The Very Rev. Andrew Asbil, rector of St. James Cathedral and dean of Toronto, has been elected coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Toronto. He will become the 12th Bishop of Toronto when Archbishop Colin Johnson, who currently holds the position, retires at the end of the year.
“I am overwhelmed,” he said to about 600 Synod members after his election at the cathedral today. “And I am humbled. To my core. Never in a million years would I have imagined this moment. But I am deeply grateful for it.”
… As the Bishop of Toronto, Bishop-elect Asbil will be the chief pastor of the diocese, which is the most populous in the Canadian church with 54,000 Anglicans on its rolls and 230 congregations and ministries in 183 parishes.
After the election, Bishop-elect Asbil praised and thanked his fellow nominees and said he was looking forward to working with them. He then addressed Synod:
“A word to the clergy of this diocese: I am overwhelmed at how gifted a group you are — how talented and faithful, serving at a time when it is very difficult to be a shepherd of the faith when faith seemingly is not talked about much in the market square. I pledge to walk with you if you will walk with me, to pray for you if you will pray for me, that we will move together and bring faith deeply into the world and the marketplace.
“To our laity: I have always learned the most important lessons of ministry from lay leaders, who are deeply honest and know what it means to be disciples of Christ, especially in these tumultuous times. I will pray for you if you will pray for me.”
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
