The Bishop-Elect of Montreal told The Living Church and The Anglican Planet that he has three top priorities for his episcopate: reconciliation, financial health, and safe-church reform.
And as a former Roman Catholic priest who became an Anglican in 2014, he spoke of the blessings he has found in the Anglican Church and of the sorrow his homeland is experiencing.
Victor-David Mbuyi Bipungu wants to work for reconciliation. He hopes a diocese that has been dominated by English Canadians can open its doors wider to French Quebecers and immigrants.
In the last 21 years he has seen firsthand how Quebec has changed, especially in Montreal. The English-speaking Canadian population has shrunk drastically in the city and diocese, and it makes sense to seek francophone speakers and newcomers.
“Montreal is a place where we welcome many people from across the world. Our challenge in Quebec and Montreal is to be open to French Quebecers and French Catholics—to be a very, very open church. The Anglican church has a lot to offer French Quebecers, including most Roman Catholics who don’t go to church.”
In 2020-21, Mbuyi Bipungu worked on a project welcoming anglophone newcomers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania. “According to Quebec law, as immigrants they must speak French. The first church they met is the Roman Catholic Church. They don’t know the Anglican church is here. We must be open to those people.”
The bishop-elect also wants to develop a financially healthy diocese, one that grows but lives within its means. “While the church is not a business, we can still run our spaces, our rental facilities such as daycares, at fair-market value. We have a lot of buildings in this diocese. And selling the church buildings is not the first option.”
Further, “We have to address safe-church reform. What we have to change, we will change. We have to make our diocese a safe place for everyone. You can count on me. As a bishop, I am very, very committed to improving safe-church policies. We must think of the victims first. If we have a civil case against a clergyperson, I am conscious that we must ask the one accused to step down for a period of time until we make a final decision. And it is not up to the bishop only; I must be cautious. We need an ombudsman and a team to address any clergy misconduct.”
The Rev. Ben Crosby, who has studied the safe-church policies of the Anglican diocese, says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montreal has developed good safe-church guidelines, which use a third party to investigate serious misconduct. Mbuyi Bipungu would be open to seeing what might be useful to adopt from their guidelines.
The bishop-elect has worked and studied in Quebec for 21 years, 10 in Anglicanism. He has seen a lot of changes in that time. “We have to offer the gospel as a loving message from Jesus Christ. The time for the church to decide for the people is over. We have to be humble and open to the young people and women.”
At the same time, he believes the Canadian church should have a voice in the public square. “We have to be humble, but we have to be part of the conversation. The church has a voice in Congo. In the southern parts of the world, the church has a voice, but not here.”
The former Roman Catholic priest appreciates the synodical concept of governance in Anglicanism.
While he believes the Holy Spirit worked through the cardinals to elect the new pope, Mbuyi Bipungu believes the Anglican church is blessed to have the Holy Spirit work though a lot of people—lay and clergy, men and women: “It is our mission, not my mission.”
During the episcopal election on May 3, he believes, he saw how the Holy Spirit acted through the delegates. “It was a miracle for me. On the first ballot, only eight lay people voted for me,” but he had a majority by the fifth and final ballot.
“The Holy Spirit is with us in this church. Christ said, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be there.’”
And not only can Anglican laity have a vote in electing a new bishop, but as an archdeacon, Mbuyi Bipungu knows that the laity have a real voice in search committees that select parish priests.
He is very concerned about the 30-year conflict in the eastern region of his homeland. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing a devastating humanitarian crisis. DRC is rich in raw minerals. This past January, M23 (an ethnically Tutsi rebel group), joined by Rwandan troops, killed nearly 3,000 people. Two million children are at risk of starvation and the years of fighting have displaced 4.5 million people.
“The Congolese are disappointed that the world is not on our side.” He said that many Hutu Rwandans, especially women and children, came to Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and now President Paul Kagame of Rwanda argues that the invasion of his troops was for the safety of his country.
“The Congolese are a peaceful people. Rwanda’s two tribes—Hutu and Tutsi—had a civil war. Congo has 400 tribes and four official languages, as well as 300 unofficial languages, but the tribes all live in peace. This conflict makes me very, very sad.”
In 2013, Mbuyi Bipungu earned a doctorate in philosophy from the Université de Montréal, studying the ethics of international relations. He is all too aware, both academically and personally, of the tragedy unfolding in his homeland. His two sisters still live there.
As he looks ahead, he hopes his three young school-age children will learn several languages as he has. “When you speak in the language of the people, the doors open and relationships form.”
Under his episcopate, which begins October 3, he hopes many more doors will open to the gospel.
Sue Careless is senior editor of The Anglican Planet and author of the series Discovering the Book of Common Prayer: A Hands-On Approach. She is based in Toronto.
