The Bishop's Visit to Canada

As our readers will know, the Bishop had originally hoped to fly out to Canada at the end of August, but because the trip had been planned at very short notice, there were numerous problems, especially as far as his Canadian visa was concerned and a considerable number of people - both in the UK and Canada - were involved in finalising all the plans.

We are delighted that he has now finally arrived in Canada and feel it is important to explain the background to this trip.

For many years the Primates World Relief and Development Fund (the relief and development agency of the Anglican Church of Canada), based in Toronto, has given a great deal of support to the Diocese, and in fact the article by Geoffrey Patrick Monjesa, in the June issue of 'Masasi News', gives a very good picture of the invaluable work that the PWRDF has undertaken in Masasi over recent years.

In April of last year, when Glen Spurrell (of the East Africa Desk of PWRDF) was visiting Masasi, Bishop Patrick indicated his interest in carrying out further theological studies abroad and Glen promised to help by contacting some of the Theological Colleges in Canada.

Subsequently one of these Colleges offered the Bishop a bursary to carry out a year's study towards a Diploma in Theological Studies, which, naturally, he was delighted to accept.

The first anyone knew of this in the UK was when the Bishop approached Mick Levick in July for assistance in obtaining a visa to enter the UK, en route to Canada. There was some urgency about this as the course started in early September.
Unfortunately, as far as Bishop Patrick's supporters in the UK were concerned, there seemed to be a lack of information on the location of the College, the content of the course and the precise value of the Bursary - which made it very difficult to determine how much support the Bishop was going to need. However, contact was established with both the PWRDF and the College via the Internet, and from Email communications with both organisations and also telephone conversations with the Principal of the College, we are able to give our readers the following information.

This visit has been facilitiated by the Primates World Relief and Development Fund www.pwrdf.org  and Bishop Patrick will be studying at the College of Emmanuel and St Chad, 114 Seminary Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7N OX3 www.usask.ca/stu/emmanuel

The course is officially a year's course; because of the delays with his visa, Bishop Patrick has missed the first semester, but he is now planning to remain in Canada until December 2007.

It was originally planned that Bishop Patrick would study for a Diploma in Anglican Studies and the details on this course are given below. Because of his late arrival, his course of study may have to be amended, but he has assured us that he is very determined "to work hard, to study hard and to try to catch up as much as possible so that the Diocese may benefit and move forward".