The House of Bishops Dinner

One of the fringe benefits of relocating my office to the basement of St. Paul’s Anglican Church Parish Hall is that I have a front row seat to the workings of the church; it’s not quite a back-stage pass, but it’s a deeper look behind the curtain than living across the street for 18 years provided.

This week’s big event is a meeting of the Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops, a gathering that brings the bishops of the 30 Canadian dioceses of the church to Charlottetown. The most obvious manifestation of this gathering, from where I sit typing, is the smell of supper cooking in the kitchen upstairs, supper that will be served to the bishops at tonight’s “House of Bishops Dinner.”

Prince Edward Island, in case you were wondering, falls in the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, led by Rt. Rev’d Ron Cutler from Halifax. Within the diocese, the Anglican Church in Prince Edward Island is supported administratively by Regional Dean The Rev’d Father David Garrett, from St. Peter’s Cathedral in Charlottetown, and spiritually by Archdeacon John W.G. Clarke, who is also rector here at St. Paul’s.