The Church of the Ascension in Howley is one of the two points that make up the Parish of Deer Lake, with the other being the Church of St. Michael & All Angels in Deer Lake. I like to say that I am the only priest in Newfoundland & Labrador who has to drive the 401 to get to one of their churches! Twelve kilometers from the Trans-Canada Highway is the tucked-away community of Howley. It was once a railway town, but its claim to fame is that Howley is the community in which our beloved four-legged speed bumps, also known as moose, were let off a train in 1904. Thirty years after the moose were introduced, the local people built a church, placed under the patronage of the Ascension of our Lord. This beautiful wooden structure and its cemetery sit on the same property, not too far from the spot where the train stopped in 1904. Built in 1934, the building has certainly had its share in the joys and sorrows of the lives of people.
With my arrival in the parish in September of 2021, I quickly fell in love with this building, but most of all with its people—the true Church. As I got to know the handful of people who attend worship, I was quick to discover that one could not only easily spiritually feed the people present, but that the people present also spiritually feed their priest! To put it in terms of employment: to go to Howley is literally taking a vacation in the middle of a workday. As the liturgical year began to change from Advent to Lent in that first year, and then to the best season of all—Easter—to be in the oldest church of the three churches under the patronage of the Ascension that I am aware of (Church of the Ascension, Wiltondale, and Church of the Ascension, Mount Pearl), I knew it just had to be celebrated all the more on the fortieth day after the Feast of the Resurrection. In my time of being a priest, I have always celebrated the Feast of the Ascension on the day on which it falls—a Thursday. The lectionary website of the Anglican Church of Canada states the following:
Of the seven Principal Feasts of our church, three occur on a Sunday: Easter, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. Further, the BAS provides for one to be anticipated—Epiphany—and one to be transferred—All Saints. Although many worshipers will no longer come to a weekday service, Christmas is an exception and so has been retained on the day of the week on which it falls. This leaves Ascension as the only Principal Feast that is no longer widely observed. Although many Anglicans and Roman Catholics were reluctant to “give up” on the expectation that the Ascension Thursday services would be well observed, most have now realised that the transfer to Sunday is inevitable. The Canadian Roman Catholic Conference of Bishops allowed Ascension to be observed on the Sunday over twenty years ago. Many Canadian Anglican parishes already observe Ascension Sunday instead of the Sunday after Ascension. This ordo makes provision for this. This day is always kept as Ascension Day and if it is also observed on Sunday then this is in addition to its observance today.
Well, in the Parish of Deer Lake, at the Church of the Ascension, we celebrate the Principal Feast of the Ascension on the day on which it falls. We do so with a celebratory and spirit-filled atmosphere, and a good number of people make the pilgrimage from Deer Lake to Howley (which is a return trip of 93 km) with the good possibility of seeing the offspring of those first moose that were introduced back in 1904. With the celebration of the Holy Eucharist using the propers for the Feast of Dedication, we worship and pray around the font, the lectern, the pulpit, and the altar. After the conclusion of the liturgy, we go to the Howley Community Center and continue our celebration with, in good Anglican fashion—TEA!
It is said that after doing something for two years, it becomes tradition. I am proud to say that the pilgrimage to the Church of the Ascension for the Feast of the Ascension, falling on a Thursday, is a highlight not only for the congregation of Howley but for the whole of the Parish of Deer Lake!
