Monsignor Peter Donald Wilkinson

The Reverend Monsignor Peter Donald Wilkinson died, surrounded by friends, on Saturday June 6th, the Eve of Corpus Christi, fortified by the Rites of Holy Mother Church, after a lifetime of service to the Church, in both Anglican and Roman Catholic ministries.

Peter was born in Victoria on April 13, 1940, the son of Donald and Mary Wilkinson, and was educated at the University of British Columbia (BA English Literature, History & Classics), with post-ordination study (BD Prelim) at the University of London, England under the tutelage of Dr Eric Mascall.

Peter trained for the Anglican ministry at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, Yorkshire. Following ordination by Archbishop Michael Ramsey in Canterbury Cathedral in 1965, he served his curacy in the Diocese of Canterbury at St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, before returning to Mirfield as a novice of the Community of the Resurrection. Coming back to Canada in 1970, Peter served in the Diocese of British Columbia as a hospital chaplain and assistant at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria.

In 1977 Peter was a participant in the Congress of Concerned Churchmen in St Louis, Missouri, which led him to found the first Continuing Anglican parish in Canada. He assisted in the formation of the Diocese of Canada and in 1985 was appointed Honorary Canon of the diocese. In 1999 Peter was elected Suffragan Bishop of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, within the Traditional Anglican Communion, becoming Bishop Ordinary in 2005, in succession to Bishop Robert Mercer CR.

In the years before the establishment of the Ordinariate, Peter was amongst the bishops of the Traditional Anglian Communion who petitioned for corporate unity with the Catholic Church. Having realised this goal, he was received into the Church and ordained priest in 2012, serving as St John Henry’s first Parochial Administrator until 2014. In October 2012 he was appointed Consultor to the Anglicanae Traditiones Commission by Archbishop Augustine Di Noia OP to supply texts for Divine Worship: The Missal and Divine Worship: Occasional Services. He served the commission for three years. In 2013 Peter was appointed Prelate of Honour by Pope Benedict XVI, with whom, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he had been in regular correspondence.

His body will be received into Our Lady, Queen of Peace Church, 849 Old Esquimalt Road, Victoria, on Sunday June 14th at 5:15 pm, and will be followed by a Vigil Service. A Solemn Pontifical Requiem Funeral Mass will be offered at Our Lady, Queen of Peace Church, on Monday, June 15th at 1:00 pm.

Donations in his honour and to support the work he began in Victoria, the parish of St John Henry Newman, may be made to donate.sjhn@ordinariate.ca

Condolences may be offered to the family below.

McCall Gardens
www.mccallgardens

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