Death of Bishop Sania Townson

The death of the Right Reverend Sania Townson, Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Torres Strait in the Church of Torres Strait, Australia, (Traditional Anglican Communion), occurred at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane on Wednesday, 20th January 2010. Bishop Townson was [aged] 78 years. His funeral will be held in Townsville where the Anglican Bishop of North Queensland, the Right Reverend William (Bill) Ray has graciously offered the use of his cathedral. Sania Townson was ordained for that diocese and ministered there for a number of years before coming ‘home’ to the Torres Strait. In the 1930’s, as a boy, he had watched the magnificent gothic pulpit being carved on Saibai Island for the parish church. During the Second World War, he would paddle a canoe to the mainland of New Guinea during the night, passing Japanese warships, to fetch food for Islanders who were in hiding. He was a pearl fisherman and worked on building the Pilbara railway before his ordination as a priest. One of his co-consecrators when he became bishop was the Traditional Anglican Communion bishop in Japan, Raphael Kajiwara, who preached from that same gothic pulpit, and made a beautiful statement about coming “in peace, not for war”. In return, the congregation of Islanders sang for him in Japanese. The Solemn Requiem Mass and Funeral will take place on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 11.00 am in the Townsville Anglican Cathedral. The Bishop of the Torres Strait, the Right Reverend Tolowa Nona, the Vicar General, Fr Gordon Barnier, the two archdeacons, the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, and assistant bishops and clergy of the TAC will attend, together with family and friends and those who mourn.

Requiescat in pace.

Source: The Messenger www.themessenger.com.au