October 2022 Archives - Anglican Life https://anglicanlife.ca/topics/october-2022/ Thu, 27 Oct 2022 17:09:49 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://anglicanlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/512alnl-150x150.png October 2022 Archives - Anglican Life https://anglicanlife.ca/topics/october-2022/ 32 32 214534578 The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John’s https://anglicanlife.ca/the-cathedral-of-st-john-the-baptist-in-st-johns/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:50:15 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173879    

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]]> Take-away tea at the cathedral, July 2022. Patrice Gordon (server), and Gina Jamieson Bartlett (patron)
Take-away tea at the cathedral, July 2022. Patrice Gordon (server), and Gina Jamieson Bartlett (patron)

 

graveyard on Forest Road, St. Johns, summer 2022
Forest Road Cemetery, all ready for the flower service. July, 2022

 

the inside of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, July 2022
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St John’s: the best cool place to be on a scorcher of a hot July day!

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]]> 173879 New Columbarium at St. John the Evangelist Cemetery https://anglicanlife.ca/new-columbarium-at-st-john-the-evangelist-cemetery/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:49:15 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173876 On July 17, 2022, during the annual Flower Service, the Rt. Rev’d Sam Rose, Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, dedicated the new columbarium at St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Coley’s Point (Parish of Bay Roberts/ Coley’s Point). Columbaria are a new thing in this area but there seemed to be an interest in our […]

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On July 17, 2022, during the annual Flower Service, the Rt. Rev’d Sam Rose, Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, dedicated the new columbarium at St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Coley’s Point (Parish of Bay Roberts/ Coley’s Point). Columbaria are a new thing in this area but there seemed to be an interest in our church, so a columbarium committee was formed by vestry in February 2021.

bishop blessing new columbarium After much research and advice from other more experienced individuals, our columbarium was ordered in the Spring of 2021. New Burial and Cemetery Regulations were developed, and the columbarium committee was integrated with the existing cemetery committee. After several COVID-19 related delays, our columbarium finally arrived on a cold windy day in March 2022.

With its walkway and landscaping, it is a wonderful addition to our lovely, well-maintained cemetery. We are pleased to report that interest in purchasing niches has surpassed all our expectations. Thank you to the committee for all their volunteer work on this project.

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]]> 173876 Goodbye to Rev’d Kay https://anglicanlife.ca/goodbye-to-revd-kay/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:48:43 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173869 The parish had a good bye lunch for the Rev’d Kay Osmond who is finished as our priest-in-charge on August 21st, 2022. St. Paul’s Church with Meadows, Gillams, and Summerside were all in attendance. The photographs show Rev’d Kay receiving gifts, dancing with her son Matthew, as the band plays the song “Music and Friends,” […]

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]]> The parish had a good bye lunch for the Rev’d Kay Osmond who is finished as our priest-in-charge on August 21st, 2022. St. Paul’s Church with Meadows, Gillams, and Summerside were all in attendance. The photographs show Rev’d Kay receiving gifts, dancing with her son Matthew, as the band plays the song “Music and Friends,” hugging grandson Nolan, and speeches by all. We will certainly miss her, and we wish her all the best in her new adventure.

people at a farewell for their rector people gathered at a farewell dinner man shakes woman's hand at farewell event woman and her grandson woman and her son dancing

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]]> 173869 In Decline https://anglicanlife.ca/in-decline/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:47:26 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173867 According to the latest Gallup Poll, Christianity continues to decline in Europe, North America, and other “Western” counties. Their most recent poll found that only 47% of American adults were members of a church, synagogue, or mosque. For the first time the number has fallen below 50%. A recent poll from the UK claims that […]

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]]> According to the latest Gallup Poll, Christianity continues to decline in Europe, North America, and other “Western” counties. Their most recent poll found that only 47% of American adults were members of a church, synagogue, or mosque. For the first time the number has fallen below 50%. A recent poll from the UK claims that only 6% of adults identified themselves as practicing Christians, while 42% say they are non-practicing adherents.

In Canada, this decline is most evident in Quebec where the the dominant Roman Catholic Church began it downward spiral in the 90s with the “Quiet Revolution.” Now about 5% are regular church goers. A similar decline is happening in Ireland, once considered the most Catholic country in the world.

According to Statistics Canada, in Atlantic Canada only 17% attend church, down from 38% in 2019 (the pandemic is also be a factor). The Anglican Church of Canada has been reduced from 1.3 million in 1961 to 282,000 in 2017. A recent analysis estimated that 9,000 church buildings will close in Canada in the next decade. We are seeing this happening here as numbers in most denominations keep decreasing.

As membership declines, there are fewer left to continue carrying on the programs and activities of the Church. The ones left are aging or engaged in other charities. The Church is no longer in the forefront, but more on the sideline, and its presence is less visible. People, including those nurtured as Christians, are now exposed to other forms of religion, and have a range of choices if they wish to follow a spiritual path. What we have been seeing since the 1960s, beginning with the Baby Boomers, is that each generation is less involved with Christianity. It used to be that churches retained numbers because the next generation replaced the previous one. It is no longer the case. At the same time registered members are less active and involved. Recruitment is challenging for so many reasons.

Christians are divided on so many issues—doctrinal, ethical, political, cultural. Outsiders see in the Church’s institutional rot, overt racism, toleration of sexual abuse, thirst for power, denial, self-defensiveness, and lack of courage. And there is general lack of trust in organizations and their leaders, and churches are often regarded as hypocritical and narrow-minded.

It is customary to blame secularism, materialism, and anti-religion trends for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religions themselves for their own situations.

Tomas Halik, a Roman Catholic priest, asserts that this time of empty church buildings exposes the Church’s hidden emptiness. Unless they can show the world a completely different face of Christianity, decline will continue.

Abraham Heschel claims that a religion declines not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, and insipid; where faith is replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit. When the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendour of the past, when faith becomes a heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, the message becomes meaningless.

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]]> 173867 Lambeth and COVID https://anglicanlife.ca/lambeth-and-covid/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:46:09 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173865 On the evening of Saturday, July 30th, 2022, I went to bed with a sore throat. After the week I had which entailed a visit to a local nursing home and a couple of funerals, I thought I had been talking to much and just needed to give my voice a rest. The next morning […]

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On the evening of Saturday, July 30th, 2022, I went to bed with a sore throat. After the week I had which entailed a visit to a local nursing home and a couple of funerals, I thought I had been talking to much and just needed to give my voice a rest. The next morning with two liturgies in Deer Lake, with the 11:00 am suppose to be a baptism and a “Come Home Year Celebration” that evening in Howley, I did not feel well. It was not like a sinus infection which I had had a few weeks before; this was different. So, what did I do? I took a COVID rapid test. What was the result? Positive for COVID. In a rush to get everything covered and notify the family seeking baptism that it would not be happening as planned, I began my period of self- isolation, and I took in the sessions of The Lambeth Conference which were being livestreamed from Canterbury, Kent.

Just as sports fans look to see for their favourite player on television, I was looking for bishops that I knew; in particular our three Newfoundland and Labrador bishops. As sick as I was, I would get excited when I would see a bishop that I knew. I took in all that I could during that time of suffering with COVID, with the lack of appetite, the lack of energy and all the yucky stuff associated with it; I got excited for what I was hearing and what it is that we need to do and to be in order to be “God’s Church for God’s World.”

In the third of a series of keynote addresses delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, he closed with these words taking the marks of mission of the 5 T’s: Tell, Teach, Tend, Transform, and Treasure. This quotation is from him: “The Anglican Communion is one part of [the] multitude. Is it argumentative? Oh yes. Is it diverse? Immensely. Is it God’s holy people? Certainly. Let us go out together in obedience—sent out, as God’s church for God’s world.”

This gave me hope. This gave me a sense of purpose. It gave me a reminder of something that I had been told before I was ordained: that I needed to broaden my view of the Church from being the little dot on the map that had a boundary from the Quarry Bridge to the West Side of LeDrew’s Road in Conception Bay South. It gave me the nudge that I did not realize that I needed. It gave me the realization that we need not just another building that people pass by and wonder what its purpose is. The purposes and the realization in this hope are that we are part of the kingdom of God, and it has a whole lot more than cassocks and collars, organs and pews, parish councils and budgets. It is something real and tangible in the here and now, just as well as it is of the future. It is the full expression of “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

This gave me the inspiration to take the gifts that God has given to me as a priest, and to know that we as a Church, if we are to be God’s Church for God’s world, need to be active. We need to be active in our congregations, parishes, deaneries, and dioceses. There are those who voice doom and gloom because of the pandemic. Now is the time to prove them wrong and be what it is that God is calling us to be. God is calling us to be faithful. God is calling us to  tell others about love, to teach them about hope, to tend to their needs, to transform their lives and to treasure this place we live in. We do not need to be bishops or priests to do this. We are all part of this, and we all need to encourage one another. After all, we are argumentative, diverse, and holy. In being argumentative, diverse, and holy, let us be obedient so that we can be God’s Church for God’s world.

I guess it was a good thing for me to come down with COVID, because it is the closet I will get to Lambeth. Now it is time of all of us to be God’s Church for God’s world.

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]]> 173865 “The CLB: 130 Years Strong” https://anglicanlife.ca/the-clb-130-years-strong/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:45:37 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173863 Not many organizations can say they have been in existence for 130 years, but this year, the CLB is celebrating its 130th anniversary, and the slogan is “CLB: 30 Years Strong.” The slogan recognizes our long and proud history of providing youth leadership training to our members. During our 130 year history, there has been […]

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]]> Not many organizations can say they have been in existence for 130 years, but this year, the CLB is celebrating its 130th anniversary, and the slogan is “CLB: 30 Years Strong.” The slogan recognizes our long and proud history of providing youth leadership training to our members. During our 130 year history, there has been more than 20,000 members who have joined the Brigade. We currently have approximately 13 companies within the Brigade, with a strength of approximately 300 members. We also have an Army Cadet Corps, and a Navy League Cadet Corps. We provide a wide range of programs such as badge work, arts and crafts, drill, band instruction, and youth leadership training, just to mention a few. We also provide outings, summer camps, challenge camps, wilderness survival, leadership, and marksmanship.

As you can imagine COVID 19 has had a significant impact on all aspects of our organization. However, over the past year, we have embarked on a very positive initiative entitled, “A Way Forward for The CLB”. Yes, we intend to strengthen our organization, starting today with your support.

We believe there is no greater time than the present to provide our young people with effective leadership. The CLB is a paramilitary youth organization that strives to instil confidence and strong values amongst our youth through our various programs. We believe our young people in today’s society need these skill sets more than ever before.

Our goal is to give young people the foundation to become valuable members in their communities and equip them with the skill sets that will benefit them throughout their lives.

One of the key elements of the CLB is music, and our Regimental Band continues to be the flagship of the Brigade. This year we have started a junior band, allowing our young musicians to avail of the opportunity to improve their musical skills, while being an important part of the organization. 

We have a very proud history. We were founded in 1891 in London, England. Fortunately, through the efforts of a young Newfoundlander, in the person of Harold Blackler, a CLB Company was started in St. John’s in 1892.

In World War 1, over 500 members of the CLB in Newfoundland, enlisted for service. Unfortunately, 136 members of the CLB made the supreme sacrifice. Today, a number of CLB members are currently serving in the Armed Forces.

Membership in the CLB is open to everyone. It is divided into 5 age groups as follows:

•Little Training Corps (LTC – Grades K-1)
•Young Training Corps (YTC – Grades 2-4)
•Junior Training Corps (JTC – Grades 5-7)
•Senior Training Corps (SC – Grades 8-12)
•Officers (Ages 19 Plus) 

We also want to extend an invitation to adults from ages 19 years and up to become adult leaders in the CLB. An adult leader is a volunteer who commits themselves in helping youth develop the necessary skills to become future leaders of our community. Let’s keep the flag flying and fight the good fight.

In conclusion, we welcome all parishes to join the CLB. For additional information, please contact:
Derek White, Executive Director
Phone: 709-722-1737
Email: derek@theclb.ca

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]]> 173863 Lessons to a Child https://anglicanlife.ca/lessons-to-a-child/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:44:22 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173857 When I was a little girl, my father would take us to Chance Cove, Trinity Bay every summer to visit his family. As I was the only girl, I naturally became a daddy’s girl so where dad went, I followed! Dad had a ritual of his visiting list for relatives and the first stop was […]

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When I was a little girl, my father would take us to Chance Cove, Trinity Bay every summer to visit his family. As I was the only girl, I naturally became a daddy’s girl so where dad went, I followed! Dad had a ritual of his visiting list for relatives and the first stop was always to see Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly was 88 at the time and spent all her time bedridden. She was my father’s oldest aunt, so she was always the first stop.

I remember entering the old saltbox house with its low ceiling. Aunt Polly’s son Norm was a tall man, and he couldn’t stand up straight in some areas of the house. Upon entering the house, dad would be offered a cup of tea. Then dad and Norm began to catch up on the local news and anything new happening in the community. As a little girl, I didn’t have much interest in the conversation so I would go upstairs to visit with Aunt Polly.

Aunt Polly would always welcome me heartily with a big squeeze of a hug and she would ask me to sit on the side of the bed so she could hear me. Her hearing wasn’t that good so being closer to her helped us to have a conversation. She would ask me about school and if I was being a good girl. She would ask me if I was going to church and Sunday School. She always inquired about how my vacation was going and whether I was getting outside and doing tons of playing. I would answer all her questions but then it was time to get down to business!

Every time I visited with Aunt Polly, she requested that I sing children’s hymns to her. She always had the prayer book and hymn book by her bedside within easy reach. She would pass me the hymn book and tell me to go to the children’s hymns. I would ask her if she wanted anything in particular, but the answer was always the same: just sing for me, my love!

So, I would sing to her. She particularly enjoyed “Jesus Loves Me,” but anything was grand as far as she was concerned. While my father and his cousin chatted downstairs, I sang to my Great Aunt. Sometimes dad and Norm chatted so long that I had to sing most hymns twice to pass the time. She sang along with most of the hymns. She would close her eyes and hum along when she forgot the words. At the end of every hymn, she wanted me to sing “Amen,” and it was then she would look at me and smile. “Thank you, my love, for singing to me. You don’t know the good you do for me when you sing.”

Aunt Polly loved to see me coming and she knew I would sit and sing to her until it was time to go. I knew that when I went to Norm’s house, my job was to sing to Aunt Polly. At eight years old, my connection to my 88-year old Great Aunt was through hymns—songs written about Jesus and his Father, and the Holy Ghost.

Songs about children being loved by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost not only brightened Aunt Polly’s day but also brightened my day. Through her love of the Lord her faith had influenced my life without me even realizing it. God doesn’t have to make huge signs like a burning bush or turning water into wine to show he is present in our lives; sometimes it’s the smallest gesture like singing to an old sick woman which makes an even bigger impression in your life! I’m so grateful for the time I spent with Aunt Polly as a child, and I’ll never forget the connection we had through those children’s hymns.

God Bless you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

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]]> 173857 It’s Not Just Them. It’s Us Too. https://anglicanlife.ca/its-not-just-them-its-us-too/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:44:16 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173862 Have you ever noticed that divisions between people generally exist upon lines of privilege or hardship? It’s true. Take any two groups and see what keeps them separate. It’s nearly always that one has something the other doesn’t, or one is suffering in ways the other isn’t. Eliminate those things, and while each group may […]

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Have you ever noticed that divisions between people generally exist upon lines of privilege or hardship? It’s true. Take any two groups and see what keeps them separate. It’s nearly always that one has something the other doesn’t, or one is suffering in ways the other isn’t. Eliminate those things, and while each group may remain distinct, the animosity and bitterness between them vanishes and they get along quite well.

Of course, that also means that when a group suddenly finds itself in a time of difficulty other, similar, groups swiftly try to distance themselves and work to proclaim their distinction from it. You see it on the news all the time. A politician, business, organization, or celebrity is found to have done something wrong, and others swiftly speak up, saying, “I/We would never do something like that! I/We are different!”

And perhaps that’s true. And perhaps slowly the ones who obtain influence and power are those that can be trusted. But it’s not an attitude or practice the Church can afford. Unfortunately, we sometimes do it too.

Historically we were pretty bad about it. We have had denominations fighting amongst each other, ad bitter rivalries which lingered for years and years. I’ve sat with parishioners who described times in their childhood when they, and children from another doctrine, would throw rocks at one another.

Now times have changed. It’s better now. The leaders from various denominations gather quite often in mutual support and love. The lines between denominations are all but vanished in families, as they blend and mix. It’s a time where we are able to stand and proclaim, and truly proclaim, that most important aspect of Christian faith:

We are ALL part of the Body of Christ!

And yet, every now and again, the divisions rear up in our hearts and minds, revealing our own failure to be that unified body.

Most notably, in recent times, we see the struggles of the Roman Catholic church in our province, as faithful parishioners find their church buildings being sold to pay for crimes committed by some of their leaders. We sit and read the details in online articles, or hear it discussed on the news. I’m sure a number of opinions exist about the rightness or wrongness of what is happening. And I’m also sure that many of us are thankful, in the depths of our hearts, that it’s happening to them, and not us.

But we’re wrong. It’s happening to us too.

We are the faithful disciples of Christ. We are His Body. We share in His Baptism and in His Eucharist. So, at what point can we honestly point a finger at any other group of Christians and say, “It’s them, not us.” As Paul tells us, “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” We are the family of God. What happens to one of us affects all the others. You must know that to be true.

After all, do you think that all those outside the Church really distinguish between Anglican or Roman Catholic or United or Pentecostal? One collar looks the same as any other. Or do you think that God distinguishes one above another? The successes of one are the successes of all. Even more so the failures.

As I look at our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, feeling betrayed and cast aside, I know that we cannot pay what is owed, nor save their buildings from sale. But I firmly believe that they cannot be left feeling alone. They are part of Christ’s family: our family. Their sadness is our sadness. Their pain is our pain. We must, as one body, tell them, “You are loved. With us you always have a home.”

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]]> 173862 ACW Closing Dinner, St. Augustine’s https://anglicanlife.ca/acw-closing-dinner-st-augustines/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:43:40 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173855 The Anglican Church Women of St. Augustine’s of Canterbury, St. John’s, held their closing dinner on Saturday, June 18th, 2022. St. Augustine’s is blessed to have a strong ACW which has rebounded well after being unable to meet during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ladies were excited to resume meetings with more […]

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]]> The Anglican Church Women of St. Augustine’s of Canterbury, St. John’s, held their closing dinner on Saturday, June 18th, 2022. St. Augustine’s is blessed to have a strong ACW which has rebounded well after being unable to meet during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ladies were excited to resume meetings with more than twenty members in attendance. The year concluded with the closing dinner, catered by Freddie Richards’ Catering. The entertainment portion of the evening consisted of a prize choosing game, whereby when a name was called, a lady could choose a prize from the prize table or take a prize which one of her colleagues had already opened. Some prizes went through several pairs of hands before the evening was concluded to the enjoyment of all. There were wishes for a safe summer and the ladies are looking forward to returning in the fall.

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]]> 173855 Reasonable and Probable Grounds to Believe https://anglicanlife.ca/reasonable-and-probable-grounds-to-believe-6/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:42:54 +0000 https://anglicanlife.ca/?p=173854 On spiritual matters, it is our responsibility to make up our own minds on what we believe and how each one of us individually sees and appreciates the spirituality of our world, or indeed rejects any such thing. In so doing, we must be mindful to try to rely too heavily on the great and […]

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On spiritual matters, it is our responsibility to make up our own minds on what we believe and how each one of us individually sees and appreciates the spirituality of our world, or indeed rejects any such thing. In so doing, we must be mindful to try to rely too heavily on the great and fickle sway of public opinion. Remember, in our spirituality, we live alone with our beliefs, and we die alone with our beliefs. A well-informed view of our own is of much more benefit than the collective ignorance of the many. So, we must make our own decisions on what we believe as wisely as we can, based on our own thinking, our own analysis, our own personal views, and our feelings. We must not settle for the daily roar of public and collective ignorance. In times of great upheaval, such reliance will all too often let us down. Faith-based living, which stresses the need to “ponder anew what the Almighty can do,” in helping us help ourselves and each other, has always made eminent sense to me. And for those who say or imply this is spiritual mush, I say beware of them.

Ignorance of the masses is a simple fact, and the masses can behave with frightening unreliability, and yet also be predictable. My years in policing, especially as it pertains to people’s behaviour in times of public trauma and panic, have left me with a low appreciation of what people, just by themselves, can do for each other. Under extreme duress, often our herd instinct causes us to scatter and become lost. Yet, in our day- to-day lives, we complain and gripe as though we know it all, and what is best for each one of us and all of mankind. And on the surface, so many of us do it all with such absoluteness—a marvellous example of ignorance being bliss.

My own belief in God stems from my Christian upbringing that espoused truth, justice, and righteousness, laced with compassion and mercy. And an ongoing challenge for Christians is the practice of love and compassion, with care for the weak and vulnerable. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” And in being charitable to the poor we must ensure that their dignity is respected.

Many of us live and die with our choice to believe or not believe unaddressed. Others pointedly stake out a position. It is at a critical point of influence, when our finest and tiniest thoughts swirl and coalesce to form our considered view. We need to hover, and keep boring deeper, and even revisit. Far too many of us, once we make up our minds, are no longer open to further consideration, even with important, new, and persuasive information. It is not that we plan to be that way; it is simply the way many of us are. Being creatures of comfort both in mind and body, levels of uncertainty in our beliefs can sometimes result in too much mental wrestling and discomfort.

Sometimes the need emerges to up our comfort level by taking a firm position so that we can migrate to the easier and more relaxed position of defence mode. Whether right or wrong, that feeling of certainty often brings relief. Perhaps one could distinguish believers and nonbelievers as those who struggle to find reasons to believe, and those who struggle to find reasons to not believe.

Our conscience, and we all have one, is that sprawling piece of territory where we can find pretty much whatever we’re looking for. Let’s suppose for a minute or two that our conscience is somewhat like a committee, where many and varied viewpoints are advanced. We listen, we ponder and mull over our various thoughts; some are stronger and more convincing than others; some are pressing and more persistent; some are annoying even to the point of being scary. Other thoughts are outright scary; some are weak; others are overbearing and almost controlling. It is in this territory of deep soul searching, where choices are popping up everywhere, we realize we must take a stand and disagree with some committee members and agree with others. It is at this juncture that we find reasons to say yes or reasons to say no.

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