wfn.org | ACNS3440 Canadian Primate announces retirement

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3440	     |		 CANADA      |		 13 MAY 2003	

Canadian Primate announces retirement

[Anglican Church of Canada] Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican
Church of Canada since 1986, has announced that he will resign on 1 February
2004. A letter announcing his intention was read to the church's governing
council meeting in Calgary on Sunday 11 May. The mandatory age of retirement
for Anglican bishops in Canada is 70. Archbishop Peers was born in 1934. 

His resignation will clear the way for the election of a new Anglican Primate
by General Synod at its next meeting in St Catharines, Ontario, in June 2004.
General Synod is the chief legislative body of the Anglican Church and meets
every three years. It is made up of representatives from across the country
and includes bishops, priests and lay people. 

Archbishop Peers' letter was read to the Council of General Synod by
Archbishop David Crawley, Metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of
British Columbia. Archbishop Crawley is the church's senior Archbishop and
will serve as acting Primate between Archbishop Peers' resignation and the
election of a successor. 

As Primate of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Peers is the church's chief
pastor and chief executive officer. The Primate is president of General
Synod, chair of the Council of General Synod, which governs the church in
years when General Synod does not meet, and chair of the House of Bishops, a
national gathering of Anglican bishops that meets twice a year. He is also
the voice of the Anglican Church of Canada on the international stage and
with the worldwide Anglican Communion. 

He also serves as President of the Metropolitan Council of Cuba, providing a
personal link between the Cuban Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican
Communion. 

Archbishop Peers was born in Vancouver, ordained priest in the diocese of
Ottawa in 1960 and elected Bishop of the diocese of Qu'Appelle in 1977.
Between 1982 and his election as Primate in 1986, Archbishop Peers was
Metropolitan or Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Rupert's Land. 

He is fluent in several languages and, before turning to the study of
theology, obtained a German-English interpreter's certificate from the
University of Heidelberg. He has received many honorary degrees, including a
doctorate of theology from the Vancouver School of Theology earlier this
month. 

Archbishop Peers and his wife, Dorothy, have three grown children and two
grandchildren. 

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