Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, will be named a canon of the Diocese of Ecuador Central’s Catedral de El Senor in Quito at a special service on Sunday, February 21 by Bishop Wilfrido Ramos-Orench.

According to Episcopal Church and Anglican understanding, the term “canon” relates to persons attached to the bishop or to the bishop’s church, the cathedral. Canons are frequently members of the clergy, but lay leaders in the church also occasionally receive such an honorary designation.

“I think it is a tribute to Bishop Ramos that he honors lay people in his own diocese by empowering their ministry and by his supportive and humble faithfulness,” Anderson said. “It is a great honor to me that I have been asked to be a part of the diocese in this way.”

The diocese of Ecuador Central is one of the 110 dioceses that comprise The Episcopal Church. Part of Province IX of the Episcopal Church, it is one of two dioceses located in Ecuador. The diocese of Ecuador Central consists of 28 mission congregations and16 priests, including four women, a retired priest and four missioners.

Bonnie Anderson has a long history of service to the Episcopal Church, especially as an advocate for the ministry of the laity. Before being elected as president of the House of Deputies in 2006, Anderson served in the Diocese of Michigan in many capacities, including canon to the ordinary, president of the Standing Committee, and member of the Commission on Ministry. In her southeast Michigan community, she designed, coordinated and implemented a citizen-sponsored river cleanup involving 22 local governments and more than 4,000 volunteers. The Governor of Michigan appointed her as a public member of the Michigan Environmental Review Board.

Anderson has been an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan in the School of Natural Resources and the Women’s Studies Department. Her published resources include “Spirituality and the Earth; Exploring Connections,” “A Citizen’s Guidebook to the Great Lakes Ecosystem” and “White Racism: Look Me in the Eye.”

She is a seven-time lay deputy to General Convention and has served as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F) for three terms.

Elected by Province V as its lay representative to Executive Council, Anderson served on Executive Council’s Standing Committee on Administration and Finance and was the elected Executive Council representative to the Investment Committee for TEC. She was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements and chair of the General Convention Task Force charged by the 74th General Convention to prepare a comprehensive model for General Convention, including structure and agenda, to be considered by the 75th General Convention. Anderson was elected vice president of the House of Deputies in 2003 and its president in 2006.

Anderson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Divinity School and an honorary Doctor of Canon Law degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. She has been married to Glen Anderson for 44 years. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.

The president of the House of Deputies is elected every three years to serve throughout the triennium in a non-stipendiary position. The president serves as vice president of the Executive Council and vice president of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS). She presides over the House of Deputies at General Convention, appoints clergy and lay members of all the Standing Commissions and Legislative Committees, and performs many functions of liaison, development and opportunity between conventions.