{"id":26023,"date":"2018-06-19T09:35:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=26023"},"modified":"2018-06-19T09:35:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T13:35:00","slug":"geoff-woodcroft-elected-bishop-in-diocese-of-ruperts-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/geoff-woodcroft-elected-bishop-in-diocese-of-ruperts-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Geoff Woodcroft elected bishop in Diocese of Rupert\u2019s Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geoff Woodcroft was elected coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Rupert\u2019s at an electoral synod Saturday, June 16.<\/p>\n

If you hack your way through the dense undergrowth of clich\u00e9s sprouting lushly in the article below<\/a> you will discover that Woodcroft supports same-sex marriage. It appears that this is now a requirement for being a bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.<\/p>\n

\"\"Woodcroft, 57, says he is \u201coverwhelmed by the generous expression of the diocese\u201d and surprised by the numbers of votes he received. He was elected on the fifth ballot, after receiving 48 votes from clergy and 75 from the laity. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute thrill,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Woodcroft says he is passionate about moving the church away from seeing itself through the lens of scarcity. \u201cI see us as being abundantly blessed,\u201d he says. He is looking forward to shifting the way the church is evaluated from \u201cold metrics\u201d like numbers on Sunday, to stories of \u201chow disciples carry Christ into the world,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the volunteer things we\u2019re doing? How many volunteer hours? What are the things that we\u2019re doing\u2014in narrative rather than numerical form\u2014that really show the goodness of God working through the church? I think that those are the things that are actually going to be the excitement that helps us build the church yet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop-elect Geoff Woodcroft (middle) with Diocese of Rupert\u2019s Land Bishop Don Philipps and Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, metropolitan of Rupert\u2019s Land, shortly after his election<\/p>\n

Woodcroft says his first goals as bishop will be to get to know clergy and their families, to reach out to rural areas and to promote reconciliation. \u201cWhat permeates everything we do is the spirit and drive towards reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodcroft is an associate of Rupert\u2019s Land Indigenous Council and was an Anglican representative at the Independent Assessment Process hearings as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, listening to the stories of settlement claimants and offering, if invited, statements of apology.<\/p>\n

He says he has learned a lot from Indigenous elders. \u201cI think I am a better person because I know that I have to be on a path of reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

His church, St. Paul\u2019s, also worked with Cree ministry Wechetowin to create a memorial to residential school survivors at The Forks Historical Site in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

In response to a questionnaire given to candidates prior to the election, Woodcroft said that he will support same-sex marriage, adding that the decision to facilitate same-sex marriage is not unanimous in the diocese. \u201cWe need a generous conversation about Christian marriage, including same-gender marriage,\u201d he wrote. He added that \u201clocal option is a good beginning; but I also think we can dig deeper into the giftedness of our many parishes to achieve a more comprehensive solution that does not threaten or divide any of us from one another.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geoff Woodcroft was elected coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Rupert\u2019s at an electoral synod Saturday, June 16. If you hack your way through the dense undergrowth of clich\u00e9s sprouting lushly in the article below you will discover that Woodcroft … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2493],"tags":[2517],"class_list":["post-26023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diocese-of-ruperts-land","tag-geoff-woodcroft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}