Peter Elliott (born 19 May 1954 in St. Catharines,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

) is a Canadian priest. He is the former (retired) rector of Christ Church Cathedral and

Dean of New Westminster Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is the second cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster of the Anglican Church of Canada. A place of worship in Greater Vancouver, the cathedral is located at 690 ...

in the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

. Elliott grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario.New West dean elected deputy prolocutor
/ref> In 1976 he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in English literature and philosophy from

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Ontario. Subsequently, he attended and graduated from the

Episcopal Divinity School The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) is a theological school in New York City that trains students for service with the Episcopal Church. It is affiliated with the Union Theological Seminary. Students who enroll in the EDS at Union Anglican st ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

.The Very Rev. Peter Elliott
/ref> In 1981 he was ordained a priest in the

Diocese of Niagara The Diocese of Niagara is one of thirty regional divisions in the Anglican Church of Canada. The see city of the diocese is Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, with the bishop's cathedra located at Christ's Church Cathedral (Hamilton), Christ's Church Ca ...

. Prior to coming to Vancouver he was Director of Ministries in Church and Society with the Anglican Church of Canada. In 1994, Elliott was made rector of Christ Church Cathedral and Dean of New Westminster. He retired in October 2019 after 25 years.

Career

From 1995 to 2005, Elliott led the initiatives to restore and renew the building of Christ Church Cathedral. This program of exterior and interior renovation, including the installation of a new tracker action pipe organ, cost $12 million. The restoration of the cathedral won awards from the City of Vancouver and the national heritage foundation. From 1998 to 2001, Elliott served as an officer of the

General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada is the chief governing and legislative body of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), the sole Canadian representative of the Anglican Communion. The first General Synod session was held in Toronto i ...

and was elected for a second term as a member of the Council of General Synod and chair of its Planning and Agenda Team. In 2003 he was elected Deputy

Prolocutor A prolocutor is a chairman of some ecclesiastical assemblies in Anglicanism. Usage in the Church of England In the Church of England, the Prolocutor is chair of the lower house of the Convocations of Canterbury and York, the House of Clergy. The ...

of the General Synod and at the General Synod in St. Catharines in 2004 and 2007, Elliott was elected Prolocutor of the General Synod. From 2000 to 2002 Elliott chaired a task force on negotiating a settlement concerning native residential schools.Trent University:: Search the Site
/ref> The Diocese of New Westminster was cited in the

Windsor Report In 2003, the Lambeth Commission on Communion was appointed by the Anglican Communion to study problems stemming from the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first noncelibate self-identifying gay priest to be ordained as an Anglican bishop, in the E ...

and the

Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting The Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings are regular meetings of the primates in the Anglican Communion, i.e. the principal archbishops or bishops of each (often national) ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion. There are currently 38 ...

over the issue of the

blessing of same-sex unions The blessing or wedding of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that homosexual acts are sinful and that holy matrimony can only exist ...

. In his position as Prolocutor, Elliott was the highest-ranking openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

cleric in the Anglican Church of Canada. In 2005, he made an official presentation to the

Anglican Consultative Council The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) is one of the four "Instruments of Communion" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference. The council, which includes Anglican bishops, other clergy, and laity ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England.Remarks to the ACC Meeting in Nottingham

I come to this issue as a man who is a Christian, ordained for 25 years, a gay man, in a committed relationship myself. I come to this meeting with the support of my partner Thomas, my family, my parish, my bishop, my diocese. And I have brought with me the very first Bible I received when I was just 4 years old. In it, in my handwriting, are the words, "Today I gave Jesus my life." It's dated March 29, 1962. I was eight years old.

Elliott has served on the board of directors of the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

. He has reviewed movies for the

Anglican Journal The ''Anglican Journal'' is the national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada. Editorially independent, the ''Journal'' publishes news, features and opinion related to Anglicanism and religion in Canada and abroad. It also contains an exten ...

- the national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada and for the newspaper of the Anglican Church of Australia. In 1999, his film reviews received an award of excellence from the

Associated Church Press Associated Church Press (aka "ACP", founded in 1916) is a professional membership organization brought together by a common commitment to excellence in journalism as a means to describe, reflect, and support the life of faith and the Christian commu ...

. Elliott has been involved with the popular CBC readings of ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' from their inception. His sister-in-law, Judy Maddren, is the CBC radio announcer who began the readings in 1990 in Toronto. In Vancouver, Christ Church Cathedral has held the popular readings during most Advent seasons since 1995. In 2009 he and his long-time partner, Thomas Roach, were married in a civil ceremony. In 2009 the Vancouver School of Theology awarded Elliott the degree of Doctor of Divinity (''honoris causa''); in 2011 he was elected as chancellor of the Vancouver School of Theology. In 2012 he represented the Canadian church at the Anglican Consultative Council in Auckland, New Zealand. Following the retirement of the diocesan bishop, Michael Ingham, and the see being vacant, on 31 August 2013, Elliott, as Dean of New Westminster became administrator of the diocese. He continued as administrator until the ordination and installation of the next bishop, Melissa M. Skelton, on 1 March 2014. On 7 September 2014, there was special tribute in words and music paid to Elliott by the Christ Church Cathedral community in honour of his 20th anniversary as rector of the cathedral and dean of the diocese. Diocesan Communications Officer and Canadian musician

Randy Murray Charles Randall "Randy" Murray is a Canadian guitarist, and was a long-serving member of Bachman–Turner Overdrive. From 1989 to 1992 he taught music, did custom recordings and held a talk radio, radio talk show in Prince George, British Columbia ...

participated in the tribute performance. From 2015, through to the dedication of the new bell tower 17 November 2016, Elliott with Christ Church Cathedral leadership embarked on a program to replace the building's roof, build a full scale commercial grade kitchen that would be fully staffed to serve community meals on weekdays, build a bell tower on the Cathedral's property footprint and have four bells created for that tower. The "Raise the Roof, Ring the Bells, Feed the Hungry" campaign was successfully funded and completed
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From April through July 2018, Elliott went on sabbatical in part to work out plans for his retirement from his ministry at Christ Church Cathedral and the Diocese of New Westminster. On 9 September 2018, Elliott announced that he would be retiring as dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral as of 30 September, 2019. Elliott was appointed Interim Director of Anglican Formation at Vancouver School of Theology on January 1, 2022 for the spring term in addition to his role as sessional instructor. Currently Adjunct Faculty at Vancouver School of Theology, Peter also has a private practice through Elliott Resource Services, Pacific as a consultant and coach. He’s a featured writer on the arts and culture in the national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada–the Anglican Journal, and co-hosts, with Dean Nathan LeRud the popular podcast The Gospel and Musical Theatre produced through Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland Oregon.

Awards

In February 2013, Elliott was awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal by Premier Christy Clark of British Columbia.

Career

Awards

References

Further reading