A Church Army Captain and former clergyman of the Church of England has been elected Bishop of the Diocese of Fredericton in the Anglican Church of Canada. On 10 May 2014 a special session of the diocesan synod elected the Ven. David Edwards, Archdeacon of St Andrews and the diocesan Parish Development Officer as 10th bishop of the diocese that serves the Province of New Brunswick.
Archdeacon Edwards was elected on the fourth ballot from among six candidates and will succeed Archbishop Claude Miller, who will retire on 23 June 2014 – his 70th birthday. Archbishop Miller will also step down as Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, which consists of the dioceses of three dioceses in the province of Newfoundland & Labrador as well as the dioceses of Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island, Fredericton, Quebec and Montreal. A new metropolitan will be elected by the provincial synod later this year.
Born in 1960 in England, Archdeacon Edwards was ordained to the diaconate in 1995 and priesthood in 1996 in the Diocese of Chelmsford, where he served his curacy and as incumbent at St. Mary High Ongar with Norton Mandeville. His also served as Bishop’s Adviser in Evangelism, and Mission and Education Minister for Ongar Deanery. In 1998 he was appointed principal of the Church Army’s Taylor College of Evangelism in St John, New Brunswick. In 2002 he was appointed rector at Stone Church in St John and in 2010 appointed Archdeacon of Saint John. In 2011 he became development officer for the Diocese of Fredericton and later acting Archdeacon of St Andrews.