Paul Donison

Last updated

Paul Donison
Rector and Dean of Christ Church Plano
Assistant Bishop of Gasabo
Dean Paul Donison.png
Church Anglican Church in North America
Anglican Church of Rwanda
Diocese Gasabo
Other post(s)Rector and Dean, Christ Church Plano (2016–present)
Gafcon General Secretary (2023–present)
Vicar General, Texas Deanery, Anglican Diocese of the South (2024–present)
Orders
ConsecrationFebruary 4, 2024
by  Laurent Mbanda
Personal details
Born1977 (age 4647)
Canada

Paul Donison (born 1977) is a Canadian-born American Anglican bishop. His primary role in ordained ministry is as rector and dean of Christ Church Plano, the largest church and provincial pro-cathedral of the Anglican Church in North America. Since 2024, he has also served as general secretary of Gafcon and assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Gasabo.

Contents

Early life and education

Donison was born in Canada and earned his B.F.A. in theatre from the University of Victoria. [1] After university, Donison worked as a professional actor, [2] including roles as Laertes in Hamlet [3] and Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet . [4] He later attended Regent College, where he received an M.Div. and a diploma in Christian studies. [1]

Ordained ministry

Donison began his ordained ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, serving in the Diocese of Fredericton and the Diocese of Ottawa. [2] In September 2009, as part of the broader Anglican realignment, Donison stepped down as rector of the combined South Dundas parish of St. James, Morrisburg, and Holy Trinity, Riverside Heights. He voluntarily relinquished his license in the Diocese of Ottawa and joined the Anglican Network in Canada. [5] He joined the staff of St. Peter and St. Paul's Anglican Church in Ottawa as associate priest for discipleship and became rector in 2012. [2] Donison was shortlisted for the role of bishop of Pittsburgh in March 2016. [6]

In 2016, Donison was elected to succeed the Rev. David Roseberry as the second rector of Christ Church in Plano, Texas, which was the largest church in the ACNA and host of the investiture of Archbishop Robert Duncan in 2009. After immigrating to the United States, Donison was formally installed by Archbishop Foley Beach and Bishop Todd Hunter in January 2017. [2]

Donison and Christ Church hosted the ACNA Provincial Assembly in 2019. In 2021, Christ Church was designated the provincial pro-cathedral for the ACNA. [7]

Global role

In 2023, Donison was elected general secretary of Gafcon, succeeding Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi. [8] The Gafcon Primates Council determined that "the role of general secretary was episcopal in nature," so Gafcon Chairman Laurent Mbanda consecrated Donison as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Gasabo on February 4, 2024, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kibagabaga, Kigali. [9] On February 17, Donison was invested as vicar general for the Texas deanery in the Anglican Diocese of the South in addition to continuing his role as dean and rector at Christ Church. [10]

Personal life

Donison is married to Monika; they have four children. [2] Donison is a board member at Trinity School for Ministry, where he pursued doctoral studies, and East African Christian College in Kigali. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Bangladesh</span> United Protestant Church in Bangladesh

The Church of Bangladesh is a united Protestant church formed by the union of various Protestant churches in Bangladesh, principally the Anglican and Presbyterian denominations. The Church of Bangladesh is a member of the Anglican Communion and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Duncan (bishop)</span> American Anglican bishop

Robert William Duncan is an American Anglican bishop. He was the first primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) from June 2009 to June 2014. In 1997, he was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. In 2008, a majority of the diocesan convention voted to leave the diocese and the Episcopal Church and, in October 2009, named their new church the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. Duncan served as bishop for the new Anglican diocese until 10 September 2016 upon the installation of his successor, Jim Hobby.

The Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, formerly known as the Episcopal Church of Sudan, is a province of the Anglican Communion located in South Sudan. The province consists of eight Internal Provinces and 61 dioceses. The current archbishop and primate is Justin Badi Arama. It received the current naming after the inception of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, on 30 July 2017.

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 more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA. Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The Anglican Church of Rwanda is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 13 dioceses in Rwanda. The primate of the province is Laurent Mbanda, consecrated on 10 June 2018.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.

The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is a communion of conservative Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to ongoing theological disputes in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Conservative Anglicans met in 2008 at the Global Anglican Future Conference, creating the Jerusalem Declaration and establishing the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), which was rebranded as GAFCON in 2017.

Onesphore Rwaje is a Rwandan Anglican bishop. He was the Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda from 2011 to 2018. He is married and has five children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of the South</span> Anglican diocese in the southeastern United States

The Anglican Diocese of the South is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, encompassing 50 parishes in the American states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as Christ Church Plano, the provincial pro-cathedral under the oversight of Bishop of the South Foley Beach in his capacity as ACNA archbishop. The state with most parishes is Georgia, with 23. The diocesan headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Holy Cross Cathedral in Loganville, Georgia, serves as the cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Bond Allen</span> American Anglican Bishop (born 1954)

Kevin Bond Allen is an American Anglican bishop. From 2011 to 2024, he was the first bishop of the Diocese of Cascadia in the Anglican Church in North America. Earlier in his career, as an Episcopal priest, he was a key figure in the Anglican realignment in the Pacific Northwest.

PEARUSA was the North American missionary district of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. It took the first part of its name from the acronym for the Rwandan church's official French name. PEARUSA was also a sub-jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), but on 23 September 2015 the Synod of the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda at its regular meeting held at St. Etienne Cathedral in Kigali, Rwanda resolved to fully transfer PEARUSA to the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) with some of the existing PEARUSA networks becoming full ACNA dioceses by June 2016. Upon the unanimous vote of ACNA's Provincial Council on 21 June 2016, PEARUSA was fully transferred to ACNA with two of the three former PEARUSA networks [Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, West] becoming full ACNA dioceses known respectively as the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope and the Anglican Diocese of the Rocky Mountains. The former PEARUSA Southeast network did not become a full, separate ACNA diocese. According to a decision that had been reached at their clergy meeting and released on 8 February 2016, the 20 parishes of PEARUSA Southeast has folded into the already existing ACNA dioceses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foley Beach</span> American Anglican bishop

Foley Thomas Beach is an American Anglican bishop. He was the second primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, a church associated with the Anglican realignment movement, and is the first diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South. Beach was elected as the church's primate on June 21, 2014. His enthronement took place on October 9, 2014. During his primacy, he served as chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates Council and led the ACNA through a period that included the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Lines</span> British Anglican bishop (born 1960)

Andrew John Lines is a British Anglican bishop. Since June 2017, he has been the Missionary Bishop to Europe of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a province outside the Anglican Communion. In 2020, he became the first presiding bishop of the Anglican Network in Europe, a "proto-province" recognized by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. Since 2000, he has been Mission Director and CEO of Crosslinks. He is also the chairman of the executive committee of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), the missionary arm of GAFCON in England. In June 2017, it was announced that he would be made a bishop for ACNA and GAFCON; he was consecrated on 30 June 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church (Plano, Texas)</span> Anglican pro-cathedral in Plano, Texas, United States

Christ Church is an Anglican megachurch in Plano, Texas. It serves as the provincial pro-cathedral for the Anglican Church in North America. Planted in 1985 in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, Christ Church, as part of the Anglican realignment, later became a founding congregation of the ACNA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan J. Hawkins (bishop)</span> American Anglican bishop (born 1970)

Alan J. Hawkins is an American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. Since 2024, he has been the second bishop ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope. Prior to this, he was the founding rector of Church of the Redeemer in Greensboro, North Carolina, and he has served in several roles at the provincial level for the ACNA, including chief operating officer of the province, canon for provincial development, and vicar of the ACNA-wide Anglican 1000 church planting initiative.

Felix Clarence Orji is a Nigerian-born American Anglican bishop. A former Episcopal priest who left the Episcopal Church as part of the Anglican realignment, Orji was consecrated a bishop in Nigeria in 2011 to serve the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Since 2013, he has been the diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of All Nations, which was a dual member of both the Church of Nigeria and the Anglican Church in North America from 2013 to 2019, a member of the Church of Nigeria North American Mission from 2019 to 2022, and a sole member of the ACNA since 2022.

Joseph "Joey" Royal is a Canadian Anglican bishop. From 2019 to 2024, he was one of three suffragan bishops of the Diocese of the Arctic in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC).

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Very Rev. Paul Donison". Christ Church Plano. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Christ Church Plano names new rector". Plano Star Courier. December 23, 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  3. "UVic students do honest job with modernized Hamlet". Times Colonist. February 15, 1998. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  4. "Romeo and Juliet (1998, Phoenix Theatre, University of Victoria)". Shakespeare in Performance: Stage Production. Internet Shakespeare Editions. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  5. Donison, Paul (September 23, 2009). ""My dear friends in the Parish of Morrisburg – Iroquois – Riverside Heights"" (PDF). Anglican Network in Canada. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  6. "Pittsburgh nominees announced". Anglican Ink. March 7, 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  7. Walton, Jeff (November 19, 2021). "Christ Church Plano's Paul Donison on new Anglican Provincial Cathedral". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  8. "New General Secretary for GAFCON". Anglican Ink. November 10, 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  9. "Itorero Angilikani ry'u Rwanda ryimitse Paul Danison nka musenyeri wungirije muri Diyoseze ya Gasabo". YouTube (in Kinyarwanda). RwandaTV. February 4, 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  10. "GAFCON secretary general elected assistant bishop of Gasabo". Anglican Ink. January 17, 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.


Religious titles
Preceded by General Secretary of GAFCON
2023present
Incumbent