AnglicanLife
September 2008
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AnglicanLife in Newfoundland & Labrador
A Section of the Anglican Journal
St. Thomas’ ACW Unit comes to a close The Afternoon Unit of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church Women after many years has decided to fold, as many of us have become disabled and unable to attract younger members. The Parish Archives Committee was contacted to find out when the group started meeting. In the publication “History of St. Thomas” 1961 it suggests that it was somewhere between 1881 and 1897. The group, which was originally called the Women’s Association, was very involved in raising money to build and furnish the old Canon Wood Hall, which was a parish centre built on what is now our main parking lot. It sadly burnt down one Saturday afternoon in the mid 60’s (when some of my children were Sunday school students) and there was great excitement as there would be no Sunday school the next day! At that time, our present parish hall, where Sunday school and coffee hour and many other gatherings are held today, was a regular day school. Another project of the Women’s Association was to raise funds for the Cartwright Mission. Most families in St. Thomas’ helped by using Missionary Boxes for collecting coins. Newfoundland & Labrador was not part of Canada at the time, so we would put in Newfoundland coins: a one cent piece was a large copper coin, the five cent piece was a tiny silver coin, the ten cent piece was much like today’s dime, and a twenty cent piece was the size of today’s quarter. All these coins when added up totalled to a good sum of money. Every year near St. Andrew’s Day we would bring back our money boxes and present them in church to the glory of God. The funds would then be sent to the Cartwright Mission. In 1949 when Newfoundland & Labrador joined Canada, the Afternoon Branch (Story continued on page 6.)
September 2008
Blessing the fleet in Greenspond-Newtown
Worshippers from the Anglican and United Churches gather at the wharf in Newtown for the Blessing of the Fleet. Photo submitted by Shaun O’Connor.
It might have been a selfish prayer. I prayed that it would be a nice day but that the fishermen would have to be in port so they could attend the Blessing of the Fleet Service. We wanted to ask the Lord’s blessing on our fishermen as a community, with everyone present. Sunday, April 27, broke as a beautiful, sunny day with a gentle breeze coming off the water – and the slob ice packed into the wharf. The fishermen didn’t seem to mind. They had just come back from
the seal hunt and had all their at the government wharves and proceeded pots on to St. board, ready “It was moving to see Stephen’s and for the crab fishermen and women St. Luke’s for fishery. from the Anglican, Holy ComRepreUnited and Salvation munion. sentatives T h e from all de- Army Churches standing churches were nominations together, shoulder to decorated with attended the shoulder, praying.” fishing gear, inservices in cluding casting Greenspond in the morning and in Newtown nets, lobster pots and models in the afternoon. Accompa- of long-liners. There was even nied by button accordion and a hackapic! It was moving to guitar, we began with prayers see fishermen and women from and singing alongside the boats the Anglican, United and Sal-
vation Army Churches standing together, shoulder to shoulder, praying. At our Blessing of the Fleet services, one could feel the pride of the outport people in who they were, what they did for a living, and where they were from. We worshipped God with all our hearts and asked for his blessing – and the crab fishery has been the best in over twenty years. Submitted by Rev. Shaun O’Connor Parish of Greenspond – Newtown – Pound Cove
Council of the North and “Amazing Grace” a match made in heaven By Fiona Brownlee Communications Officer Council of the North A small Sunday School in northern Labrador is struggling to find the ways to get enough resources for the children of their community. A parish priest who has never had a church salary is working in a Cree community in northern Saskatchewan and is struggling with youth despair and youth suicide. An Inuit family from a remote community in the Arctic has a medical emergency and needs to go to Winnipeg where there are no clergy
who speak their language, they wonder who will be able to come and pray with them. These are just a few of the many situations that clergy and lay leaders have to deal with on a daily basis within the dioceses which make up the Council of the North. The Council of the North is made up of nine (9) dioceses, the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior and the Archdeaconry of Labrador across the northern part of the Anglican Church of Canada. These members of our church live in the most isolated places in the country where travel distances and
costs are amongst the highest. The challenges of providing sacramental and pastoral ministry to isolated communities is difficult at t he best of times but in times of decreasing financial resources it is even more difficult. A
significant part of the budgets of the members of the Council of the North comes from the budget of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is a
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