Here are a few photos of Bishop Sue taken in our Parish that will be included in a slide presentation at her retirement dinner this evening.
Congratulation Bishop Sue - sincere thanks! God bless you as you retire.
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Bishop Moxley to retire
By Marites
N. Sison on June, 07 2013
Bishop Sue Moxley, the first woman bishop in the
diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI, will retire in March 2014. Photo: Art Babych
By Marites
N. Sison on June, 07 2013
Bishop Sue Moxley, the first woman bishop in the
diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI, will retire in March 2014. Photo: Art Babych
Bishop Susan “Sue” Moxley, known to many Anglicans in Canada and
overseas for her passion for social justice and church renewal, has announced
she will retire in March 2014. By then, Moxley will
have served in an episcopal role for 10 years—three years as suffragan (assistant)
bishop and seven as diocesan bishop for the diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince
Edward Island. She also will have served as an active priest in the Anglican
Church of Canada for 29 years. In 2007 Moxley, then 61, made history by
becoming the first female bishop elected in
her diocese, and the second female bishop to lead a diocese across the Canadian
Anglican church. With the recent completion of the new
multimillion-dollar diocesan centre and retirement living facility in Halifax,
and the full approval of the diocese’s new governance structure, Moxley said
she felt it was a good time to pass on the baton. “I looked at things I
process and things that we are finishing up, and I thought that’s a good point
in time right about then,” said Moxley in an interview. “I’ve loved being
a bishop. I’ve loved even the grungy bits of dealing with not-so-nice stuff,”
she said. “There’s no way to describe what it’s like. But it’s an honour—it’s a
service role and it’s humbling because you get to be with people in the most
extraordinary circumstances.” Being “a visible servant of God in the
community,” she added, has also been a “huge thing.” She describes being
with people in their personal journeys of faith as a highlight of her ministry
as bishop and priest. She has been with people “in good times and in bad,
and…as they gain new insights about where God is in their lives.” The
opportunity to travel around the diocese and overseas when she represents the
national church has also been gratifying. “I keep saying, I’ve been to places
that people don’t even know exists in our two provinces,” said Moxley. Her
daughter has teased her about the amount of travel. “She used to see those ads
that said, ‘Join the Armed Forces and see the world,’ and she’d say, ‘Mom, for
you, it’s been ‘Join the church and see the world.’ ”
Moxley pointed to the vibrant youth ministry as something that she
and members of her diocese are most proud of. “The diocese a long time ago made
an investment in young people” and continues to do so, she said. For
instance, each parish can send a young person to the diocesan synod—“not a
youth synod or some side event”—and they are full, voting members. The diocese
has provided regular, consistent funding for a youth ministry co-ordinator and
for sending youth to national Anglican and other youth gatherings, among
others. The commitment has paid off in terms of leadership development, she
said, pointing to the diocese’s four clergy under age 30, who came through the
whole process of being involved with their church. Some dreams remain
that Moxley would like to see move forward, among them the project to build
“healthier” parishes. A group is looking at the Re-imagining Church program,
developed by Toronto’s Wycliffe College, which "introduces people to the
basic principles of being a missional church," according to its website.
There have been a few surprises in her role as bishop, said Moxley. “The
whole [matter of] how to use lands and buildings well—that’s not something I
was ever introduced to at theological school.” Fortunately for Moxley,
her travels overseas as the national church’s bishop representative to the
Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) brought her into contact with new
ideas. “Something that really helped me was going to the ACC meeting in
Hong Kong [2002] and seeing how they had built highrises on their little patch
of land,” she said. The highrises incorporated worship space, offices and
places for clergy to live, and these were supplemented by income derived from
the other 80 or so floors of apartments, she said. “That really got me thinking
about how we could do that here.” One result has been the redevelopment
of the diocese’s properties north of All Saints Cathedral, in south-end
Halifax. The church partnered with Shannex, a seniors’ care-provider, to
construct an eight-storey, 150-unit facility, which includes 15,000 square feet
of space for the cathedral and the diocese’s administrative, educational and
other needs.
While the diocese hasn’t overcome its financial challenges, Moxley
said this partnership project has provided people with a glimpse of how to find
different ways of funding “God’s work in the world.” Another thing that
theological school didn’t entirely prepare her for was “finding different ways
to finance the work of God in our church,” said Moxley. Like most dioceses, 90
per cent of the diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island’s income comes
from commitments made by parishes. “So, the whole notion of financial campaigns
and fundraising or other ways of planned giving—all of that stuff was a
surprise to me,” she said. “It takes a goodly amount of a bishop’s time,
especially in a diocese where we don’t have a lot of staff.” There have
been personal revelations as well. Being bishop has made Moxley realize that,
“I can look at the big picture. I can step back from the details that might
drive you crazy and say, ‘OK, where does this fit? How does this fit? Where are
we going with that?’ ” Parish life, she said, didn’t provide her with the
opportunity for this kind of thinking. She also discovered she had more
patience than she’d thought, said Moxley, laughing. Some actions—whether
by clergy or lay—could flummox her at times, but she found she could listen and
help sort out things. Moxley has also learned how to let go of things
that are beyond her control as bishop. “When I was parish priest, I always
wanted worship to be really well done, to be the best that it actually could
be, so I’ve spent a lot of time working with people to say, ‘Now, this is what
needs to happen here so things flow properly,’ ” she recalled. “What I
discovered as bishop is you have absolutely no control over that,” she said,
laughing. “If it doesn’t flow the way I want it to, too bad.”
She admits, though, to having no patience for people “who put
absolutely no effort into planning worship or no effort into caring for people
and doing the work they’re called to do.” But she will find time, she said, to
call them to task because she believes that priests and lay leaders have to
“love God’s people,” and not just put up with them. Asked about her
experience of being the diocese’s first woman bishop, Moxley said it was no
different from being among the early women priests in Canada—it was a non-issue
for most. While there are people who disagree with the ordination of women,
including “one or two” in her diocese, she said that for her, being a woman has
never been an issue. “People have not been rude. My experience has been nothing
like the experience in England, where it has been very difficult.” On some
level, she said it has broken stereotypes, including “crazy things like people
saying, ‘I know I couldn’t meet with you at supper time because you’d need to
be home to get your husband supper,’ and I’d go, ‘Right.’ ” She said she won’t
disabuse them of that notion, but she hopes that it has made people realize
that all bishops need to have supper with their family. “I don’t know if
being a bishop who’s a woman has made a difference in the diocese or not,” said
Moxley. But she acknowledged that it has meant a difference for women, who
often comment on it and who realize that they, too, could be called into that
role. She recalled a meeting of Anglican Church Women (ACW), followed by a
service, and as she went down the aisle, she saw a woman crying in the pew.
Thinking she had offended her in some way or that the woman was opposed to
having women bishops, she went up to talk to her. “I said, ‘Are you OK?’ And
she said, “No, I’m not OK. I saw you up there with your mitre and that crozier
and I thought, ‘If God could call her, God could call me,’ and I’m
terrified.” That concept hadn’t existed for the woman until she saw
Moxley, and that was “quite astonishing,” said Moxley. She remembers telling
the woman, “Well, you never know. Years ago, I never thought I would be here,
either.” But Moxley said she is happy to have been called.
She has a few ideas about how to spend her retirement, including
hiking, travelling and gardening with her husband, Bruce, who retired in 2011.
She has also drawn inspiration from a retired Episcopal priest she met on a
hiking trip in Scotland, who fills in for priests and bishops so they can go on
much-needed sabbaticals. “The other thing I’ve been excited about is the
area of stewardship creation and how we get people to understand that God has
given us so much and our attitude needs to be one of thankfulness, not how much
can I get for myself,” she said. Moxley is also delighted at the prospect
of spending more time with her grandson, who will turn four in October. Right
now, “Grammy” only has him every Monday, on her days off. “What I’ve said
to priests who retire here is, ‘I’ll give you six months to go and play and you
can let me know when you’re ready to come back and do something,’ ” she said.
“That’s probably what I’ll do. I’ll go play and do something.”
