Finally, she has been heard from, but not about a Canadian issue. She has responded to the Russo-Ukrainian War. An event unfolding more than five thousand miles away from her.

"Today (Feb. 25) I woke to the news of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Although this invasion was anticipated, it is still a shock to hear this declaration of war and the sounds of attacks reverberating across the media," she posted on the Anglican Church of Canada website. "The extended efforts at diplomacy and negotiation have been unable to establish grounds for a peaceful resolution. Any war brings untold pain and devastation to all involved. This one will do the same."

She then called the Canadian Anglicans to pray.

"I invite Anglicans across Canada to join in prayer for the people of Ukraine and a swift end to this unprovoked invasion," she wrote.

She posted the Prayer for Peace out of the 1985 Canadian Book of Alternative Services and the Prayer for Peace in the World from the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer.

The Canadian archbishop also mentioned that the Anglican Peace and Justice Network would be holding online prayer and that Quinquagesima (the Sunday before Ash Wednesday) featured the Transfiguration Gospel.

When the Revised Common Lectionary came into being, Quinquagesima Sunday became Transfiguration Sunday because the Transfiguration story was read from one of the synoptic Gospels -- Matthew, Mark or Luke on that Sunday. This is the same Gospel which is also read on the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6).

"On this day we celebrate another epiphany of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, who calls us into peace with one another," she explained. "Please include prayers in your time of worship for Ukraine, for Russia and for all world leaders seeking a peaceful resolution to this tragic war."

The churches in Canada which share the 1994 Revised Common Lectionary are:
the Anglican Church of Canada; the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Grace Communion International Canada;
the Lutheran Church--Canada;
the Mennonite Church Canada; the Presbyterian Church in Canada; and the
United Church of Canada.

True, as a Christian, and as a bishop, and as an Anglican primate she has a responsibility to join the circle of prayer surrounding the Ukrainians. But she also has a responsibility, perhaps even a greater responsibility, to provide spiritual leadership and encouragement as events unfolded in her own nation.

Another woman bishop, Anna Greenwood-Lee (XIV British Columbia) did post about the Freedom Convoy on Twitter: "It's an astroturfed movement -- one that creates an impression of widespread grassroots support where little exists -- funded by a global network of highly organized far-right groups and amplified by Facebook's misinformation machine," parroting what Arwa Mahdawi wrote in an opinion piece in The Guardian about the Canadian truckers' Freedom Convoy.

The Columbia bishop did not even use her own words -- she just regurgitated what The Guardian opinion writer had written.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Roman Catholic, took a harsh line, a very harsh line against his own Canadian commercial truck drivers who felt the only way to have their grievances heard by their government was through using their vehicles as their collective voice. If the government leaders couldn't hear the blast of air horns or the growl of diesel engines, at least they could see all the pretty trucks, wrapped in Canadian flags, lined up in a row.

Most boys love playing with toy trucks when they are children. They like to push them in the sand and pretend. But Trudeau was not playing pretend. He was deadly earnest. He declared a state of emergency and unleashed the 1988 Emergency Act which gave the Canadian government untold power to freeze bank accounts, seize trucks, arrest drivers, confiscate fuel, revoke commercial driver's licenses, issue tickets, level criminal charges, and use targeted police force actions against Canadian citizens who were merely, for the most part, peacefully demonstrating.

Trudeau's "state of emergency" pales to what President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing in the Ukraine. It is estimated that 2,500 Russian tanks with upwards to 175,000 soldiers are staged and entering into the Ukraine with one goal in mind -- to overrun Kyiv and take over the government and claim the country.

The Canadian prime minister's major problem was that his capital city was snarled with trucks. The truckers were not trying to overrun the city, just get their concerns about COVID passports and quarantines heard because the continued COVID restrictions were preventing them from driving and doing their job of fanning out across the country with the goods that Canadians want and need.

Without the truckers, grocery store shelves are empty. Without the truckers, automobile parts can't get the dealerships. Without the truckers, pharmaceuticals don't get to drug stores.

The drivers were eventually met with a show of brute police force. When Toronto police horses were brought in, two people were run down and trampled by the large beasts, including a disabled woman on a walker. That police action was caught on video and went viral. The Special Investigations Unit, Ontario's police watchdog agency, has been called in to investigate the incident.

The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa was empowered to possibly remove children who accompanied their truck-driving parents.

"The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) is urging parents at the demonstration in Ottawa to make the necessary alternate care arrangements should they become unable to care for their children following potential police action," the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa posted. "CASO has a mandate to protect a child when their parent becomes unavailable to exercise their custodial rights over the child and the parent has not made adequate provision for the child's care and custody.

"If parents and children are separated following police efforts in ending the demonstration in the downtown core, CASO will work to reunite families as soon as possible," the children's protective organization promised.

Many truckers bring dogs for companionship, some carry cats and then there's a gerbil or hamster here and there too.

Pets were also threatened by the Canadian Bylaw and Regulatory Services if their owners were arrested and jailed.

"Attention animal owners at demonstration," the Canadian Bylaw and Regulatory Services' tweet started. "If you are unable to care for your animal as a result of enforcement actions, your animal will placed into protective care for 8 days, at your cost. After 8 days, if arrangements are not made, your animal will be considered relinquished."

Fido, Spot and Fluffy would become the ward of the Canadian Bylaw and Regulatory Services and brought to the pound run by the Ottawa Humane Society. Many truckers took it to mean that if they were separated from their beloved pets for more than eight days because of arrest and jailing their pets would be dispatched to dog and cat heaven.

To top it off, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson wants to sell all the trucks and campers and vans and other vehicles that were confiscated. He has no intention of giving them back.

A trucker's entire livelihood is tied up in his vehicle. It's his office. It's his place of employment. It's his home on the road. If he loses his truck, he loses his job, he loses his livelihood, he loses his ability to provide for his family.

The bestselling big rigs in Canada are: Peterbilt, Kenworth, Volvo, Freightliner and International.

Depending on the make and model with detailing and options, a new truck (cab only) can cost from $70,000 to $150,000 in American money which translates into $88,000 to $190,000 in Canadian dollars.

The trailer, whether it be a dry box van, or a tanker, or a refrigerated unit, or a flatbed, or a drop deck lowboy can cost another $25,000 to $50,000 ($32,000 to $63,000 Canadian) or more depending on specialization.

For a trucker to lose anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 ($123,000 to $253,000 Canadian) in necessary equipment would bankrupt him, stripping him of his ability to continue in his chosen profession.

Archbishop Nicholls called the Canadians to pray for the Ukrainians but she did not call for Canadians to pray for their truckers. Nor did she call on them to pray for a swift end of their Freedom Convoy or Trudeau's dictatorial methods.

The Canadian archbishop didn't ask her 1,500 Anglican congregations to unite in prayer on one designated Sunday for the spiritual and temporal needs of Freedom Convoy; or to pray for the spiritual and temporal needs of the nation while the truckers were demonstrating and making their concerns known.

The Sundays from January 22 to February 23 are: January 23 and 30; February 6, 23 and 20. This year, January had five Sundays -- giving Archbishop Nicholls an extra Sunday to call for unified prayer. She didn't do it.

She didn't call for "extended efforts at diplomacy and negotiation ... to establish grounds for a peaceful resolution."

The lady bishop, who apparently has a cat, didn't reach out to the truckers who were facing losing their pets to the Canadian Bylaw and Regulatory Services.

During her 2021 New Year's message to the Anglican Church of Canada she wrote: "Every week I receive multiple heart-wrenching pleas for refugee sponsorship from people who are trapped in camps or in countries where they cannot work and are not welcome and they are desperate for help for the sake of their family."

The truckers who have lost their vehicles "are desperate for help for the sake of their family." But Archbishop Nicholls has neither seen them nor heard them.

The archbishop hadn't interceded with the government to encourage officials not to strip Canadian truck drivers of their method of earning a living and providing for themselves and their families, leaving them with "untold pain and devastation."

"We know that the tenets of the Golden Rule -- 'Do unto others as you would them do unto you' -- and know it is not being honoured," she posted in her New Year's message where she wrote about George Floyd and Barbara Kentner, systemic racism and mental health, COVID-19 vaccines, and justice, mercy, and compassion.

Apparently, she forgot the old adage: "Charity begins at home."

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.