The Rev. Richard “Rick” Reed was elected the 13th bishop of the Anglican diocese of Saskatchewan after winning the fifth ballot in an episcopal election May 11.
Currently priest-in-charge at three congregations within the diocese—St. David’s in Prince Albert, Emmanuel in St. Louis and St. Stephen’s in MacDowall—Reed takes over the office of bishop after his predecessor Michael Hawkins resigned in April 2023 due to health problems from long COVID-19. Diocesan Indigenous Bishop of Missinippi Adam Halkett has served since Hawkins’ retirement as interim bishop of Saskatchewan.
The election, which took place at St. Alban’s Cathedral in Prince Albert, saw five candidates in total. These included Reed, the Rev. Blessing Shambare from the diocese of Athabasca, Canon Claude Schroeder from the diocese of Qu’Appelle, Canon Iain Luke from the diocese of Saskatoon and the Rev. Beryl Whitecap from the diocese of Saskatchewan.
The Rev. Brody Albers, chair of the search committee and priest-in-charge at St. Christopher’s Church in Christopher Lake, says approximately 19 clergy and 35 lay delegates voted in the election.
“We had a great slate of candidates and I’m very pleased to see Rick made bishop,” Albers says. “He’s somebody local. He’s been in the diocese for about five years now. He is a very good priest and has really great relationships with Bishop Adam and with the other Indigenous clergy in our diocese. That’s a really important thing … The fact that people elected him goes to show that he is well-liked and respected around here.”
Indigenous relationships a key priority for bishop-elect
Having decided after prayer that he would let his name stand if he were nominated for bishop, Reed says he was nevertheless surprised to be elected.
“It’s kind of a shock,” he says, adding, “I think that there’s going to be a learning process and [for] the diocese itself, it’s going to be a different time and we’re going to have to see what that all looks like together.”
Born and raised in Nashville, Tenn. in 1967, Reed was baptized in The Episcopal Church, but had become less sure of his belief in God by his early 20s. “It was the influence of two of my best friends who had both had their own encounter with Christ that led me back to the Lord,” he recalls, adding, “That’s why relationships are so important in the church, because it’s through friendship and inviting people that you know and have built a meaningful relationship with that you’ll see most of your church growth.”
Reed began attending church on a regular basis and became a voracious Bible reader. He served as a short-term missionary in the Christian organization Youth With a Mission, spending three years in Calcutta, India.
In 1998 Reed moved to Canada to attend Regent College in Vancouver, where he earned his master’s degree in Christian studies. Ordained as a deacon in 2005 and a priest in 2006, he served as incumbent of the Killarney Parish Group in the diocese of Brandon for five years. From 2010 to 2019 he served as rector of Christ Church and St. Peter’s in the diocese of Algoma before returning to the diocese of Saskatchewan.
Reed says one of his priorities as bishop of Saskatchewan will be strengthening the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Anglicans. He notes that the largest population of Anglicans in the diocese of Saskatchewan are Cree.
Issues such as the impact of residential schools, Reed says, have affected the relationship between Cree and non-Indigenous Anglicans, though this is happening less as time goes on because the diocese’s churches are becoming less homogenous.
“We have to recover that sense that we’re one church,” Reed says. “Even though there’s this self-determining church and the Sacred Circle … we’re still brothers and sisters in Christ.”
He adds, “I think this is one of the things that’s going to be key to the future of the diocese, —that our Indigenous church community really has something to offer the churches here in the South and we do them. So my real emphasis is going to be to build those relationships and to do that primarily through discipleship and … gathering folks together.”
A date has not yet been announced for Reed’s consecration as bishop.
