wants to share with members of that denomination.
Parker, 67, formerly the bishop of Ottawa, was elected primate on June 26 at the church's 44th General Synod in London.
As head of the church, Parker will be expected to put into effect a mandate to implement changes in the church, which has an estimated 300,000 members in 1,500 parishes.
He has accepted that mandate. 'There is a profound need for change,' he said about the situation facing the church, which had about 1.2 million members in 1,800 parishes 60 years ago.
Parker, who grew up in Alberta and has served as bishop in Ottawa since 2020, said the church still has a mentality similar to what it was like in the 1950s and 60s, a highwater mark for the denomination.
'Back then, the idea was if you build it, they will come,' he said of how parishes were burgeoning with children and families as a result of the post-war baby boom. But, he said, 'we live in a different time today.'
That reality was underscored by recent statistics about the church that show a 12 per cent decrease in the total number of members on parish rolls between 2019-22. During that time, there was also a 26 per cent decrease in average Sunday attendance and a 17 per cent decrease in givers.
Along with that, there has also been a drop in the number of people attending services on major holy days in that time frame — a 45 per cent decline in Easter attendance and 47 per cent for Christmas. There were also 25 per cent fewer baptisms.
To deal with the situation, the church's General Synod adopted six 'pathways' for change at its General Synod. They are to reduce the size of the church's organizational structure; review the work and staffing levels of the national church; find ways to be more inclusive and diverse in decision making; examine the current model of communications; better define the partnership with the Indigenous Anglican church; and review ways the church can better do ministry in remote northern communities.
For Parker, this will mean 'deep changes in our culture, in our structures, in our operations, in the way we behave and how we speak of ourselves and how we speak of our church and how we speak to one another.'
One thing Parker wants to do is remove barriers between church structures and members. Using the idea of insulation in a house, he said it can have a positive effect by keeping out the heat and cold. But it can also be negative if it insulates people from each other.
His goal in the three years he will be primate — the leader of the Anglican Church of Canada must retire at age 70 — is to remove any insulation that has built up over time that prevents members of the church from actively engaging each other and the world around them.
'We need to feel the cold and the heat and the wind and the fire. We need to understand our context without the insulation that has built up over so many years … so we can feel and hear one another and so we can have the courage to be the church we must be at this point in time,' he said.
That will mean finding ways to help the Anglican Church leave the past behind and adapt to life in the 21st-century. 'The glory days of Anglicanism in Canada are the past,' he said. 'We have become self-referential, insulated from our new context, riding the memory of our historical privilege.'
He intends to implement the six pathways for change 'faithfully, efficiently and rapidly,' he said, adding he wants to help Anglicans 'change their sense of who we are … we need a cultural change in how we see ourselves in today's context.'
For him that means accepting the church's smaller role in Canada and, at the same time, having 'a humble confidence that we have something to share with society.'
Among the things Anglicans can share with society are the church's core Gospel values of peace, justice, care for the vulnerable, serving the common good and care for creation. These are, he said, 'values that resonate with many Canadians today.'
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At the same time, Parker is interested in pursuing deeper ecumenical and interfaith relations. 'There is common ground,' he said of ways Anglicans can work with other faith groups.
He also wants to promote a message of welcome for all in the church, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, along with building deeper relations with Indigenous people.
Parker also indicated the church needs to show support for people suffering in Gaza This is something he signalled following his election, when he wore a stole bearing a pattern of Jerusalem crosses.
The Hamas attack on Israel was 'heinous,' he said, noting that Israel has a right to defend itself. 'But the actions of the Israeli government are out of proportion to the attack,' he stated, resulting in an 'obscene loss of life … the proportionality must be called into question.'
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John LonghurstFaith reporter
John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.
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