Ralph Spence

Who is Ralph Spence?

David Ralph Spence is a retired Canadian Anglican bishop.

Spence was born on 10 March 1942 in Hamilton, Ontario. He received a B.A. degree from McMaster University, Hamilton in 1964 and a L.Th. from Wycliffe College, Toronto in 1968. He was ordained a deacon on 5 May 1968 and then a priest on 1 December 1968 by Bishop Walter Bagnall. Spence was an assistant curate at St. George’s Guelph and then the rector of St. Bartholomew's Hamilton. After further incumbencies at St. John's Thorold and St. Luke’s Burlington he became the Archdeacon of Trafalgar in 1992 until his consecration to the episcopate as Bishop of Niagara on 21 September 1997 at Christ's Church Cathedral. He was installed at that same cathedral as the tenth Bishop of Niagara on 11 January 1998 and he retired on 29 February 2008.

In 2008, Spence became the Chancellor of Renison University College, Waterloo.