Michael Geoffrey Peers (31 July 1934 – 27 July 2023) was a Canadian
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
bishop who served as
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1986 to 2004.
Life and career
Born in
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 ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Peers completed an undergraduate degree in languages at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
in 1956 and a diploma in translation at the
University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
in 1957. He had intended to embark on a career in diplomacy.
In the meantime, an interest in religion (which had begun in his youth after a non-religious upbringing) increased and he decided to seek ordination. He entered
Trinity College at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, where he obtained a licentiate in theology. He was ordained as an Anglican priest and served in the following positions:
*Curate of Holy Trinity,
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, in 1963
*Rector of St. Bede's,
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
, 1965
*Archdeacon of Winnipeg, River North Anglican Parishes, Winnipeg, 1971
*
Dean of Qu'Appelle (
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...
) and rector of
St. Paul's Cathedral, Regina, 1976–1978
*
Bishop of Qu'Appelle (Regina, Saskatchewan), 1976–1986
*Archbishop of Qu'Appelle and
Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...
, 1981–1986
*Primate of Canada, 1986–2004
Peers spoke English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. He was married with three children and four grandchildren. In 2006 his ''Grace Notes: Journeying With the Primate, 1995–2004'' (), a collection of his monthly columns in the ''Anglican Journal'', was published, and in 2007 his ''The Anglican Episcopate in Canada: Volume IV, 1977–2007''.
Peers was later confessor to the monastery of the
Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston and Ecumenist in Residence at the
Toronto School of Theology
Affiliated with the University of Toronto, the Toronto School of Theology (TST) is an Ecumenism, ecumenical consortium of seven Seminary, theological colleges. Its seven member schools are Emmanuel College, Toronto, Emmanuel College, Knox College, ...
.
Michael Peers died on 27 July 2023, at the age of 88.
Ministry on the prairies
Having come from a background that might have suggested to prairie folk that he was an "eastern" élitist, Peers quickly established himself as keen sympathiser with the ideals of prairie populism. Rural Saskatchewanians quickly perceived that Peers was their ardent supporter—that the ideals of prairie populism were his own ideals—and that his obvious membership in the Canadian élite was entirely to their advantage. The life of a prairie bishop is one of endless travel along the highways and byways of the prairie hinterland: in the course of such travels Peers made long and lasting friendships with many members of the Saskatchewan leadership, as with many grassroots Saskatchewanians, and these friendships amply informed the national and worldwide ministry of his primacy.
Major events of his primacy
Major events include:
*the introduction of the ''Book of Alternative Services'' (to supplement — but in effect replace — the ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
'', and over the objections of the
Prayer Book Society of Canada, which unsuccessfully litigated the matter in an ecclesiastical court over which Archbishop Peers presided);
*the achieving of full communion with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian g ...
(in which he played a pivotal role);
*the formal apology to native peoples for the abuses which occurred in the
Residential Schools;
*financial settlement with the federal government over aboriginal claims against native residential schools operated on the government's behalf principally by Anglican and Roman Catholic churches;
*en route to the 1978
Lambeth Conference
The Lambeth Conference convenes as the Archbishop of Canterbury summons an assembly of Anglican bishops every ten years. The first took place at Lambeth in 1867.
As regional and national churches freely associate with the Anglican Communion, ...
touched down in the newly independent
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
and the then-
North Solomons Province
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
though it was
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
and
United Church
A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestantism, Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinc ...
, to the former of which he and Mrs. Peers returned, having established friendly relations and later as Primate sending a bishop;
*the stand taken by the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
in 1986 in support of Canada's northern people, who depended on the seal hunt, against the international animal rights lobby; towards the end of his tenure,
*the emergence of the issue of the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy (which he supported); and
*his presidency of the Metropolitan Council of Cuba (a council that oversees the episcopal work of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of Cuba
The Episcopal Church of Cuba () is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States ( ECUSA or TEC). The diocese consists of the entire country of Cuba. From 1966 to 2020, it was an extra-provincial diocese under the archbishop of Canterbur ...
, once a part of the
Episcopal Church in the United States which is because of US government policy no longer able to take any role there);
*his cultivation of a much closer relationship between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States.
References
External links
Biography from the Anglican Church of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peers, Michael
1934 births
2023 deaths
People from Vancouver
20th-century Anglican Church of Canada bishops
Anglican bishops of Qu'Appelle
University of Toronto alumni
Trinity College (Canada) alumni
Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada
Metropolitans of Rupert's Land
Deans of Qu'Appelle
Archdeacons of Winnipeg