Mark MacDonald (bishop)

Last updated

Mark MacDonald
Former National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop
National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald (cropped).jpg
Church Anglican Church of Canada
In office2007–2022
Other post(s) WCC President for North America (2013–present)
Bishop of Alaska, Episcopal Church (1997–2007)
Orders
Ordination1 August 1979
by  Robert Marshall Anderson
Consecration13 September 1997
by  Edmond L. Browning
Laicized 20 April 2022
Personal details
Born
Mark Lawrence MacDonald

(1954-01-15) 15 January 1954 (age 69)
Denomination Anglicanism

Mark Lawrence MacDonald (born 15 January 1954) is a former Anglican bishop in the United States and Canada. From 2007 to 2022, he served as the National Indigenous Anglican Bishop (Archbishop, from 2019) for the Anglican Church of Canada; [1] as such, he had pastoral oversight over all indigenous Canadian Anglicans. In April 2022, he resigned and relinquished his ministry following acknowledged sexual misconduct. [2]

Contents

MacDonald previously served in the Episcopal Church in the United States as Bishop of Alaska (1997 to 2007) and as assistant bishop of the Navajoland Area Mission (2007 to 2009).

Ordained ministry

Episcopal ministry

MacDonald was consecrated as a bishop on 13 September 1997. [3] From 1997 to 2007, he was Bishop of Alaska in the Episcopal Church. [4] [5] In 2006, it was announced that he had been appointed assistant bishop of the Navajoland Area Mission, and he was affirmed in that appointment in 2007. [6] He held the appointment co-currently with his Canadian bishopric until his term as assistant bishop ended in 2009. [7]

In January 2007, it was announced that he would become the first National Indigenous Anglican Bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada. [8] He took up the appointment on 22 June 2007. [6] His post was elevated to the status of an archbishopric in 2019. [9] He was also the World Council of Churches (WCC) president for North America from 2013. [3]

MacDonald resigned as archbishop and relinquished his ministry following allegations of acknowledged sexual misconduct in April 2022. [10] In a statement to the Anglican Journal, Archbishop Linda Nicholls clarified that the misconduct did not involve allegations of criminal behavior. [11]

Personal life

On 11 November 1989, MacDonald married Virginia Sha Lynn. [4] Together, they have three children: two daughters and one son. [4]

MacDonald is classified as a non-status Indian in Canada. [12] He has native ancestry through both his parents. [13]

Honours

In February 2013, MacDonald was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his "spiritual leadership while serving Aboriginal communities and his contributions to environmental awareness of Canadians". [13]

In March 2022, MacDonald was awarded the Archbishop of Canterbury's Cross of St Augustine "for outstanding service to support the Communion’s role in creation care and climate justice, including the voice of Indigenous peoples". In May 2022, Lambeth Palace confirmed that this award had been withdrawn, following an April 2022 announcement of acknowledged sexual misconduct by MacDonald and his resignation and relinquishment of ministry. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambeth Conference</span> Assembly of Anglican bishops

The Lambeth Conference is a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place at Lambeth in 1867.

Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." "Church of England clergy have appeared to signal support for gay marriage after they rejected a bishops' report which said that only a man and woman could marry in church." At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."

Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or dogma, but may also be done at their request for personal reasons, such as running for civil office, taking over a family business, declining health or old age, desire to marry against the rules for clergy in a particular church, or an unresolved dispute. The form of the procedure varies according to the Christian denomination concerned.

The Continuing Anglican movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East</span> Anglican church organization

The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion. The primate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the international Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Central Synod of the church is its deliberative and legislative organ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church of Australia</span> Church of the Anglican Communion

The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. As of 2016, the Anglican Church of Australia had more than 3 million nominal members and 437,880 active baptised members. For much of Australian history since the arrival of the 'First Fleet' in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church of Canada</span> Church organization in Canada

The Anglican Church of Canada is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is l'Église anglicane du Canada. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,206 congregations, organized into 1,571 parishes. The 2021 Canadian census counted 1,134,315 self-identified Anglicans, making the Anglican Church the third-largest Canadian church after the Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada. The 2021 Canadian census counted more than 1 million self-identified Anglicans, remaining the third-largest Canadian church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Catholic Church</span> Continuing Anglican denomination

The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), also known as the Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province), is a body of Christians in the continuing Anglican movement, which is separate from the Anglican Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (and symbolically and ceremonially, by the British monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England). This denomination is separate from the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Te Pīhopatanga o Te Tairāwhiti</span>

Te Pihopatanga o Te Tairāwhiti is an Episcopal polity of Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia in Tairāwhiti.

The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in North America</span> Anglican realignment province

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 977 congregations and 124,999 members in 2022. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.

Terence Edward Finlay was a Canadian Anglican bishop. He served as Metropolitan of Ontario and Archbishop of Toronto from 2000 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Diocese of Alaska</span> Diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States

The Episcopal Diocese of Alaska is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the state of Alaska. Established in 1895, it has the largest geographical reach of any diocese in the Episcopal Church, with approximately 6,000 members spread across 46 congregations. It is in Province 8. It has no cathedral and the diocesan offices are located in Fairbanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navajoland Area Mission</span> Area mission of the Episcopal Church in the United States

The Navajoland Area Mission, also known as the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, is an Area Mission of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is in Province 8 and its diocesan offices are located in Farmington, New Mexico.

The Anglican Church of Canada is the third largest church in Canada, after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada. After many years of debate, the first blessing of a same-sex partnership took place in 2003, by the Diocese of New Westminster, in Vancouver. This was not considered a marriage ceremony, but rather a blessing of "permanent and faithful commitments" between persons of the same sex.

Barry Valentine was bishop of the Diocese of Rupert's Land in the Anglican Church of Canada from 1970 to 1982. Valentine's episcopacy was "transformational and visionary."

Robert Hardwick is a retired bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. He served as the 12th Bishop of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle, which covers much of the southern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Originally from England, he and his family moved to Canada in 2001, where he became parish priest at St Stephen the Martyr, Swift Current, Saskatchewan. In 2008 he was appointed executive archdeacon for the diocese and in 2012 he was elected Bishop of Qu'Appelle at an electoral synod. He retired in 2021.

St. Martin's Cathedral is a pro-cathedral of the Diocese of Central Newfoundland, a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada, in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. St. Martin's was established as a parish church in 1959 and was elevated as a pro-cathedral after Gander became the episcopal see of the diocese after it, the Diocese of Western Newfoundland, and the Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador were split from the former Diocese of Newfoundland in 1976. The current dean of the cathedral is David Hewitt. The cathedral hosts ordinations and the diocesan synods.

Trevor Walters is a British-born Canadian bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. From 2009 to 2021, he was suffragan bishop with responsibility for western Canada in the Anglican Network in Canada. As a priest in the Diocese of New Westminster in the early 2000s, Walters played a major role in the Anglican realignment in Canada.

References

  1. "Biography: Bishop Mark L. MacDonald". Anglican Church of Canada. The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  2. "Public Announcement of the Resignation of Archbishop Mark MacDonald". 20 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Assembly elects new WCC presidents". World Council of Churches. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Biography: Bishop Mark L. MacDonald". Anglican Church of Canada. The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. 4 January 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  5. "CANADA: Mark MacDonald begins ministry as first national indigenous bishop". The Episcopal Church. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. 7 September 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  6. 1 2 Snyder, Dick (18 June 2007). "Mark MacDonald affirmed as bishop for Navajoland Area Mission". The Episcopal Church. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  7. "Navajoland convocation approve plan for September election". Church of St. Matthew. Episcopal Diocese of Arizona. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  8. "Primate presents Bishop of Alaska as new National Indigenous Anglican Bishop for Anglican Church of Canada". Anglican Church of Canada. The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. 4 January 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  9. "Biography: Archbishop Mark L. MacDonald". The Anglican Church of Canada. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  10. "Public Announcement of the Resignation of Archbishop Mark MacDonald". 20 April 2022.
  11. Matthew, Puddister (20 April 2022). "National Indigenous archbishop resigns after sexual misconduct allegations". Anglican Journal. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  12. Sison, Marites N. (1 February 2007). "National native bishop named". Anglican Journal. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  13. 1 2 Sison, Marites N. (1 February 2013). "Canada: Bishop Mark MacDonald to receive Queen's Jubilee Medal". Episcopal News Service. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  14. Matthew, Puddister (16 May 2022) [31 March 2022]. "Lambeth honours 3 Canadians; Macdonald's prize revoked". Anglican Journal.