The Rev. Barbara Andrews to lead central interior parishes

The Rev. Barbara Andrews, currently director of the Sorrento Centre near Kamloops, BC, has been confirmed by the Provincial Synod of BC and the Yukon as bishop suffragan with responsibility for the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI).

A nominating assembly of APCI elected Andrews in March as its nominee for suffragan bishop to Metropolitan Terrance Buckle with responsibilities for APCI.

However, APCI is not a diocese. It is administered from Archbishop Buckle’s office in Whitehorse, where he is Bishop of Yukon. APCI cannot elect a bishop outright, and Ms. Andrews’ name was submitted to the electoral college of the Provincial Synod as the only candidate for election.

It was expected that the Provincial Synod at its meeting later in March would routinely accept Andrews to replace the Rt. Rev. Gordon Light, who in 2004 was the first APCI bishop chosen as a suffragan to the Metropolitan, and who retired in December of last year.

The round-about way of selecting a bishop followed a lawsuit against the diocese relating to residential school that had once been administered within the Diocese of Cariboo. APCI was created in 2001 after the huge financial toll exacted by lawsuits regarding abuse at Indian residential schools.

The delay in the election was made by the bishops of the Province, for three reasons, as given by Archbishop Buckle and reported in the Anglican Journal: “to establish a time line for the reactivation of the diocese of Cariboo; to bring clarity to the issue of length of term of service of the suffragan bishop; and to review the process by which APCI recommends a nominee to assist with episcopal oversight of APCI.”

Originally the election was to be delayed until September, but after vigorous protest from APCI members, it was moved up to June 26.