Anglican Diocese of Ontario 2014 Bishop's Dinner.

1. The 2014 Bishop’s Dinner
Mark Hauser
Diocesan Communications Officer
This years’ Bishop’s Dinner, held on June 4 at The Sheraton Four Points Hotel, was in support of the
Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) and featured keynote speaker Adele Finney and
a concert by The Three Cantors at St. George’s Cathedral.
Adele Finney, Executive Director of PWRDF, spoke about the
organizational change PWRDF is experiencing and its relations with
partner organizations and how this change is playing out in new
alliances and new ways of working. NGO’s are having to constantly
discern what is working, what isn’t and how to create space for
opportunity to grow. This ‘space’ according to Finney (quoting Walter
Bruggemann), eventually becomes ‘place’ where the organization
operates.
Finney likens this place to ‘edge habitat’ - “a loosely defined type of
habitat that occurs at the boundary between two different habitat
types (e.g., where forests border on non‐forest land).” In an
organization this edge habitat is a place of understanding identity and
mission in altered circumstances. A place to discern how challenge and
opportunity converge and to discover and hold on to sustaining ways
of being and doing.
Finney stated that “PWRDF is a picture of your ministry in edge habitat--PWRDF reaches out and comes
alongside other global communities in the in-between spaces in time in other worlds. PWRDF staff work
with partners in 23 countries. Canadian Anglicans connect community to community.”
In recent years PWRDF has focused its efforts in 3 key areas: food security, preventive health and micro
finance. PWRDF and its partners are helping to rebuild in the Philippines after the devastating effects of
Typhoon Haiyan in November of 2013. Nationally, PWRDF has assisted in delivering clean water to
Canadian Indigenous communities through such efforts as the Pakangikum Water Project which saw the
installation of water and wastewater systems in the Pikangikum First Nation, a community lacking in the
basic necessities of life located about 100km north of Red Lake, Ontario.
Finney went on to thank the Diocese of Ontario for its support of
PWRDF. Over $142,000 was raised in 2013 alone with over $30,000 of
that designated for Typhoon Haiyan relief. The Dioceses’ recent ‘Belly
to Belly’ weight loss campaign, spearheaded by The Rev. Kate Ann
Follwell, raised over $13,000 for PWRDF. The evening began with
Bishop Michael Oulton congratulating Follwell on her efforts and
presented her with a package of low calorie rice cakes as an award
for the campaign.

2. The dinner was followed by a concert
at St. George’s cathedral by The 3
Cantors, Canadian Anglican Priests
David Pickett, William Cliff and Peter
Wall, with Maestro Angus Sinclair,
who over the past 17 years have
raised more than 2 million dollars for
PWRDF. Guests enjoyed an evening of
music featuring hymns, Broadway
show tunes, a little comic relief and
the chance for the audience to join in
song now and then.