The 6th Annual Investiture of New Members to the Order of the Diocese of New Westminster (ODNW) took place within the Celebration of Eucharist, Sunday, November 2nd, 4pm at Christ Church Cathedral. Forty-six of the fifty-one new members were present to receive the ODNW in the presence of their friends, family, clergy and peers.
This was the first Investiture Eucharist celebrated by the current Bishop of New Westminster, the Right Reverend Melissa Skelton who was at this point exactly one day into the ninth month of her episcopate. One of the happy tasks that the Bishop performs at this worship event is to congratulate each new member as they walk across the chancel entrance platform following the reading of their Citation and wearing for the first time the medal and ribbon of the ODNW. It was obvious for even the casual observer to see that the Bishop was delighted to welcome each new member and the fondness that she expressed in her face, handshake and embrace told the story of her sincere appreciation for the commitment and service of these elders and leaders of our church, these contemporary “Saints”.As has become tradition, the dean of the Diocese and rector of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Reverend Peter Elliott welcomed the capacity congregation to the liturgy. He asked that all the current members of the ODNW present that afternoon stand and be recognized which produced a burst of applause. He then quipped “in the fullness of time only ODNW members will be able to fit in here”, making reference to the limited space in the 750+ seat church.
The preacher at the Eucharist was the former Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1986-2004, the Most Reverend Michael Peers. At 80 years of age, the Archbishop remains an excellent speaker. He began his sermon with a bit of biography, informing the congregation that he was born in Vancouver, baptized at St. Alban, Burnaby, confirmed at St. Helen, Point Grey and like many others immediately left the church. It was while completing undergraduate degrees in languages at the University of British Columbia in the mid-1950’s that his conversion began, leading to his desire to seek ordination.
In his sermon he dealt with the meaning of the word “Order” and how he supports the use of that word as part of the title of the honour that was being conveyed to fifty-one individuals that evening. For context he went back in history to the earliest of the Anglican Church of Canada awards for laity, the Anglican Award of Merit (AAM). This award was established at General Synod in 1967 amid a great storm of protest as there was a prevalent view that it was too controversial to single out individuals from such a large crowd. So it wasn’t awarded to anyone for 20 years until 1987 the second year of Archbishop Peers’s primacy when he awarded the AAM for the first time and the controversy went away.
For the next few minutes Archbishop Peers focused on his experience at the 1998 Lambeth Conference when and where the media, specifically the English print media were predicting the end of the Anglican Communion over issues of inclusion and sexuality. The Archbishop was quick to point out that the same media had predicted a dire outcome for the Communion at Lambeth 1988 over the ordination of women to the episcopate. The difference being the way the issues were handled by the two Archbishop’s of Canterbury. In 1988, the Archbishop at the time handled things with tact and care and offered hope and encouragement, such was not the case with the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1998.
Toward the end of his address he said “there is danger in treating the Christian Faith as an exercise in getting it right.” It is not in keeping with the prime directive of Christianity to “love our neighbours as ourselves” to dismiss those with whom we do not agree. In closing he said that he is honoured to share the grace of those to be invested who are “models of the church” carrying out the mission to which we are all called as followers of Christ.
This investiture ceremony was a little bit different in 2014, as the Warden of the ODNW, the Honorable Robert Watt was on vacation in Europe with his wife Alison. It has been the Warden of the Order’s task to read the Citations as the new member is invested. In his absence the Citations were read by Dean Peter Elliott and the Reverend Ellen Clark-King, theologian-in-residence at Christ Church Cathedral. This was also the investiture when Judge Watt himself in absentia was invested into the ODNW. The Executive Archdeacon of the Diocese of New Westminster, the Venerable Douglas Fenton was in Winnipeg receiving an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. John’s College, University of Manitoba so the Venerable Ronald Harrison, retired Executive Archdeacon of the Diocese took on the task of placing the medallions and ribbons on the shoulders of the new members as the Citations were read. Archdeacon Harrison was one of the principal designers of the ODNW in 2008-2009.
Bishop Melissa Skelton was very moved by the experience of this her first Investiture of New Members to the Order of the Diocese of New Westminster. As someone who has come to the Diocese of New Westminster from another diocese in another country she brought a fresh perspective. For the Bishop, the ODNW celebrates the full scope and range of our community of “Saints”, for where else would you bestow the same honour on someone (Ms. Helen Tataren) who has dedicated 62 years to the service of her parish and spent decades as the housekeeper of the clergy quarters at St. James’ as you would on the former Mayor of the City of Vancouver (Mr. Philip Owen) who has spent decades in service to his parish and his bishops. There is equivalency in discipleship in the service of the mission of the church and of the message of the gospels.
On Sunday, November 2nd, 2014, fifty-one awards were presented as a way of saying “thank-you” to those who in the words of Dean Peter Elliott, “year after year, faithfully carry out the work of God with creativity, commitment and energy…Of course there are many more people who are deserving of the honour: that’s why this service of investiture is an annual event.”
Images: Top, the Class of 2014 ODNW (Wayne Chose photo). Upper right, the Very Reverend Peter Elliott welcomes the congregation. Upper left, Bishop Melissa Skelton congratulates Mr. Peter Kidd, ODNW of St. John’s, Shaughnessy. Middle right, the preacher at the Eucharist, the Most Reverend Michael Peers. Middle, The Venerable Ronald Harrison places the medal and ribbon on the shoulders of Mrs. Doreen Barclay, ODNW of St. Laurence, Coquitlam. Lower left, the Reverend Ellen Clark-King reads the Citation as former Mayor of Vancouver Mr. Philip Owen, ODNW is invested. Lower right, the Bishop congratulates, St Christopher's Stewart Martin, ODNW. Bottom left and homepage, the Bishop congratulates Ms. Helen Tataren of St. James’. Below 1, Getting ready for the Class of 2014 photo (thanks to Ruth Nicol, ODNW, Hales Jones, ODNW and the Bishop and Archbishop for the big smiles). PHOTOS: Randy Murray (except where noted)
VISIT THE ODNW PAGE FOR THE CITATIONS (Scroll to the bottom)