He spent twenty-two years as a priest at St. Mary's, Richmond Hill and St. John's, York Mills, in the city before being elected as an assistant bishop in 1968.
[3] Garnsworthy was a frequent guest at official state functions,[4] and in October 1982 he conducted the funeral ceremonies for former premier John Robarts.
[6] He acknowledged in 1986 that the Anglican Church had only limited influence in Canada's "comfortable" society, saying that it had more authority in places like South Africa where it was the victim of persecution.
[8] In 1983, Garnsworthy and Community and Social Services Minister Frank Drea signed an agreement for the Government of Ontario and various churches to provide housing, meals, and day programs for poor and mentally ill individuals.
[10] In 1979, Garnsworthy defended the Anglican Church's decision to accept openly gay priests on condition that such individuals not participate in same-sex sexual activity.
Garnsworthy strongly opposed the decision and wrote an article complaining that the religious and moral values of the Roman Catholic Church had in effect been given official state sanction.
"[16] Many believe this controversy caused significant damage for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1985 election, costing them support among their historically strong constituency of Anglican voters.
[17] David Rotenberg, a cabinet minister defeated in his bid for re-election, remarked, "I think [Garnsworthy] would probably get the Ian Paisley award of the year because his speech certainly made it respectable to be anti-Catholic.
"[18] The Progressive Conservatives actually won the election by a narrow margin and formed a minority government afterwards, but lost power two months later after being defeated on a confidence vote in the legislature.