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From Canada-
With a heavy heart, retired Anglican priest Mike Gardener is preparing to leave Iqaluit after a lifetime of work in the Arctic.
"It's not my choice to leave," says the 85-year-old.
After 61 years of life on Baffin Island and more than 41 years of work with the Anglican church in Kimmirut, Cape Dorset, Pangnirtung and Iqaluit, Gardener is moving to Ottawa next week.
His wife, Margaret, is moving into a special facility for Alzheimer's patients.
"And I want to be there in the place she is," he says.
Gardener says he is anxiously waiting for a facility to open in Nunavut that can accommodate patients like his wife, who need special care.
A group of people in Iqaluit, spearheaded by Gardener's daughter, MLA Pat Angnakak, is proposing to build an 80-person long-term care elders facility in Iqaluit as early as next year.
More here-
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/mike-gardener-retired-anglican-priest-leaves-arctic-after-60-years-1.3657233
From The Church Time-
THE Episcopal Church in the United States is backing plans to designate 12.28 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness - a move that would block any drilling for oil or gas in the area.
President Obama has urged Congress to support a Bill to protect the area, describing it as "one of the most beautiful, undisturbed places in the world". The wilderness designation will include the area's coastal plain, home to the Porcupine Caribou herd, on which the indigenous Gwich'in people depend for survival.
The Republicans in Congress, however, argue that the oil-rich region should be opened up for drilling. The Republican Senator for Alaska, Dan Sullivan, said that the proposal was "outrageous", and would "undermine Alaska's future and America's energy security".
The Episcopal Church praised President Obama for taking a "critical step in protecting a sacred part of God's creation". The majority of the 7000 Gwich'in people are Episcopalian.
More here-
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/1-may/news/world/us-episcopal-church-backs-arctic-refuge-bill
From Ireland-
Whatever the dubious delights of the Northern Ireland weather, it’s probably safe to say only one local clergyman is dependant on a snowmobile to minister to his congregation.
The Rev Darren McCartney - who left the lush countryside of Co Armagh to become Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of the Arctic - now looks after the spiritual needs of a flock of Inuit people in the 1.5 million square miles of freezing desolation.
A new one-hour documentary has been made about his remarkable transition from the Church of Ireland parish of Knocknamuckley near Portadown to the Canadian northland.
More here-
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/arctic-reverend-brings-ulster-humour-to-inuit-1-6310926
From Alaska-
Looee Mike was an Anglican minister in the community of Pangnirtung, located in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut, for 20 years.
Last fall, her husband, Johnny Mike, was elected as a Member of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly, and later selected as Environment Minister.
The couple moved to Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital city, last month, leaving Pangnirtung without a rector for its Anglican church.
That puts the community among 28 others across the Diocese of the Arctic without a full-time minister.
“Now for the last generation or so there’s been very few ministers in our diocese of the Arctic because our preachers have either retired or passed on,” Mike says.
The Diocese of the Arctic is the Anglican Church of Canada’s largest. It includes Canada’s Northwest Territories, all of Nunavut and the Inuit self-governing region of Nunavik in northern Quebec.
The shortage of ministers means scouting for young recruits who can carry on the work of the church.
More here-
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140214/arctic-anglicans-looking-england-recruit-ministers
From The Arctic-
Rev. Capt. David Parsons will take over as Anglican bishop of the Arctic diocese next year.
Parsons was elected Wednesday during the Arctic diocese synod in Iqaluit.
He will replace Andrew Atagotaaluk, who retires at the end of the year.
Parsons is currently the regional dean of the Mackenzie Delta, and serves as a priest in Inuvik and Tulita, N.W.T.
Three people ran against Parsons yesterday. One of them — Rev. Darren McCartney — was elected to serve as suffragan bishop. The suffragan bishop serves as an assistant to the bishop of the diocese.
McCartney is currently based in Ireland, but he spent several years in Pangnirtung where he learned to speak Inuktitut.
More here-
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2012/05/31/north-anglican-arctic-bishop.html
From The CBC-
Anglican leaders from across the North are in Iqaluit today to elect a new spiritual leader.
Andrew Atagotaaluk will retire as bishop of the diocese of the Arctic at the end of the year, after holding the post for 10 years. Atagotaaluk was the first Inuk to serve as bishop of the diocese.
Today's election will take place as part of the Arctic diocese’s synod in Iqaluit. The Anglican diocese of the Arctic includes N.W.T., Nunavut and Nunavik.
Two of the four candidates for bishop currently live in the North — Iola Metuq is a priest in Kuujjuaq, Que., and Rev. Capt. David Parsons is from Inuvik.
Also running is Rev. Darren McCartney, an Irish priest who served in Pangnirtung for three years a decade ago and Rev. Haydn Schofield, who served in Hay River and Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., before moving to Alberta.
More here-
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2012/05/30/north-anglican-bishop-arctic.html
From Canada-
