Edmonton archdeacon elected Kootenay bishop

The Venerable John Elswood Privett of Edmonton has been elected the Bishop of Kootenay by an electoral synod of that diocese held in Kelowna May 28.

Bishop-elect Privett has been the rector of Christ Church, Edmonton, and one of two territorial archdeacons serving under Bishop Victoria Matthews in that diocese. He played a significant role in the Diocese of Edmonton last year during the seven-month absence of Bishop Matthews due to illness.

The new bishop-elect was associate priest from 1988 till late 1992 at St. Mary’s Kerrisdale in Vancouver. Recently Bishop-elect Privett was appointed chair of the council of the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad, an Anglican seminary in Saskatoon.

Five Diocese of New Westminster priests were among the 15 candidates in the Episcopal election, which required six ballots. Bishop-elect Privett was the only candidate from his diocese.

The election followed the retirement last year of Archbishop David Crawley. Following the consecration of the Kootenay bishop on September 17, the executive council of the Provincial Synod of British Columbia and Yukon will meet November 4 to elect a new archbishop for the ecclesiastical province from among BC and Yukon bishops, which now number six.