John Samuel Philip Snowden was the sixth Bishop of Cariboo, serving from 1974 to 1991. Snowden was educated at the Anglican Theological College, Vancouver and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1952. After curacies in

Kaslo Kaslo is a village on the west shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. A member municipality of the Central Kootenay Regional District, the name derives from the adjacent Kaslo River. Before the ...

Oak Bay Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordered ...

and

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

he was the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

at St Timothy,

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In 1974 he became Dean of Cariboo, a post he held until he became the bishop of the diocese. He established the ministry of Pastoral Elders in the Territory of the People in the former Diocese of Cariboo in 1978. In an attempt to recover an early practice of pastoral partnership, individuals in a First Nation community were identified as wise, spiritual elders and were commended to the Bishop for consideration to be commissioned as a "Pastoral Elder." He also ordained the first woman priest in Canada on November 30, 1976, when Patricia Reid (along with 3 other women across Canada) was ordained in Prince George BC. He and his wife Marjorie died in a car crash in 1996.

References

1996 deaths Deans of Cariboo Anglican bishops of Cariboo Road incident deaths in Canada {{Canada-Anglican-bishop-stub