[Anglican Church of Canada] Two prominent Anglican ecumenists were awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal on June 20: Alyson Barnett-Cowan, former president of the Canadian Council of Churches, and Archdeacon Edward Simonton, vicar general and archdeacon of the Diocese of Quebec. They were nominated by the Canadian Council of Churches and the Anglican Orthodox International Theological Dialogue, respectively.
The medal is awarded to people throughout the British Commonwealth commemorating the occasion of King Charles’ coronation. The U.K. issued 400,000 medals, 30,000 of which Canada has been awarding since 2024. In Canada, the Governor General’s office awards the medals to recognize Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to Canada or for achievements abroad which bring credit to Canada.
Barnett-Cowan was chosen for her ecumenical work with the Canadian Council of Churches and for her service as director for Unity, Faith and Order with the Anglican Communion from 2009 to 2015 and as ecumenical officer of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1991 to 2009. Simonton was nominated for his work promoting theological dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox community of churches and highlighting the humanitarian struggles which many Christians in those communities face.
“I think the thing I’m most proud of in my work in Canada was to be staff for the whole process leading up to and then following up on full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada [in 2001],” says Barnett-Cowan. She says some highlights of her work for the Anglican Communion include expanding the diversity of people involved in inter-denominational dialogues between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches worldwide. And during her time at the Canadian Council of Churches, she defended against a Canada Revenue Agency audit that threatened its charitable status at the behest of a Conservative government which was alleging charities that criticized it should be treated as political organizations.
“One of my favorite memories, although it was charged at the time, was going to speak with the deputy minister of revenue to explain why peacemaking was a legitimate religious objective,” she says.
When she found out she had been nominated — via an email asking for details about her from the Governor General’s office — Barnett-Cowan says she initially assumed it must be a phishing attempt. It wasn’t until she followed up with the office and they confirmed that she believed she’d really been nominated.
Now that she has received the honor, she says, “What really pleased me about it is that it’s a recognition, ultimately, by the government of Canada that religious work is important to the nation.”
Ecumenical dialogue is important not just for the sake of forming shared statements of faith between differing denominations, she adds, but for its value in healing the damage done by interdenominational divisions and warfare around the world. That damage is less visible in Canada, she says, but she has observed that schisms and the fallout from religious wars are much more present in the minds, communities and families of the people in other countries.
“It’s healing the memories of those things that I think is really critical,” she says.
Simonton, meanwhile, was honored for his work building dialogue between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Oriental Orthodox family of churches. Not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches include religious communities in North Africa, Asia and the Middle East such as the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church in India, and the Armenian Apostolic Church, among others. Many of these churches endure significant persecution from governments hostile to Christianity or to the ethnic groups that make up the churches. This persecution has included abductions and forced conversions of Copts to Islam in Egypt and the genocide of Armenians by Turkey.
In the first sentence of his interview with the Anglican Journal, Simonton says he hopes his receipt of the medal and this article will draw some desperately needed attention to the struggles of these churches.
“We’re like, ‘Please, for God’s sake, somebody pay attention to what’s happening!’ These are genocides; these people are being wiped out.”
It’s appropriate, he adds, that this medal is being awarded in King Charles’ name, as the king is one of few world leaders who has spoken out about the persecution of Oriental Orthodox Christians. He has met frequently for more than a decade with priests, parishioners and church leaders both at visits to their churches and at receptions he’s hosted for members of persecuted Christian groups in his own residences.
Simonton’s work has involved visiting patriarchs and senior clergy from Oriental Orthodox churches and building bridges theologically and interpersonally. He and his colleagues often begin by opening dialogue on issues of theological agreement, seeking out areas of shared faith and understanding, he says. This allows them to form relationships between the Anglican Church of Canada and its Oriental Orthodox relatives both in immigrant communities in Canada and in the Orthodox churches’ home regions abroad. And those relationships make the struggles facing these churches more visible to Anglicans around the world who may be in a position to help, to draw attention from others or to act in solidarity.
One of the major reasons religious persecution in these communities doesn’t often garner headlines in Canada is the unfamiliarity of their expressions of Christianity, which may look more like what Westerners think of as Muslim prayer in some cases. This, combined with lack of familiarity with the ethnic groups involved—frequently Indigenous peoples under persecution by newer residents in their regions—and the history of their churches makes it difficult for Westerners to parse the relationships involved, he says. That lack of clarity also makes it difficult for Western Christians to see those under persecution as their Christian siblings, he adds. As a result, this work of communication and consensus-building is vital to raise the awareness of those who can help, says Simonton.
He doesn’t see his nomination for the medal as having much to do with him at all, he adds. It’s simply an opportunity to bring this work of ecumenical solidarity into the spotlight.