Email to Friend
Mark MacDonald installed as Canada's first National Indigenous Anglican Bishop
The new bishop received a standing ovation following the ceremony during the Anglican Church's General Synod, which is meeting June 19-25.
Canadian Primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, described how the appointment came out of a proposal of the 2005 Anglican Indigenous Sacred Circle and was quickly supported by all the bishops in the circle. It was a turning point in a long road that had begun 39 years before.
And "the Lord had someone ready for us in Mark MacDonald, Bishop of Alaska and of Navajoland," said Hutchison.
As well as crossing Canadian diocesan jurisdictions, MacDonald, in his new position, will straddle national and ecclesiastical boundaries as well. Although he has resigned as Bishop of Alaska, he was affirmed June 18 in his role as Bishop of Navajoland Area Mission, which was carved out of parts of the Dioceses of Utah, Arizona and Rio Grande. He has served as bishop of the Diocese of Alaska since 1997, and his duties there will cease at the end of July.
The Canadian appointment, MacDonald said, was a tremendous honor and a very important "beginning moment."
Influenced by his grandmother, who was Canadian, and by the elders, he said one role model was Suffragan Bishop Charles J. Arthurson of Saskatechewan, who 20 years ago became the first indigenous bishop in the Canadian church and a trailblazer.
One of the worst things that can happen to a person, MacDonald said, is to be an alien in his or her own country. "It's so hard to endure that experience." The results are very clear among natives -- the deaths of young people, despair and hopelessness.
MacDonald hopes to travel across Canada to native groups to listen and learn. "We are at a moment of great challenge and great opportunity," he said.
Earlier tributes were paid to Arthurson, who is retiring as he approaches 70 early next month.
Bishop Anthony Burton of Saskatchewan said Charles was a pioneer of aboriginal ministry in Canada on becoming the first native bishop "on aboriginal terms."
Archbishop John R. Clarke, Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, said Charles earned his spurs in Rupert's Land and in the House of Bishops. There was no doubt about his opinions, he added.
Arthurson said he has served his diocese for 48 years, being ordained a priest 24 hours after becoming a deacon because there was a shortage of priests at that time.
As someone who "thinks in Cree and thinks in English," he said his becoming a bishop was a new venture 20 years ago, opening the way to more indigenous bishops.
MacDonald, 52, becomes a rarity in Anglican tradition -- a bishop who is pastor to a group of people irrespective of where they live, rather than to residents of a geographic diocese. In Canada, only the Bishop Ordinary to the Armed Forces, with pastoral oversight of Anglicans serving in the Armed Forces, is in an analogous position, according to a news release from the Church announcing Hutchison's choice.
MacDonald told ENS after his appointment that "the most important thing to remember is that aboriginal authority and identity is based on a living relationship with the land."
"It is that relationship that is the hallmark of what we might call catholic jurisdiction," he said. "It's that distinction which makes this quite a bit different than simply saying 'well, we'd like to do it better our way' or 'we have an ideological concern we want to give expression to.'"
His formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies and Psychology from the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota; a Master of Divinity degree from Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and post-graduate work at Luther-Northwestern Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He has held parochial positions in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Duluth; Tomah and Mauston, Wisconsin; Portland, Oregon; and the Southeast Regional mission of Navajoland. Immediately prior to his ordination to the episcopate, MacDonald was Canon Missioner for Training in the Diocese of Minnesota and vicar of St. Antipas' Church, Redby, and St. John-in-the-Wilderness Church, Red Lake, Red Lake Nation.
He and his wife, Virginia Sha Lynn, have three children.
More biographical information about MacDonald is available here.
» Respond to this article
2007
Search
Browse by Topic:
Multimedia »