History

The Churchwardens are the chief lay officers of a parish and share with the Incumbent responsibility for its administration. In a parish containing two or more congregations, each congregation may have its own pair of Churchwardens or two Churchwardens may act for the whole parish.

The history of the office reaches far back in the story of the English people. As Christianity spread over England the whole country was gradually divided into parishes. Each parish was a district, usually co-extensive with a ‘township’, under a priest known as the Incumbent or ‘curate’, who was responsible to his bishop for the care (‘cure’) of the souls of his parishioners, and who came to be known as the ‘parson’, since he was at first the only person who legally represented the parish for many purposes. From an early time, the parish was an important unit of English local government and the church or churchyard was a meeting place of the parishioners, who became known as the ‘vestry’ because they often met in that room under the chairmanship of the parson. In medieval times there grew up a custom of annual selection by the parson and the vestry of two parishioners, known as Churchwardens, to be responsible for the fabric and the furniture of the church, who gradually became the executive officers of the parish. From time to time the state imposed on the Churchwardens and the vestry, civil duties, such as repair of the roads and bridges, appointment of constables, the care of the poor and raising money by taxes for these purposes. In more modern times these responsibilities were gradually transferred to other authorities, and the English parish and its officers are now purely ecclesiastical institutions.

When the Province of Upper Canada was founded in 1791, it was contemplated by the British and provincial governments that the Church of England would become the established Church of the province. Rectories were established by the government as settlement advanced; they were endowed with ‘crown lands’. By the Parish and Town Officers Act of 1793, town wardens were to be elected annually by the inhabitants of every settled township, to have charge of the rudimentary local government of the township. Where there was an Anglican Church with an Incumbent, one warden was to be chosen by the Incumbent and one by the people, and the two were popularly known as Churchwardens. This arrangement was furthered by The Church Temporalities Act of 1843, defining Churchwardens during their term as a corporation representing the interest of their church and its members. In 1876, by an Act relating to the Diocese of Ontario, the Diocesan Synod was authorized to make canons regulating existing vestries and their organization as well as the duties of Churchwardens, thereby providing for the organization of vestries in the Diocese and prescribing the duties and powers of the Vestries and Churchwardens.

Then, by an Act of 1893 relating to this Diocese (An Act Respecting The Incorporated Synod of Ontario, 1893), all Churchwardens appointed under any canon of the Diocesan Synod were given the same status, powers and responsibilities on behalf of their church, station or parish and its members, as Churchwardens were given under the church Temporalities Act. As a result the Churchwardens are a legal entity in law and in all business agreements the corporate name shall be used. The legal designation is “The Churchwardens of the Church of”______________________”.

In summary, what our history has brought us to today is this; The Incorporated Synod of the Diocese of Ontario is a legal corporation created under its own Act(s) of the Ontario Legislature dating from the mid-1800’s. The corporate form under which our congregations operate was also created through an Act of the Ontario Legislature. This means that the rules we refer to (our Canons or Canon law) are not “private rules” or bylaws of a private corporation; they are provincial statute. We do not operate as “ordinary corporations” either at the Diocesan or at the Vestry level.  Some of you may have backgrounds in business or law, or have held responsible positions in other organizations. Much of what you have learned elsewhere will translate into our governance structure and rules. However, there will be twists along the way. We cannot overstate the importance of becoming familiar with our Diocesan Canons, policies, and guidelines, as there are some significant differences in how we must work together both legally and according to our Anglican traditions.