Indigenous Anglicans create their own diocese
KINGFISHER LAKE, ON—For Mark MacDonald, the recent birth of this country’s first diocese led by and ministering to First Nations people testifies to the compassionate heart of God.
“This is on many levels just a miraculous outcome, going from a place of spiritual disaster to a place of spiritual renewal,” says the Anglican Church of Canada’s (ACC) national indigenous bishop.
The Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh embraces 26 small communities scattered across northwest Ontario and northern Manitoba. It formally came into being during celebrations in June at Kingfisher Lake. But the idea was conceived in the 1950s.
“A large group of elders across the country began having dreams and visions of a church under the direction of indigenous leaders,” says MacDonald. “So they began to work in that direction bit by bit, piece by piece. This really is the culmination.”
“Mishamikoweesh” is Oji-Cree for “Big Beaver House,” the place where one of these elders, William Winter, received this vision. He died in 2011.
Lydia Mamkawa, the ministry’s new bishop, says it is very important for her people to be able to live out their faith in their own unique way.
“We have our language which is very strong still, and we have our identity and our traditions,” she says. “And having an indigenous church provides an opportunity to put into practice what we were given by our Creator.”
This is especially needed now in the wake of the residential schools tragedy. “One of our goals or mandates is that we work on healing for our people,” Mamkawa says.
The ministry is totally self-governing with the same authority that a diocese has to make its own decisions. “This is part of what the elders were looking for,” says MacDonald. “They felt they needed to be able to say when they disagreed with the [wider] Church.”
One issue on which they already disagree is the ACC’s proposed change to the definition of marriage.
“We have struggled with the way the [ACC] is going in terms of the same-sex unions, even the same-sex blessings,” says Mamkawa. “Our people believe they need to uphold what the Scriptures say. They have a strong desire that nothing should be changed.”
Mishamikoweesh is also responsible for training its own clergy. Classes are held for two weeks twice a year at a school for ministry that Winter founded and bears his name.
“Almost every community has more than one or two clergy,” says MacDonald. “They’re capable leaders. I’m constantly inspired by being with them. It’s probably been the most successful system at raising up local leadership of any that we have.”
MacDonald is hopeful that Mishamikoweesh will become a template for ministering to indigenous peoples in other parts of Canada, including urban areas.
“There’s thousands of Oji-Cree folks living in Thunder Bay,” he says, “and the bishop of that area [Stephen Andrews] has given Lydia complete freedom and authority to minister to them in that kind of context. That also is a new and exciting element.”
With its northern parishes now part of Mishamikoweesh, the Anglican diocese of Keewatin will formally cease operations at the end of 2014. Most of its southern parishes will join the diocese of Rupert’s Land.
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