Bishop Tom Corston agrees to act as interim priest-in-charge of Anglican parishes at Chapleau and Foleyet

Rt Rev Thomas Corston, the ninth bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Moosonee, has agreed to become interim priest in charge for an indefinite period to the parishes of Chapleau and Foleyet,

It will be a homecoming in a way for Bishop Corston who was born and raised in Chapleau and was an active member of St John's Church there. Also Foleyet was his first parish as rector after he was ordained to the priesthood in 1975.

Bishop Corston retired as bishop of Moosonee on Dece 31, 2013, but became assistant bishop to Archbishop Colin Johnson.

The announcement of his appointment was made on the Diocese of Moosonee Facebook page on April 6.


"Bishop Corston has agreed with the Archbishop's request to act as Interim priest-in-charge of the parishes of Chapleau & Foleyet for an indefinite period while the congregations work to define their future as a presence in their communities and, hopefully, the appointment of a new Incumbent. Bishop Corston will begin his ministry to the congregations on Sunday, May 3rd."

BULLETIN Bishop Tom received Doctor of Sacred Theology degree http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.ca/2015/04/bishop-tom-corston-awarded-doctorate-of.html

Finishing the Story of Easter

By Rev. Yme Woensdregt

For many of us, Easter is a time of chocolates and bunnies, a time to welcome the returning warmth of spring. We feel the warmth of the sun on our skin and our thoughts turn naturally to spring projects. We put away most—but not quite all—of our winter clothing, and we watch with pleasure as the green buds on the trees turn to leaves and flowers begin to spring once again from the earth after its long winter nap.
For some of us, it’s a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in church. We sing our alleluias and rejoice that “Christ the Lord is ris’n today.” Easter is a day for joy and celebration and thanksgiving for the renewal of life.
But it was not always so.
It strikes me this year in a new way that the first Easter was marked more by fear and confusion and pain than by joy and celebration. All four gospels in the Bible tell stories about a group of disciples who can’t make sense of what is happening.
There are some common threads in the stories: some of the women who had followed Jesus come to the tomb early Sunday morning after the Sabbath had ended. They discover that the stone sealing the entrance of the tomb has been rolled away and the tomb is empty. They don’t find the body of their friend and teacher. In each story, an angel announces that Jesus has risen.
Beyond those common threads, the stories differ in marked ways.
The last gospel to be written was John. It comes from around 95–105, about 65 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. John tells a touching story about Mary’s pain. She weeps outside the tomb, wandering in a daze of confusion. When the risen Jesus stands near her, she doesn’t recognize him—until he calls her by name. Then she runs back to tell the others, “I have seen the Lord.”
Luke and Matthew were written about a decade earlier. In Luke’s story, the angel reminds the women that Jesus had told them he would rise again. “They remembered his words,” ran back and “told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.” The apostles didn’t believe them; “these words seemed to them an idle tale.” You can’t believe the women, after all.
Luke continues with a story of a couple of disciples (probably a husband and wife) who travel home to Emmaus the same day, only to encounter the risen Jesus when he breaks bread with them after they’ve reached home.
Matthew tells a story about an earthquake, which explains how the stone had rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. He mentions that Pilate had posted a guard—a story which was likely told to counter later rumours that the disciples had stolen the body and spread a lie that Jesus had been raised.
I want to focus on Mark’s story. Mark was almost certainly the earliest gospel, written sometime around the year 70.
Mark’s gospel ends very strangely. The women come to the tomb and find it empty. They see “young man dressed in a white robe” who tells them that Jesus has risen. “Hh is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.”
You would think the story would end with the women returning to the disciples to tell this this news. But it doesn’t. The story ends this way: “And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.”
Full stop.
Later copyists thought this was a very strange way to end the story. They might have thought that the ending was lost, or damaged in some way. At least a couple of scribes added their own endings, in which Jesus appeared to the disciples. Modern Bibles include these as a “shorter ending” and a “longer ending.” These endings, however, only appear in very late manuscripts. The earliest manuscripts end with the women being silent and fearful.
I suspect that Mark knew exactly what he was doing, and that he ends the gospel this way deliberately. At the very beginning of his gospel, Mark tells us that his story is “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” This whole story is the beginning of the good news. Mark’s open–ended conclusion invites us into the story.
The resurrection of Jesus isn’t a conclusion. It’s an invitation. We are invited to continue the story of what God is doing in the world. The story which Mark begins continues in us, in all the generations who have come after him, in all those people who have been inspired to continue the story of God’s healing love.
The story of Easter life continues in us as we reach out in love and compassion to the world. I wish for you a happy Easter, and many opportunities to be loving and compassionate people.

Rev Dr Yme Woensdregt is the Incumbent at Christ Church (Anglican) in Cranbrook BC

Bishop Tom Corston awarded Doctorate of Sacred Theology Degree but listens to 'language of appearance' from Cree Elder

Rt. Rev. Thomas Corston, who retired as the ninth bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Moosonee on December 31, 2013, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology by Thornloe University in Sudbury. at its last Fall Convocation.

Tom, as he is best known to many Chapleauites, is the son of Frances (Jardine) Corston and the late Henry "Chicken" Corston. He is a graduate of Chapleau Public and Chapleau High Schools. While attending high school he served as president of the Students Council.

Tom explained that he was awarded the degree of "Doctor of Sacred Theology" by Sudbury's Thorneloe University in recognition of his  years of rural and northern ministry.

A member of St. John's Anglican Church, he was ordained a deacon there in 1974, and a year later became a priest. He also was president of the Anglican Young People's Association. St. John's is a parish in Moosonee.

In an interview at the time of his retirement, Tom told the Timmins Times, “My very first parish was Foleyet, but unlike all of my classmates, I was given a parish to myself rather than being appointed as an assistant,” Corston remembered. He admitted it was a humble beginning, but he remembered he felt like he was in charge of the world’s grandest cathedral."

He served at parishes in three dioceses before being elected bishop in 2010. 

Catching up with Tom recently, he explained that most of his episcopate in Moosonee Diocese was to work at a restructuring model that would see the survival of the Diocese in the face of dwindling congregations and financial resources. 

"We did that and I have to say that after a year, it is working well. Basically, with the approval of the Ontario Provincial Synod the Diocese has been placed "in suspension" and the Metropolitan, Archbishop Colin Johnson of Toronto, is now also the Bishop of Moosonee. 

"While he is as present to the Diocese as possible, he asked me to come back and act as his Assistant Bishop. That way we guarantee that all communities will receive an episcopal visitation, if not by him, then by me."

So, despite being "retired" Tom remains busy and is also an Honorary Assistant at his former Sudbury parish, the Church of the Epiphany.

He also delivered the address at the Thornloe University Convocation and it is excellent. I will share just one anecdote that he told from his ministry, which touched me immensely. One of the people he met along the way was Andy. Here is the anecdote:

"One was Andy…a Cree leader from Moose Factory…a big man, an elder, a Layreader in the church, a product of the Residential School system. I spent many a day with Andy and his family, serving together in the Sanctuary, in the boardroom, sitting at his kitchen table and hunting geese on the James Bay. In my memory Andy and his wife Annie stand out as examples of sacrificial love and self-giving that was evidenced, when in their middle-age, in adopting two non-native infants who were victims of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

" It was also from Andy that I learned some of what it means to be “professional”. You see, I had started to think that there was no need for me to be properly attired in my parish. I started not to wear my collar. I mean, what did it matter? My parishioners were blue-collar workers, men were more relaxed when they came to service, so why not the clergy? 

"One evening Andy came to see me and gave me a bit of a lecture about my lax attitude. He said to me, 'Tom, we look to you as our pastor…we want you to be proud of your profession and we want to be proud of your as our minister…you need to be the priest you were ordained to be and whom we called you to be in this community. You need to wear your collar and be proud to be a witness to our town.

'It might not sound all that important to you, but in a day when we face dress-down days in the work-place, when more and more of us are encouraged to relax and perhaps dress more casually, the truth is there are times when how we dress says a great deal about how we have or have not embraced our role and responsibilities. It’s much more than convention, or a “dress code”. It’s the language of appearance that says we have taken some care about how we meet the world.

"As you step out from this place, remember that it is more than what you know or what you say that will have the attention of those you encounter."

In an interview with the Anglican Journal on his retirement Tom said that whenever he tells stories from his history in the diocese of Moosonee, people tell him, “ ‘Bishop, you’ve got to put it on paper before it is gone.’ So that’s my project. I’m going to write a book about the church of the north…I would like to embark on something like that.”  

Thanks and congratulations Tom. After my first reference to him as bishop I chose to refer to him as Tom with all respect to his position in the church. I did so because I have known him since our growing up years on Grey Street where we were next door neighbours and friends, even though I am a bit older than him.

Our families go back even longer as neighbours as my grandparents Edith and George Hunt, my mother Muriel and aunt Elsie lived next door to the Corston family in the early years of the 20th Century. One of my great memories was the day Tom's father Henry told me he thought of  my Mom as his sister -- there were eight boys in the Corston family. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

BULLETIN  Bishop Tom has agreed to be priest in charge at St John's Chapleau and at Foleyet for an "indefinite period" http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.ca/2015/04/bishop-tom-corston-agrees-to-act-as.html

Photos

Bishop Tom delivering Convocation Address

Bishop Tom Corston receiving the degree from Chancellor Barbara Bolton (beside her is Provost Dr. Robert Derrenbacker and Registrar, Dr. Ian Maclennan)
 
Tom and family Ruth, Andrew(L) & Stephen (R) (photos provided by Tom Corston