wfn.org | ACNS - A ministry style we shall not see again - The Revd John Rye

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3106 - CANADA - 30 August 2002

A ministry style we shall not see again - The Revd John Rye

by Vianney Carriere
Editor, Anglican Journal

[The Anglican Church in Canada] Watching John Rye at work in Africa was an
experience like nothing else. He was a huge and volatile weather system in
human form, soothing and soft one moment, stern, correct and formal the
next, then changing to the balmiest pastoral wind only to shift again to
sudden storm.

Even at a distance you could always tell from the body language when John
Rye was in the process of administering what he called a "proper" scolding.

I once watched this in a hotel lobby in Nairobi - John in full verbal
flight, the object of his attention seeming to get smaller and smaller as
John's voice rose in pitch. Eventually, the man drifted away and I asked
John what it had all been about. John Rye, whose voice could be mellow and
sonorous, could also giggle in a high pitched squeal of sheer delight.

"Poor chap," he giggled. "All he said was he'd been killing time. Just his
luck that there is no expression in the language I dislike more. One does
not kill time. Time is the best friend we have. It's a ghastly expression."

Canon John Hanington Brooke Rye and his allotted time parted company in
August when he succumbed to cancer at the age of 71. He leaves two brothers
- Robin of Montreal and Darrell of Victoria. He also leaves Truus Geertse of
Holland, a missionary nurse he met in Ghana more than 30 years ago, who
became his life-long friend. His death marks the end of an era for the
Canadian Anglican Church, and the passing of a style of ministry we shall
not see again.

He was a man with presence, a pipe-smoking giant both physically and
intellectually; he was a magnet for countless young students he nurtured,
for people wanting or needing money to fund their projects, for church
officials who sought his counsel and considerable wisdom, and for a sizeable
number of opportunists who hoped, always, to loosen his pockets in a moment
of generosity. He was a magnet, perhaps most of all, for people who simply
wanted his time, his presence, his geniality and pastoral brilliance.

They flocked to him wherever he landed in Africa and his days when he
travelled were an endless series of meetings and conversations and chit-chat
and he never ever, even when the day was 20 hours old, turned anyone away.

My trip with him to Africa was his last before his retirement as mission
co-ordinator for Africa and the Middle East for the Anglican Church of
Canada. So he may have been courted even more than usual. He would tell
people he was in the "exit lounge." He would caution good behaviour,
because, he said time and time again, soon there would be "a new Pharaoh,
who knows not Joseph..."

John Hanington Rye once told me that among the great loves of his life were
mission and Africa. And yet, he was also fond of reminiscing that as a much
younger man conversing with God, he once told the creator there were two
things he would not do: live abroad; and work for the Anglican national
office. He did both, with a rare splendour.

Born in 1931, on the West Coast, John Rye graduated in arts from the
University of British Columbia and then studied theology at Trinity College
in Toronto. He was ordained deacon in 1957 and a priest the following year.
While an undergraduate and for a year after graduating, he worked as a
waiter on the CPR, an experience he later credited with teaching him a great
deal in patience and civility.

His earliest ministry was in the diocese of Niagara at St Cuthbert's Church
in Oakville, Ontario. While there, he had a special ministry with young
offenders, some of whom he invited to share his home. It was a practice he
continued throughout his life, and until his retirement in 1996 he welcomed
African students to live with him in his Toronto home.

He was drawn to overseas ministry after attending an Anglican Congress
gathering in Toronto in 1963 where he met Samuel Rosevear, the Bishop of
Accra, Ghana. He subsequently served 16 years with the Anglican Church in
Ghana, one year in Accra. Much of this time was in the northern frontier
region where he became archdeacon of Bolgatanga. In Ghana, he was
responsible for primary evangelism, mobile health care clinics and
vocational training for young men and women.

With mixed feelings about leaving Africa, he returned to Canada in 1983 and
assumed the position of mission co-ordinator for Africa and the Middle East
with what was then the World Mission department.

Ellie Johnson, director of the department now known as Partnerships,
remembers him as a first-class administrator and a "presence" at Church
House. "John developed strong and lasting friendships with the regional
co-ordinators for Latin America/Caribbean, David Hamid, and for
Asia/Pacific, Terry Brown. The trio came to be known as the Three
Musketeers, and much friendly rivalry ensued between them." (Terry Brown is
now bishop of Malaita, Church of the Province of Melanesia, while David
Hamid was recently named suffragan bishop of the diocese of Europe.)

In his time as mission co-ordinator, Canon Rye made frequent visits back to
Africa, mixing business with a constant nurture of the hundreds of
relationships he had built up over the years. He himself lived frugally, and
many of the people he met during his career benefited from his assistance
out of his own resources.

In 1995, in an article for Ministry Matters, Canon Rye described his work
with the national office as "mostly mail and meetings." And yet, when the
time came for him to retire in 1996, he did so regretfully, if with his
usual grace. "I shall miss this immensely," he once said of the Church House
community. "Life will go on, but never again in the same way. But then, old
men have had their day, and I have never left any place easily. I am
tremendously fortunate in being able to say that."

He moved almost immediately from retirement at Church House to a special
assignment with the Lambeth 1998 conference in which he helped make and fund
travel arrangements for Third-World bishops. And, while his health
permitted, he continued to serve Church House staff as chaplain, through
budgetary cut-backs and the agony of the residential schools crisis.

He was diagnosed with cancer about six years ago.

"His departure will be hard on all of us," an African colleague said shortly
before John retired. "He always had time for all of us. He always listened
to everything, remembered everything and cared about everything."

"I have made mistakes," John Rye once told me, "but they have been
magnificent mistakes which I was fortunate to have the opportunities to
make. I have had many days in this job that were simply awful, but never a
single one of them that did not also bring me great joy."

The funeral for John Rye took place Monday 26 August at St Thomas Church,
Toronto. John had requested that, if desired, donations in lieu of flowers
may be sent to the Treasurer, Anglican Church of Canada, 600 Jarvis St,
Toronto ON M4Y 2J6, for forwarding to the Diocese of Tamale, Ghana for the
training of seminarians.
_________________________________________________________
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