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image: The Anglican Church of Canada's map of Canadian dioceses and provinces, from anglican.ca (modified to highlight the Diocese of Saskatchewan)

In the week of 23 August 2020...

and the week of 22 August 2021, in the Anglican Church of Canada's cycle of prayer, we pray for the clergy and people of the Diocese of Saskatchewan, and their Bishops Michael Hawkins and Adam Halkett.

From the diocesan website: " The Diocese of Saskatchewan serves the northern two-thirds of the civil Province of Saskatchewan - an area about twice the size of Germany. In this area there are 68 scattered Anglican congregations grouped into 32 parishes. Missionary work began formally in the 1850s, and it became a Diocese with its see at Prince Albert in 1874. Its Anglican population is about 23,000, sixty per cent of whom are Cree indigenous people. At least half of these are under the age of 25.

"The Diocese has 25 active and 15 retired clergy, two catechists, 110 lay readers, and two bishops. The majority of the active clergy are non-stipendiary. The Bishop of Missinippi, or Diocesan Indigenous Bishop, Adam Halkett, was consecrated in 2012 as part of a vision called ᒫᒪᐃᐧ  ᐃᓯ  ᒥᔮᐧᒋᒧᐃᐧᐣ mâmawi isi miywâcimowin – Together in the Gospel.

"The Diocese is one of the 30 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Canada and belongs to the ecclesiastical Province of Rupert’s Land. The Diocese is also a proud member of the Council of the North and receives almost half of its annual funding from grant given through that Council.

"The Diocese has always been bilingual, Cree and English, and worship here has always been primarily from Cree and English editions of the Book of Common Prayer.

"Holy Trinity, Stanley Mission, was the diocese's first church. Built in 1854, it is the oldest building in Saskatchewan and the oldest church in Western Canada.

"As a Diocese comprised of indigenous and non-indigenous members, our mission is to be ᒫᒪᐃᐧ  ᐃᓯ  ᒥᔮᐧᒋᒧᐃᐧᐣ mâmawi isi miywâcimowin – Together in the Gospel."

Here is an introduction to the history of the diocese.

Here is a list of the parishes across the diocese.

The diocesan cathedral of St Alban is in Prince Albert.

Cathedral of St Alban, Prince Albert AB

St Alban's Cathedral, Prince Albert, from https://www.skdiocese.com/find-a-church/prince-albert-st-albans-cathedral 

The joint diocesan newsletter of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Qu'Appelle is the Saskatchewan Anglican, available here. 

Connection update:

John and Pam Orman had a connection to that Diocese. John writes: "In 1988 (when we started theological studies) it was necessary to have the support of a sponsoring bishop if there was hope of ordination upon completion.
 
"Our sponsorship was from now retired bishop Tom Morgan of that Diocese. We  were invited to be involved in some Diocesan events, even though we lived and studied in Saskatoon, a separate Diocese.
 
"One very special event in 1989 was our attendance at the consecration of Charles Arthurson as the first indigenous bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.  Cree is mentioned in last week's article and that service was tri-lingual, including the Primate's sermon! Think of singing hymns, which because of different languages being sung, have different numbers of clauses per line of tune. Makes it interesting for the organist who repeats the final chords for those with more clauses to sing! Everyone else waits patiently for the next line to sing!
 
"Sermons are sometimes hard to follow, so imagine what happens when after a few sentences the preacher switches to Cree, and then to French.
 
"Pam's experiences at that time included chaplaincy at the high security prison in Prince Albert, and mine included some relief Sunday ministry where the rural drive from early morning until evening service covered hundreds of km! We also attended two Synods which reminded us of the richness of faith in areas with poverty of income.
 
"In those areas of Canada some people's only evidence of existence was a church record of baptism, but when needed, records (like from 1920's) could not always be located. The individual could truly rejoice if after sixty years the church could prove they were baptized,  but were less happy if no record found!
 
"John, as treasurer of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land for six years in the 90's had connections with all ten prairie dioceses. Both Pam and I are thankful for the experiences, and the examples of wonderful dedication in harsh climates (Minus 40C to plus 40C).
 
"Any questions or comments and we would be happy to hear from you.
 
"In Christ
 
"John and Pam"