THE diocese of Montreal has elected its first black diocesan Bishop. He is a former Roman Catholic priest, the Ven. Dr Victor-David Mbuyi Bipungu, who was received in 2014, in Kinshasa, into the Anglican Church of the Congo.
Dr Mbuyi Bipungu is the Archdeacon of St Andrews, in the diocese of Fredericton, with responsibility for the northern churches, and Priest-in-Charge of the Francophone Église de la Nativité, Rosemère, and the English-speaking parish of St Simon and St Bartholomew, Laval. He has ministered and studied in Quebec for 21 years.
“I’m the one born the farthest from here. I’m the least fluent in English. And you have chosen me — you have such courage. But I trust you because I believe in the Holy Spirit,” he said on the announcement of his election. “The first victory today is everyone is here and we are the Church. We have to learn from the past so we can look to the future to proclaim the good news of God’s salvation.”
The new Coadjutor Bishop, who will succeed the Rt Revd Mary Irwin-Gibson as the 13th Bishop of the diocese when she retires later this year, was elected on the fifth ballot by the diocesan electoral synod on Saturday. He had said to his wife that morning that it would be “a miracle” if he were chosen.
Before the elections, it emerged that safeguarding and other allegations had been made against more than one of the seven candidates, who were not, however, named explicitly. This led to conversations about possibly delaying the election, but it went ahead as planned. One of the delegates who had expressed concern was the Principal of Montreal Diocesan Theological College, the Revd Dr Jesse Zink. He voted in the electoral synod on Saturday and said that he felt a feeling of “profound peace” at the result.
In the first round, Archdeacon Mbuyi Bipungu attracted more than one third of the House of Clergy votes, which “gave a clear sense of direction”, Dr Zink said. “People saw the direction of the first ballot and after a tough two months I felt just personally a sense of peace during the election. In my experience, he has a tremendous amount of respect and was seen to be the right candidate, one third of clergy votes says a lot. . . It is a sign of the respect that so many clergy have for him.”
He continued: “Nobody left on Saturday feeling that all problems were solved but we have elected somebody who has tremendous skills, tremendous talents. We are now seeking to address what we have learned about ourselves and move forward. There is a feeling of profound peace but the challenge remains steep.”
Dr Mbuyi Bipungu will take place on 3 October in Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal. He will also be the second black diocesan bishop for the Anglican Church of Canada, after the Rt Revd Peter DeCourcy Fenty, who was born in Barbados and retired as an area bishop in the diocese of Toronto in 2020.
The diocese has promised a robust review of its Safe Church policies in light of the experience of this election process. Half the members of its Search Committee responsible for vetting the candidates resigned in March over “external pressures” (News, 28 March). It was subsequently necessary to clarify that a safeguarding complaint concerning one of the candidates had been received after previously claiming otherwise (News, 25 April).
