Crosstalk — April 2023

Thoughts from our Bishop

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St-Bernard-de-Clairvaux dit merci beaucoup, Charlotte!

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Black History Month events

Crosstalk

Diocese and parishes renewing efforts to go green

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

As Earth Day approaches on April 22, people all over the globe are reminded to take stock of “what we have done and what we have left undone.”

At Synod this past fall and in Diocesan Council meetings since, Bishop Shane Parker reminded those present that back in October 2015, Synod directed the council “chart a course for complete decarbonization of all the buildings of the Diocese, that will involve measurable benchmarks and a defined set of actions.”

Some parishes have taken actions to reduce their buildings’ carbon footprint. St. Albans, for example, achieved its goal of becoming carbon neutral in 2020 by reducing its carbon footprint and by purchasing carbon offsets to compensate for its remaining emissions. Parishes including All Saints Westboro, St. Thomas the Apostle, and Ascension have worked with the ecumenical organization Faith and the Common

Good’s initiative Greening Sacred Spaces to conduct energy audits of their buildings and assess their priorities for actions. Other parishes have taken various steps in the right direction, but the bishop observed that as a diocesanwide effort its momentum dissipated.

“We all know that we are in a time when we have to pay attention to this task. Humanity has to pay attention to it,” the bishop told Diocesan Council.

Joel Prentice, director of property and asset management for the Diocese, told council members that the fact there was a history of interest and work on this was encouraging and that work to reduce the diocesan carbon footprint could also reduce expenses.

“I look at the operating expenses of each parish and this is an ongoing conversation that I have with a lot of wardens and clergy,” he explained.

“We’re looking at life cycle replacements of furnaces, hot water heaters, fuel sources, windows and our bills are prohibitive. But meanwhile, if you look

at the overall greenhouse gas footprint produced by the operations of our properties, there’s two problems that can be solved with one solution.”

He added that the Diocese could offer guidance to parishes as they make decisions and information about what kind of grants may be available from different levels of government to help reduce carbon emissions.

Members of council suggested broadening the terms and scope of the initiative beyond decarbonization to a goal of sustainability.

“I have difficulty with the word decarbonization,” said council member Audrey Lawrence. “The commitment is really to make sure that we are optimizing our [work] to have a cleaner environment.” She explained that her view was shaped by the experience of Indigenous communities when the James Bay hydro-electric project was created. “Electricity is not free. The damage that was done in northern Quebec by Hydro Quebec over 100,000

sq miles of land, totally destroyed Indigenous graveyards and villages swamped just to generate power. .., So I think we should look at it with a wholistic view of what we are aiming for with that being a key goal of it,” she said.

Council member Irene Barbeau agreed with her advice. “The place where my grandparents were is under water because of the dam, all so that we can transfer some of the electricity to the United States. That was a very sad period for Indigenous people in the province of Quebec. My mother cried, God bless her soul, when she saw what they did to her community. This is very close to my heart. It’s a very important topic and I fully believe that it should be looked at in a wholistic view as opposed to just zeroing in on decarbonization.”

The discussion led to a request that a motion taking a more wholistic approach to sustainability be presented to Diocesan Council at a subsequent meeting. (See greening story, p. 8.)

THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF OTTAWA | SECTION OF THE ANGLICAN JOURNAL | APRIL 2023

PHOTO: PIXABAY/PEXELS

Believing in the Gospel

In the late 1990s, I worked with others to create a comprehensive Clergy Personnel Policy Manual In our research into the kinds of policies offered by other dioceses, we stumbled upon the notion of “Sabbath Leave” as an alternative to either short-term study leaves or long-term sabbatical leave. As the name suggests, a sabbath leave is a time of rest and renewal—an opportunity for a priest to take a substantial break and do whatever they need to do to recharge.

We adopted a sabbath leave policy which entitles a priest to take up to three months off every seven years. The policy was recently modified to ensure that parishes are provided with up to two days per week of interim coverage when their priest is on sabbath leave (a priest forgoes travel allowance during a sabbath leave, which frees up additional funds if a parish requires coverage beyond two days per week).

CLERGY NEWS

After authoring the policy in 1997, life intervened to prevent me from taking a sabbath leave until 2012— some 25 years after my ordination! I decided to go on leave between January and March, reasoning it would feel different from a summer vacation, being off during busy winter months and being wellrested for the celebration of Easter.

A wise old priest told me the best way to set up a sabbath leave is to: a) plan nothing for the first part because you need to return to yourself; b) study for another part; and c) get away for the rest of the time. I followed this good advice and after a few weeks of doing whatever I wanted, I headed to France for a French course in Lyon, and then a tour of Paris and the battlefields and beaches of World Wars I and II.

On Ash Wednesday, I went to la Basilique Saint-Bonaventure, a medieval church in Lyon. It was

startling to hear the priest say “Convertissez-vous et croyez à l’Évangile” as he smudged our foreheads. The effect of those words was quite different from “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” which always feels like an invitation to consider that, while you cannot escape death, you can choose how to live. To hear “Repent and believe in the Gospel” felt a lot more like an instruction than an invitation!

I thought about both admonitions and saw them weaving together to say: “You will die at an unknown time, so now is the time to live in a good way, and the Gospel of Jesus will show you what that looks like.”

Good Friday and Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus, speak to the very heart of the Gospel—and to our lives as followers of Jesus. In baptism we are “made one with Christ in his death and resurrection” and we pledge, among other things,

to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.”

Believing in the Gospel means trusting that you have already died with Christ and will rise with Christ. It means you have nothing to fear in the face of death or life’s hardships: you belong to God, who is with you in everything you encounter. Nothing can separate you from the indestructible embrace of God.

Grounded in this deep assurance that all shall be well, God frees us to focus on living in a good way— showing the courage, compassion, justice, kindness, mercy, peace, hope, and love of Jesus in all we think, do, and say, every day of our life. In other words, when life’s unsettling lemons threaten a devoted follower of Jesus, they will instinctively focus on making lemonade for others.

PHOTO: DOUG MORRIS

Lemon tree in Galilee.

The Rev. Canon Hilary Murray, Director of Spiritual Care and Clinical Chaplain at Cornerstone Housing for Women, has been appointed to the Cathedral Canonry of Saint John, effective Feb. 13, 2023. Canon Hilary will be formally installed at our annual Synod Eucharist later this year.

BY THE RIGHT REVEREND SHANE PARKER

Archdeacon Chris Dunn retires

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Archdeacon Chris Dunn, the Incumbent of All Saints Westboro, is retiring this month just after marking his 41st year as a priest, much of his ministry serving the Diocese of Ottawa.

After being ordained as a deacon in the Diocese of Huron where he grew up, Dunn served briefly in the Diocese of the Arctic, first in Frobisher Bay and then as missionary-in-charge in the Parish of Inukjuak in 1981.

Finding the language barrier difficult in a community where only one other person spoke English, Dunn returned to the South, but he told Crosstalk that the lessons he learned while preaching with an interpreter stayed with him—to speak slowly, use short sentences, and simple language, “not the big words from theological seminary…. You spoke from the heart… I think it stayed with me for the rest of my ministry.”

Dunn came to the diocese of Ottawa when Bishop Edwin Lackey offered him a position as Deaconin-Charge of the parish of Stafford just outside of Pembroke (now part of the Area Parish of the Valley). “I was taken in by the people of the parish,” he said, adding that he really enjoyed the rural parish setting where he spent two and a half years and was appointed Incumbent after being ordained as a priest by Bishop Lackey in 1982. Dunn also served as Incumbent in the parishes of Bearbrook-Vars-Russell.

In 1987, he stepped away from the active exercise of priestly ministry and began working at the Shepherds of Good Hope in the shelters and soup kitchen, and later as public relations coordinator and eventually as personnel director. In Dunn’s 10 years there, the organization grew rapidly. “We went from being one building in a little school on the corner to being in a number of different facilities with a variety of programs … and about 200 staff.” He said the work was an important experience in his ministry. “I can’t stress enough the need for

clergy today to have a real handson experience of what it’s like to be working with people in crisis.”

When he returned to parish ministry, he served the Parish of Metcalfe, Vernon and Greely; as priest-in-charge at St. John the Baptist Church in Kars; and as Incumbent at Trinity Anglican Church in Ottawa for 10 years. In 2006, he was appointed Territorial Archdeacon of Ottawa Centre, and then in 2008 as Incumbent of All Saints Westboro.

In the course of the last 14 years at All Saints, Dunn has presided over the kind of creative collaborations that many churches are now considering. Before he retired, Dunn’s predecessor the Rev. Canon Allen Box had laid the foundation for All Saints to enter into a partnership with the First United Church of Ottawa, which was selling its building and looking for a new home. They agreed to share All Saints’ building along with costs such as light, water and utilities.

“Allen put all of that together,” Dunn said, “so, when I arrived here 14 and a half years ago, it was underway, but … it’s in my time that we’ve sorted out all the details of how that is lived out. We were able to accomplish a half million-dollar renovation of the worship space, working with First United to build a design for that and they shared the cost.” And together, he added, they have been able to make the church a community hub.

In 2016, All Saints welcomed parishioners from St. Matthias Anglican Church and more recently from St. Luke’s Anglican Church after a fire severely damaged their church.

Dunn’s experience at Shepherds of Good Hope helps in the running of the food bank at All Saints. “Our experience this past year has been more than a 50% increase in the number of people coming to the food bank,” he said.

Over the years, Dunn has become well-known for his children’s sermons, which feature a rich cast of puppets. “When I got to the parish of Stafford, I decided I needed to do something for the children that were present, so I started to do what were called brown bag sermons. You’d bring out a brown paper shopping bag and you’d have something inside that became the focus of a discussion with children at the beginning of the service. One day I brought out Seymour the Skunk….He was my first puppet 40 years ago. What I quickly discovered was that the adults are taking as much away from children’s story as the children.”

His reputation preceded him, and he recounted how an All Saints parishioner came to him before he even started objecting to changing the service to add a children’s sermon. But the experiment worked. “Within a year, if you even tried to get rid of a children’s story, nobody was going to have that. They just became part of the fabric of the place.”

Dunn, who was appointed Territorial Archdeacon of Ottawa West in 2009, has also served the Diocese in a number of other important roles as Chair of the Property and Finance Committee, the Budget Committee, and as a member of Diocesan Council, the Real Estate Working Group and the Archdeacons Advisory Panel.

What will he miss most? It’s an easy answer, he said. “There are so many people whose lives I’ve touched and been involved in along the way. That’s what I treasure most.”

Dunn is a skilled photographer and has generously shared his talents and photos of churches, nature and people with Crosstalk. We wish him joy in his retirement (and with not a little self-interest!) lots of time to pursue his photography.

PHOTO: LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

hardest conversations are the ones worth having. Let Beechwood help you start the conversation with this

Crosstalk’s valued photographer. (Left) Telling a story at ASW.

PHOTO: LARRY CHOP

PARISH NEWS

St. Helen’s Fine Art Fair returns

The St. Helen’s art fair is back this spring with an additional new program to inspire young artists.

The 2022 Art Fair was a wonderful success. Fifteen local artists participated in the fair and took home over $2,800 in sales and St. Helen’s donated $1,220 to the PWRDF in support of Ukrainian civilians displaced by the war. This year’s surplus will go toward St. Helen’s support of the Hollyer House affordable housing project at Christ Church Bells Corners.

Many of the artists are making a return visit to the art fair and have been creating new works of art bound to attract buyers looking for that one special piece of art to enhance their home or make a very special gift for someone important.

St. Helen’s is please to announce a new program for this year’s art fair to stimulate the artistic aspirations of the youth in the community. The program, called Young Artists Initiaitive (YAI), invites young, budding artists to engage with the established artists to learn what inspired them in their creative journeys. St. Helen’s invites all youth groups in the diocese to get to know the artists and their work by following the art fair on Facebook and Instagram.

You can view the artists’ galleries at www.sthelensartfair.ca and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sthelensartfair and Instagram at @sthelens.artfair.

This year’s fair will be held on Saturday, May 27, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at St. Helen’s church, 1234 Prestone Drive, Orleans.

Crosstalk

A publication of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa

www.ottawa.anglican.ca

The Rt. Rev. Shane Parker Bishop of Ottawa

Publisher

Leigh Anne Williams

Editor Jane Waterston Production

Crosstalk is published 10 times a year (September to June) and mailed as a section of the Anglican Journal. It is printed and mailed by Webnews Printing Inc., North York.

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Next deadline

March 27, 2023 for the May 2023 edition

Crosstalk acknowledges that we publish on traditional Anishinàbeg Algonquin territory. We recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries.

PHOTO: BRIAN GLENN

St. Helen’s 2022 Art Fair: a success!

Some of the works on display at the 2023 sale.

Hommage à Charlotte Davidson

HÉLÈNE GOULET

En présence de sa famille, la communauté de St-Bernard-deClairvaux a récemment souligné les contributions significatives de Charlotte Davidson à la communauté francophone de StBernard.

Mère de cinq enfants membres de la communauté, Charlotte a été responsable d’offrir l’éducation chrétienne aux enfants de la paroisse pendant plus de quatre décennies. Charlotte a réussi à trouver du matériel pédagogique en français; elle l’a adapté pour nos enfants et a consacré ses dimanches aux enfants, sacrifiant ainsi sa propre participation à une partie de la messe.

À une certaine époque, il y avait plus d’enfants que d’adultes à StBernard, et ces enfants provenaient d’un grand nombre de pays à travers le monde. Il y a eu jusqu’à trois classes d’école du dimanche, pour lesquelles Charlotte préparait toutes les leçons pour les bénévoles qui l’aidaient.

Charlotte a été l’instigatrice de la Crèche vivante, présentée à l’Épiphanie et dans laquelle tous les enfants jouaient un rôle, soit Marie, Joseph, bébé Jésus, anges ou bergers. Elle trouvait et écrivait les textes, les adaptait, cherchait les costumes et en a confectionnés, organisait toutes les pratiques et gérait le tout d’une main de maître, patiente et aimante. De même, il y avait des projets spéciaux à d’autres périodes de l’année.

Comme si cela ne suffisait pas, Charlotte et sa famille ont organisé et offert leur maison pour les repas du Jeudi-Saint pendant plusieurs années. Une trentaine de personnes

s’y réunissaient pour accomplir ce rituel et partager un excellent repas. Pour l’occasion, Charlotte et son mari Walter installaient leur table de ping-pong dans le salon pour que tout le monde soit attablé en même temps.

Charlotte reste un modèle d’engagement humble au fil du temps, et continue à rester attentive aux besoins de la communauté St-Bernard qui se rassemble pour la messe le dimanche à midi, dans l’église St. Albans au 454, avenue King Edward à Ottawa. D’ailleurs, la messe en français de St-Bernard est diffusée en direct sur https://www.facebook.com/ CommunauteStBernard

La paroisse a également un site Web, http://communautestbernard. ca, et accueille chaleureusement visiteurs et nouveaux membres. Hélène Goulet est marguillière pour St-Bernard et membre de la communauté depuis une trentaine d’années.

Forty years with the St-Bernard-de-Clairvaux community

In the presence of her family, the St. Bernard-de-Clairvaux community recently recognized Charlotte Davidson for her significant contributions to the Frenchspeaking community of St. Bernard.

The mother of five children who grew up in the community, Charlotte was responsible for providing Christian education to the children of the parish for over four decades. She was able to find teaching materials in French; she adapted them for the children and dedicated her Sundays to the children, sacrificing her own participation in part of the Mass.

At one time, there were more children than adults at St. Bernard’s, and these children came from many countries around the world. There

were as many as three Sunday school classes, for which Charlotte prepared all the lessons for the volunteers who helped her.

Charlotte was the instigator of the Living Nativity Scene, presented at Epiphany, in which all the children played a role, be it Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angels or shepherds. She found and wrote the texts, adapted them, looked for and made the costumes, organized all the practices and managed everything with a masterful, patient and loving hand. There were also special projects at other times of the year.

For several years, Charlotte and her family organized and donated their home for Maundy Thursday meals to commemorate the Last Supper and Passover. About 30 people would gather there to perform this ritual and share a great meal. For the occasion, Charlotte and her husband Walter would set up their ping-pong table in the living room so that everyone would be seated at the same time.

Charlotte remains a model of humble commitment, and continues to be attentive to the needs of the St. Bernard community that gathers for Sunday noon mass at St. Albans Church at 454 King Edward Avenue in Ottawa. St. Bernard’s Frenchlanguage mass is broadcast live on https://www.facebook.com/ CommunauteStBernard

The parish also has a website, http://communautestbernard.ca, and warmly welcomes visitors and new members.

Hélène Goulet is a warden for St. Bernard and has been a member of the community for about thirty years.

Ottawa parishioners walk to help others stay warm in Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

PHOTO: JENNA WILLIAMS

PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED

All Saints Westboro families came out to raise funds for Cornerstone Housing for Women, an Anglican Community Ministry. The Coldest Night of the Year organization’s website provides community volunteers with the means to collect pledges. They also make sure there are refreshments and toques to keep

“Maggie’s Ascenders” — members of Ascension and St. Margaret’s parishes — collected pledges for the DropIn on Rideau St. in Lowertown.

Charlotte Davidson (ici avec son mari Walter) s’occupait  de l’école du dimanche pendant des décennies.

Our Anglican Community Ministries are:

• Belong Ottawa (Centre 454, St. Luke's Table, The Well)

• Centre 105 (in Cornwall, Ontario)

• Cornerstone Housing for Women

• Ottawa Pastoral Counselling Centre

• Refugee Ministry Office

Workshop offers advice for estate planning and legacy giving

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Wondering about the best way to leave a charitable gift in your will and maximize the income tax benefit from it? An online workshop on the basics of leaving legacy gifts, hosted by Cornerstone Housing for Women and Christ Church Bells Corners, provided a lot of answers and practical estate planning advice from tax experts.

Wills and power of attorney Ontario lawyer Dennis Molnar began the session by underlining the importance of wills and power of attorney. A will gives the individual peace of mind knowing exactly who will get what from the estate and when and that clarity reduces stress on loved ones left to administer the estate, he said.

He explained that if someone dies without a will, Ontario succession law determines who benefits from the estate. A spouse gets the first $350,000, after all debts are paid, the remainder is split equally among children, but this still leaves room for a lot of conflict within a family, he said. “There can be a lot of litigation and bad emotions involved. It can be really expensive for the estate, and it has the effect of potentially lowering everybody’s entitlement,” he said. A will also allows the individual to designate a gift to a charity such as Cornerstone, he added.

Molnar also outlined the importance of designating power of attorney —legal documents that give someone else the right to make decisions for you while you are alive— for both personal care and property. In Ontario, these documents must be created when the individual is still mentally capable or competent.

“The reason you want to make these documents while you’re able to is to ensure that there’s no lapse or inability to make decisions on your behalf when you need them to be made,” Molnar explained. “If you are, for example, in a coma

or something catastrophic has happened, you haven’t died, but you do need financial decisions made, bills to be paid.”

Regarding the power of attorney for personal care, Molnar added that if you don’t have a power of attorney in Ontario, someone can apply to become a court appointed guardian for property or guardian for personal health care decisions, but it’s not a guaranteed appointment.

“It’s actually a court case. It can be contested.” So, Molinar advised,

”If you want to make sure that somebody you trust, that you love, that you know is going to make the same decisions that you wanted to make,” is in charge, create a power of attorney.

Gifts of appreciated stock

Alan MacDonald, an investment advisor and chartered financial analyst, explained that he often advises his clients who want to leave a donation for a charity to gift shares of an investment instead

of cash. “Any capital gains that are associated with that investment aren’t taxable. So, if the $10,000 [investment] that they want to gift [was] bought originally for $2,000, they get full credit for the $10,000 charitable contribution or a full tax deduction. And the $8,000 of capital gain isn’t taxable. So that represents a tax savings of an additional $2,000 in that case for someone who’s in the top tax bracket.” He noted that if people gift cash to a charity, the estate ends up paying tax on any appreciated securities because they are considered sold at the time of the person’s death unless they were jointly owned by a spouse.

Designating a charity as a beneficiary of a RRIF

Warren Trickey, a retired tax partner with McCay Duff LLP, who oversaw the tax practice for 30 years, pointed out that if you leave specific gifts to charity in your will, the only way you can change that is changing your will. A more flexible option is to designate a charity as a direct beneficiary of your Registered Retirement Income Fund (RIFF). That he said is easier and can be changed any time.

“Direct beneficiary designation means that the funds will go directly to the charity and will bypass your will and not be part of your estate and not subject to the 1.5% estate administration tax in Ontario,” he said, adding that the funds can be paid out quickly to the designated charity instead of waiting for the estate to be settled.

Trickey offered an example of how making a charitable donation could increase the total after tax inheritance. “If you have $100,000 in your RIFF and you pass away, and you’re subject to 53.5%, then you’re going to lose $53,500 of that. If you designate half of it to a charity, then almost half of that tax will be deferred, and therefore, the amount that’s left in your residue of your estate could be higher.”

Life insurance

Nicholas Alldridge, a certified financial planner with Sun Life, described two ways life insurance could be used as a charitable giving strategy. If you make a charity the owner of the policy (or transfer an existing policy into the name of the charity), the premiums you pay for the policy create donation tax credits that you can use to offset your income tax for that year. An alternative way is to keep the policy in your name, continue paying for it, but at the time of your death, your estate receives the tax credits, he explained. “The question boils down to the need to offset the tax now, or do you want to offset it at death?”

Impact

Archdeacon Kathryn Otley, Rector at Christ Church Bells Corners, told listeners about the way a parishioner of modest means made a huge difference for an affordable housing project at the church, which is now nearing completion.

“John Hollyer…. lived in the trailer park very close to the church… The way that we met him was someone was out gardening at the front of the church and John said, ‘Can I lend a hand?’” Otley said that question typified the way he lived. He helped at the church in many ways and tried to help people if he saw them on the street. He believed in giving a hand up rather than a hand-out, she said. “When he died, we discovered he had left us his entire estate — his trailer — and when the trailer was sold, it realized close to $80,000.”

His gift paid for a feasibility study for the housing project and more. Now nearing completion, Hollyer House will include 35 units, providing housing for about 70 people, but thousands more will benefit from the community hub on the ground floor, which will house a resource centre and community food cupboard.

“It’s just a wonderful example of the difference that legacy giving can make,” said Otley.

PHOTO: ARCHDEACON CHRIS DUNN

Archdeacon Kathryn Otley told the story of the timely bequest from John Hollyer to Christ Church Bells Corners.

Church of the Ascension looks for new ways to go green — both inside and outside

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Parishioners at Ottawa’s Church of the Ascension have longstanding interests in environmental stewardship and creation care. In 2012, three years before Synod called for decarbonization of all of the buildings in the diocese, Ascension did a green audit of their property through Faith and the Common Good’s Greening Sacred Spaces program. In 2022, as a part of their Shape of Parish Ministry discussions, they took stock of their progress and looked ahead.

According to a recent Vestry report, Ascension’s goals are “to be as close to ‘net zero’ carbon emissions as we can reasonably be; to be a leader in the community in the greening of buildings; and to live up to our baptismal covenant to “strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth.”

Deputy Warden Dave Longworth told Crosstalk that the audit done in 2012 “was very extensive, or at least it covered all the areas that one needs to look at,” and was still useful as they renewed their efforts. “Basically, we went through our records of what had been done and people’s recollections of what had been done.” All the windows on the lower level were replaced with energy efficient ones, as well as half of the large windows on the upper

level. Much of the lighting was upgraded.

“Some of the things that have not been done are for good reasons, they’re not practical to do,” said Longworth. “But we identified a number of ones that we want to

Splendour in the grass

Early in 2023, an exhibit of work from artist Barbara Brown, who is a member of the Christ Church Cathedral parish, was featured at the Ottawa School of Art Gallery. Terroir: belonging to place included a series of photographs titled “Portrait of Rochester Field.” She has kindly given Crosstalk permission to publish this image from the portrait and excerpts from her statement about it.

Portrait of Rochester Field is a project that tracks the emergence, flourishing and final destruction of a local “empty green space” just before the arrival of heavy construction equipment to build the new light rail transit line in the west-end of Ottawa. It is a record of what is now likely lost forever. …

Early morning before the business of the day, Brown visited the field and discovered the majesty of an ordinary place. Rochester Field; a nondescript open field, a place under pressure of development, located in the city where green space is seen by some as a development opportunity. She offers this artwork as a way of

saying, this is what we lose when the bulldozers arrive. …

While collecting the individual plants found in the field, Brown started to notice the diversity and quiet magnificence of each plant. Broadleaf Plantain crowds the edges of the path in thick clusters, tall grasses with their pollen hang down and Curly Dock stridently pokes through the thick grasses….

The images in this series function as memories of a particular time and place and are named by the date they were collected and the image created. They are a record of the discovery of the ceaseless progress of the seasons. The vantage point of these pictures is unusually low — it does not tower above as is our habitual point of view. Rather this vantage point features weeds as if they were a forest, giving humans a better viewpoint to see the complexity and splendour of this place. This is the viewpoint of one who has bent a knee and offers an outstretched hand seeking to know this place, not one who claims dominion over it.

look at in the future and in particular in the short term.”

They applied for and just received a $500 grant through the Ottawa Faith Community Capacity Building Program (which is co-sponsored by Greening Sacred Spaces) to

help replace the existing electric hot water heater with something that has a much smaller tank, and they are planning to place that tank closer to the points of use, “so we’ll be reducing both our water usage and our use of electricity in heating the water,” Longworth said. They are also planning some small projects to seal the building envelope, including insulating the front door.

“We had a meeting in the spring as we were putting together ideas for environmental stewardship and a lot of things came up that we need to look at for the longer run. Some of it is just blue-skying things we need to look at,” he said.

“Given the fact that a lot of our roof faces south, is there room for solar panels? And is that a wise thing to do? …It’s still way off before we would even start those studies, but we have kind of written down a list of all the ideas … and as time and money become available, then we’ll be looking at pursuing further studies of that.”

Greening Sacred Spaces is Faith and the Common Good’s longest running program. It now offers both walk-through green audits and virtual green audits that include a do-ityourself walkthrough audit that can be downloaded for free and the opportunity to do a video conference with a consultant.

For more information: https:// www.faithcommongood.org/audits

New England aster and gallardia bloomed late into the fall offering rich colour for people and good nutrients for pollinators.

PHOTO: MARY CRAWFORD

Creating gardens that welcome people and pollinators

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

A group of parishioners at Ascension have also been working to transform the church’s property outside.

“We have a long history of gardening at Ascension,” Mary Crawford told Crosstalk. “But in the last few years, some of us really starting to think about how to make these gardens as inviting as possible, not just to people but to pollinators, and not just pollinators, but really to all insects and birds and all life that is out there in the world.”

The church sponsored a team of four people to attend a program offered by Pollinator Partnership Canada (webinars that ran from February to June) with the goal of earning pollinator stewardship certification. “It was meant to give the formal structure to what it is we wanted to do and trying to kind of put us all on the same page in terms of knowledge about these things and what we should be doing and how to approach it,” Crawford said.

She added that the course offered a good range of information from scientists as well as a grounding in Indigenous knowledge.

They applied for and received a grant of $2,300 from the City of Ottawa to make the grounds more pollinator friendly.

The group has been planting native trees, including a large serviceberry and small yellow birch, as well as perennials and grasses.

The north side of the church is shady, so they are modelling it after

woodland. “One of our members is a forester, and she recommended that we look to species like the pagoda dogwood and witch hazel, and so we’ve got some of those in there

Why native plants?

BY MARY CRAWFORD

With the threat our pollinators (and all insects) face through habitat loss, chemical poisoning, and climate change, they need all the help we can give them.

Native plants generally support a greater number and variety of pollinators and are tolerant hosts to insects that birds need to raise their young.

Many non-native plants offer pollen and nectar as well, though sometimes of lesser quality. The most invasive non-native species outcompete native species. Some of these plants, such as dogstrangling vine and garlic mustard, reportedly even fool pollinators into laying eggs on them when in fact their leaves are poisonous to the larva.

Trees such as red and sugar maple, oak, birch, cherry and serviceberry are excellent choices for the home garden. Nonnative trees such as the Norway maple, once planted widely for

their ability cope with our urban environment, are now on Ottawa’s invasive plant list.

The City of Ottawa also lists many garden plants to avoid, such as lilyof-the-valley, periwinkle, bugleweed, goutweed, creeping Jenny and Japanese knotweed.

The Ontario Invasive Plant Council has a helpful brochure entitled “Grow Me Instead,” which suggests native substitutes for problematic non-native plants.

Sourcing plants and seeds

As a rule, the closer to home you source your plants and seeds, the better. Local, independent growers and reputable garden centres pride themselves on providing quality plant material suitable for our growing zone and usually grown in Canada.

Ask about pesticide use. The more concern retailers hear from customers, the more likely they are to address it. Also, keep in mind that we know less about plants grown in

and also some ground cover like wild geranium, ferns, and wild ginger. These are native plants that love the shade and we’re excited to see them get established,” said Crawford.

the US where pesticide regulations vary from state to state and from our own than we do about plants grown in Canada.    Choose native plants in their species form, for example, purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) as opposed to a cultivated variety such as ‘Sunseeker’s rainbow’ coneflower, to best ensure the benefit to nature. Breeding for qualities such as different colours or flower shape often diminishes pollinator interest and accessibility.

Native plant specialists

• Beaux Arbres (Bristol, QC)

• Natural Themes (near Frankford)

• Ontario Native Plants (live plants shipped from Hamilton)

• Wildflower Farm (seed orders)

• Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library

For more information

• Master Gardeners of Ottawa Carleton (MGOC) has a newsletter that regularly covers topics related to native plants. Find Trowel Talk on their website: mgottawa.ca.

A stump from a maple tree that came down in a storm in 2016 has become a feature in one of the gardens. “They didn’t get that all out of the ground, which is really fortunate because the stump’s … still offering a lot to the insects that continue to live there and work to break it down. And plants just look so good around it… We’ve really come to love that stump,” she said.

An old compost heap behind the church has become a wildflower garden with bee-friendly nesting sites, high-bush cranberry shrubs and tree seedlings.

“I am very happy to be part of transforming our church gardens into native plant, pollinator gardens,” Janet Taylor, another member of the team wrote in an email to Crosstalk “The Pollinator Partnership Canada videos taught me how the changes we are making can contribute to sustaining the ecosystems we really depend on and being part of Mary’s team has taught me much about plant selection. These simple choices are making us better stewards of the land we are on, creating a pollinator friendly garden which requires far less maintenance and watering from us.”

Such projects can have an impact beyond the bounds of church property as well. “Not only are we providing an example in the neighbourhood as to what can be done, but our gardens are also a statement that this faith community takes seriously its call to be responsible stewards,” said Taylor.

• Lorraine Johnson has written a Canadian classic: 100 Easyto-Grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens (3rd edition 2017).

• Douglas Tallamy has written seminal works on native plants: Bringing Nature Home (2009) and Nature’s Best Hope (2019).

• Pollinator Partnership Canada offers ecoregional planting guides and Pollinator Stewardship Certification.

Upcoming local events

• Friends of the Farm lecture series by MGOC—May 2: Garden Design with Nature in Mind; May 16: Create a Beautiful Garden with Keystone Native Plants

• Friends of the Farm Plant Sale 960 Carling Ave, Sunday, May 14. Includes many local growers, including members of MGOC.

• Fletcher Wildlife Garden Online Plant Sale Check website for details.

Parishioner Janet Taylor tends to the garden around the stump of a maple tree.

PHOTO: MARY CRAWFORD

St. Mark’s hosts guest speakers and a party for Black History Month

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

The parish of St. Mark’s was abuzz with activity all through Black History Month. A different guest joined them for each Sunday service — Dr. Joy Mighty (see story in the March issue of Crosstalk), Yolande Parsons, Camille Isaacs-Morell and Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The final service on Feb. 26 was followed by a festive lunch that included Bahamian sweet potato bread (lovingly baked by Father Julian Campbell) and other delicious dishes from Haiti, Ghana and Nigeria while everyone was serenaded and danced to the music of the reggae band Trinity, led by Nedley Pitt. You had to be there to enjoy the food and music, but Crosstalk can share a sampling of excerpts from the guest homilies and a few of the sights and smiles.

Archbishop Linda Nicholls Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada

It is an honour and humbling to be invited—especially as I am a white, privileged woman in a position of leadership whose only experiences of non-inclusion have been based on gender and even that in the midst of strong social movements towards gender inclusion.

However, I do come as a person of faith—a faith we share together that is rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ—and it is from the heart of that faith that I speak to the challenges we—as church and society—face in changing the travesty of racial discrimination. …

[In the early years of her ministry] I moved back to a community on the outskirts of Toronto—and was struck by the fact that all the people of colour sat around the edges of the church—never in the centre of the nave. Few were on the advisory board—they were faithful, regular attenders of worship; contributors to the parish but not often in leadership. I wanted to change that and began to discover the systemic nature of barriers—that no one articulated out loud—but were noticed and felt deeply.

A faithful family with Caribbean roots came to me one day and asked if I would bless their brand new van. They were so excited about this new vehicle in their family—and said that their previous beat-up car had seemed so out of place in our parking lot that they parked a couple of blocks away and walked to the church. I was mortified that somehow our community had exuded that kind of exclusion— not intentionally—but by all the

unspoken signals that we were an upper middle-class church where some had privilege and others did not.

Since then—I am learning to see the power of those unspoken attitudes that permeate our lives. And with them the unseen privileges that those of us who were in the majority or at least in power of institutions and government have enjoyed. …

I cannot speak to or know the full experience of BIPOC people in Canada. I am committed to listening to your stories of pain and of faith. I can be alert to the ways my own heart and mind have been shaped by biases and attitudes that must be challenged and changed. I can be alert to the ways that our Church has not welcomed diversity; promoted the gifts and leadership of those who have made Canada their home. I have asked the House of Bishops to assist me in nominating leaders in our Church from communities not currently represented—I have asked that Synods choose their delegates to General Synod to represent the fullness of their community. I ask the BIPOC community to continue to critique and challenge us to do the work that is needed and to be willing to step into the opportunities for leadership—and be bold in demanding them. …

We are created for community— for each other—as partners in the Gospel—as siblings in Christ for the Good News. We have not yet lived into its fullness, but I pray we are on the road towards it.

The Rev. Julian Campbell

Nedley Pitt shares a reggae number with Greta Robinson

Longtime St. Mark's parishioner Sheila Pitt

PHOTO L.A. WILLIAMS

PHOTO J. HOUNSELL

PHOTO: LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Yolande Parsons Community builder

…When I immigrated to Canada as a young lady, over 40 years ago, I encountered racism for the very first time in my life and having no point of reference on how to deal with that, I chose to become involved in the community. First to educate myself and then, by extension, to educate my community on how to navigate life in a predominantly white world. …

Community organizing was key to my understanding that this new reality as a Black woman in a predominantly white country was not going to be easy. There would be many factors stacked up against me and over which I had no control, Black and female, to name the obvious.

Thankfully, the Black community in Winnipeg, back then, was tight-knit and quite progressive. In the early 80s, we were the first community in Canada to establish a Martin Luther King Celebration Committee, and among one of the first to organize marches in support of the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African jail. As a young girl, it was invigorating to be part of such a movement. ….

In their book, Victorious in Defeat: The Loyalists in Canada, Professors Wallace Brown and Hereward Senior said this: “The Blacks’ greatest success was religious organization, by which they developed as a distinct and separate community.”

The history of the Black Church in Canada mirrors the same racism that was happening in society.

When Black Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia in 1783, the Church of England, immediately ensured there were White Anglican Loyalists to assume the positions of prominence within the church, relegating the Blacks to second-class status.

Back then, Blacks believed that if they were baptised in the Anglican Church, it would make them equal with the whites. But even after many hundreds of them were baptized, they realized that

though they could attend services and receive communion, they were segregated from white parishioners and forced into galleries set apart for Blacks and the poor, and kept behind a partition.

Eventually, they were even encouraged to gather in their own homes. Since it was obvious that they were not welcome and would not receive the support of the Church of England, the Nova Scotian Blacks determined that their spiritual needs were best met by their own lay preachers and teachers. So, in segregated communities, and in independent churches they held their services, and these became important to meet their spiritual and social needs. …

I would say that it is God’s desire that we figure out how we can live together, in unity, celebrating our differences and the richness added to our lives through our diversity. Jesus modelled this throughout his earthly ministry; we see it throughout the Gospels….

And may I add my own prayer: Father, may we see a day when there will be no need to dedicate a month to Black History because every day of every month, we are celebrating ALL people, Black, white, yellow, red, because we are ALL Your image bearers, created in Your image and in Your likeness and which You declared was, Very Good! Amen!

— Yolande Parsons is the Spiritual Care Coordinator and also teaches event management at Algonquin College. She immigrated to Winnipeg in 1982 from St Vincent and began working with many community organizations, including the St. Vincent Association of Winnipeg, the Martin Luther King Celebration Committee, the Black History Committee, and the National Black Committee on AIDS. She attends Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church where she is a board member and leads the Women’s Ministry.

Camille Isaacs-Morell Business leader, volunteer and artist

Our theme ‘Black in Canada: The Narrative and the Vision’ is relevant and timely. During Black History Month we have been listening to the narratives of Black people – our history, daily experience, disappointment, and success. … The hard question that must be asked and answered is – How do we go beyond the narrative and make the vision reality?

Here are a few suggestions. These suggestions apply equally to nonBlack and Black people!

Firstly, let’s accept that Black history is not just about Black people. Black history is integral to Canadian history. We all came here in different ships, but we are now all in the same boat.

Secondly, the collective understanding of our history must lead to a critical examination of the state of things now and the definition of the ways in which we will intentionally dismantle systemic racism. We must have the courage to ask ourselves some tough questions about the possible ways we and the institutions to which we belong may be contributing to systemic racism.

• Are we prepared to examine historical precedent and current practices in organizations to which we belong?

• How do we engage during conversations about race? Are we listening and engaging in dialogue with facts, informed opinions and with empathy?

• How can we use our positions of leadership, influence, and privilege to make things better?

Thirdly, as people of faith, let’s commit to being advocates and agents of change. Some ways to do this – create and sign petitions; attend and participate in public hearings and debates; write letters to political representatives; publish articles and opinion pieces on various communication platforms; challenge organizations in which

you belong to be more inclusive in their membership.

Be prepared to have uncomfortable conversations. We don’t know what we don’t know. When a racially insensitive comment is made, create teachable moments by calmly addressing the issue, and by calmly listening. Let empathy prevail by listening. Let love prevail by promptly apologizing and promptly forgiving. I’ve been in these situations in the workplace and in the church. The conversations have always started off awkwardly, but I promise you, they often end amicably, with everyone feeling relieved and reassured. You see, love always wins.

As we celebrate Black History Month and reflect on the transfiguration of Jesus, let us all be reminded that whenever love is at the core of our intentions, the will of God will always prevail. God’s will is always for our individual and collective good!

…The transfiguration message calls us to reflect on the paths we will forge during Lent as a people committed to following the way of Jesus, whose death is the greatest act of love ever committed for all humanity and provides us all the hope of the Easter resurrection

— Camille Isaacs-Morell was a foreign service officer in the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs before she migrated to Montreal in 1993 and embarked on a career in marketing and corporate social responsibility. She has served as executive director of the Alzheimer Society of Montreal and is now vicepresident of Hope for Dementia.

In the Diocese of Montreal, she was a member of the working group that submitted to the 161st synod, the Anti-Black Racism Action Plan to dismantle systemic racism in the church.

PHOTO: LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS PHOTO: LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Why Black History Month?

BY THE REV. CANON GEORGE KWARI

Why should we have a month dedicated to Black History? Why should we hear the narrative of Black people in the month of February in church, school or anywhere else for that matter?

Is it even appropriate to hear the narrative of one group over the others? These were questions our guest preacher, writer and retired Classics professor John Harewood, recently posed in St Stephen’s. In his wisdom, John reminded us that, as Christians we are not strangers to narrative. The Bible is a book of narratives with the stories of creation, the stories of pharaoh, captivity, exodus and the founding of the nation of Israel, then the fall and living in exile when Israelites became part of other people’s history. To draw everyone into the narrative, gospel writers shared with us how we all became one, neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free people through the birth of Jesus, his crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit. It is a narrative that has been told across the world and has brought hope and oneness in the human family Narrative gives us a way to feel empathy for others. Shakespearean narratives are about

love, hope and failure, and they are universal, he added.

So narrative is common to human history. We like to tell a story about ourselves. We also want to tell what others want to believe about us. Canada had a narrative about the French and the English establishing the nation. That is now being revised to acknowledge that the story is much older and began with the First Nations and Inuit peoples. To that narrative, we have added the words, diversity and multiculturalism.

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colour, and many Black people have been asked, “Where do you come from? And when they say, “I come from Montreal,” there is a follow up question such as, “Where did your parents come from?” The questions suggest that they are outsiders and do not belong to the Canadian narrative

Lincoln Alexander was elected as the first Black Canadian Member of Parliament in 1968. Harewood reflected on how this real step forward was quickly overshadowed by the Sir George Williams University student riot in Montreal in 1969. When complaints about a professor’s grading being racial discriminatory were dismissed, students began a peaceful sit-in protest. When some refused to leave, riot police were called in and fire broke out. As the building burned, the crowds watching the scene from below chanted racist epithets. Coupled with this sad incident in the 60s, was the demolition of Africville, a Black community located in Halifax. The city called it urban renewal, but residents saw it as an act of racism.

All this led to Al Hamilton, a West Indian immigrant from Barbados, to publish a newspaper aptly titled Contrast to give a voice to the Black community. Contrast was a magnet for budding Black journalists. There

were many, including Harewood, with talents honed around the world — who found the newspaper an oasis in a bleak landscape where Black people generally were not seen as reporters, editors and certainly not as on-air presenters or actors.

Contrast was ground zero for these struggles. The paper filled a void. Author Cecil Foster once said, “Hamilton [believed] in a just Canada in which Black people would simply be no more and no less than citizens and individuals. It was a struggle to which he woke up every morning.” Hamilton and others around him saw Canada as a work in progress and felt that there was always reason for hope rather than the despair of exclusion. He touched the lives of many accomplished Black Canadians, including the Toronto Star’s Royson James, Citytv’s Jojo Chintoh and, of course, Foster. The paper, even with its lack of resources, made Black people feel they mattered and belonged to society.

Returning to his initial question of whether should be focusing attention on the history of particular people as if it is more special than another, Harewood said, “That is not what we are all about when we talk about Black history.

 Black History Month, p. 13

John Harewood was welcomed to St. Stephen’s by Incumbent the Rev. Canon George Kwari.

In the shadow of slavery

Black history in Ottawa from 1784 to 1832

BY THE REV. CANON HILARY ANNE MURRAY

The diocesan Archives marked Black History Month 2023 by researching the presence of black people in the diocese during the period of 1784 to 1832. A challenge? Definitely. In part due to the fact that Black persons were often not counted because they were enslaved and not viewed as having the same rights or value as white people.

According to Anne Milan and Kelly Tran’s article “Blacks in Canada: A long history” published by Statistics Canada: The first Black person in Canada, who served as an interpreter under Governor de Monts in Nova Scotia, was reported in 1605. From 1628 until the early 1800s, Black slavery existed, particularly in Eastern Canada, where Loyalists immigrating from the United States would often bring slaves with them. In the late 1700s, Canada also became home to some Black Loyalists who had been promised land grants for supporting the British during the American Revolution. Many early Blacks chose to remain in Canada and founded settlements in Nova Scotia and Ontario, and, later, in Western Canada with the opening of the frontier in the mid-1800s.

In the course of our research, we learned of Isaac Johnson, who wrote a memoir titled, “Slavery Days in Old Kentucky: a true story of a father who sold his wife and four children by one of the children.” His story intersects with some of the history of our diocese.

Isaac Johnson was born in Kentucky. His father was white, and his mother was an enslaved woman. She was born in Madagascar, where she was captured and taken into slavery. When she was brought to the United States, she “became the servant to a slave trader until his death. She was then the inherited property of the slave trader’s eldest son Richard Yeager. Johnson’s mother and father lived together on his tobacco farm in Nelson County, Kentucky as husband and wife. They had four

 Black History Month, from p. 12

Each of us has a right to be interested in one’s own community. It is in our own communities that we feel at ease. We know the values, the culture, and the language. But if we agree that Canada is ‘a work in progress’ and if we want to build a society in which everyone can feel free and included, then I think it is imperative to learn something about the history of those around us.” He added: “I do not think I can put it better than Mark Starowicz when he wrote the foreword to Canada: A People’s History: ‘I

children. Johnson was born in 1844. In his memoirs, Johnson said up to the age of seven years old, his life was relatively normal. It is believed that his father began having financial difficulties and experienced issues with “neighbouring farmers,” who shunned him. Richard Yeager decided to sell his wife and children into slavery for a total of $3,300, earning him quite a bit of money in those days. Johnson was purchased by William Madinglay for $700, a very high price for an enslaved child in 1851.

Johnson laboured on the Madinglay’s farm for 12 years, during the American Civil War. At the age of 19, he escaped, joining the Union Army when they “swept through Kentucky.” He became an enlisted man in the 102nd US Coloured Regiment on Feb. 3, 1864. He remained in the Union Army until the Civil War ended. Johnson then returned to Kentucky to search for his family members at the end of the war. Unfortunately, he did not succeed in finding any of them. Most likely his mother and siblings were spread far and wide as a result of being sold into slavery and the chaos caused by the Civil War. Johnson eventually migrated up the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River on various cargo ships. In 1867, he made it to Morrisburg, Ontario. Why Johnson

chose to settle in Morrisburg is unknown. Most likely this is where he found more promising work opportunities. It was here that Johnson learned the trade of stone masonry. He started his trade as a mason when he was employed with “Baker Limestone quarry in Winchester for eight years. It was in this job that he worked on construction projects, building churches, stone houses and municipal buildings in the Winchester and Russell regions. Isaac Johnson is associated with project to build St. James Anglican Church in Morrisburg.

As Johnson continued to develop in his trade and his reputation grew

as a mason, his career expanded to contracts on the New York side of the St Lawrence, leading him to Waddington and Ogdensburg where he was involved in the building of many more churches, homes, government buildings and hospitals. Isaac Johnson ended his career in 1897 after being injured from falling from a derrick, (a pivoting construction crane), when lifting and cutting large stones in Cornwall, Ontario.

Following his injury, Johnson wrote his memoir as a means of raising funds to provide for his children’s education and in the hope that it might also help him find his siblings again. His is a remarkable story — from his beginnings as an enslaved person, a boy with no rights, experiencing the trauma of brutal separation, witnessing his mother and siblings being sold to new slave owners, fighting his way to freedom, and then making a new life in Canada and upstate New York. Johnson learned and mastered the trade of masonry, leaving us a legacy in the form of many building constructions from Morrisburg to Ogdensburg and back to Cornwall, where families were raised, faith communities were built and people were healed, but the story of his life and courage may be his most important legacy.

descend not from the filles du roi, nor the Loyalists, nor the Aboriginal Nations, yet their stories are my story. Since I am Canadian, they are my ancestors. They are also the ancestors of the Sudanese, Haitians, and Chinese. And remember also the stories of those who came here from the famines of Africa, from the gas chambers of Central Europe, from rafts tossed on South China Sea, from the refugee camps of the world. These now belong to Canada, to the Native Peoples, to the French and to the English. Their history has become our history and our history belongs to them. All our children are in the same school yards.’”

Harewood added that Black history is a part of all history, that Black people, with all of us, make up what we call the Canadian mosaic. We are all living an experience which is our experience wherever we happen to come from, wherever we happen to be born, we are our own Canadian narrative.”

Although these topics are difficult, as a church, it is important that we learn to tell the history of any people in a way that is truthful, ensuring proper treatment of the history and experience of Black people. My friends, Black people continue to experience racism in their everyday lives. Let us pray

for an end of racism. Let us do what we can in our churches and communities to combat racism.

My sincere thanks to John Harewood for his courage to share with us his wisdom. Thank you to Dr. Shirley Brathwaite, coordinator of Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, who invited our guest speaker. Many thanks to St. Stephen’s parishioners for their openness to learn about Black people’s history and who continue to walk the journey of truth and reconciliation with Black people. To God be the Glory.

Photos of Isaac Johnson and his wife Theodocia were featured in a Black History Month display at the Archives as was the quote attributed to Bishop Strachan.

Being rooted and grounded in Christ

BY THE REV. CANON STEWART MURRAY

This article for the April edition began to take shape at the end of February and the beginning of Lent after digging out of another snow fall. It provided an opportunity to get out of my usual winter doldrums and think about Easter and spring. Like many Canadians I am rather obsessed by the weather, but I realize that interest in, talking about, and fretting about the weather—especially the winter weather—is a constant in my life. This ‘obsession’ has no doubt been strengthened by the circumstances of my life. I grew up with gardens and extended family working in agriculture and have been fortunate to have served the majority of my priesthood in rural parishes where farming has been the mainstay of the community. I quickly became aware of the power of the weather to bring prosperity or disaster. I have watched the lack of rain turn clay soil to the consistency of concrete and too much rain result in mud and washouts.

Weather, farming and nature play an important role in the sacred Scriptures and in shaping our understanding of God’s relationship with humanity and creation. The

stories of the garden of Eden, of Noah and the flood and of the Exodus journey for 40 years in the desert are but a few examples from the Old Testament of the intimate relationship between the natural world and the story of salvation. Jesus’ teaching frequently used examples drawn from nature and the everyday activities of rural life. The image of the sower, the winnowing fork and threshing floor, the vineyard, the unfruitful fig tree and the lowly mustard seed as well as the theme of harvest all play a role in opening up our understanding of the message of

farm needs hard work and attention so does our life of faith; our relationship with Jesus needs to be given care, nurture and attention.

At Easter, we celebrate the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and of new life, the hope at the very heart of our faith. The challenge is to live our faith outside of the safe confines of our churches and faith communities beyond the 50 days of the Easter season, in the harsh reality of our world and the routine of our daily lives. One of the key elements in nurturing and becoming more deeply rooted in our faith is following a simple rule of life which gives structure and a focus to our desire to live our faith. I want to stress the need for simplicity in a rule of life, so that we are not like a novice gardener who, instead of starting with a small garden, attempts to landscape half an acre, then soon becomes overwhelmed and discouraged and gives up the pleasure that gardening can provide. Establishing a regular pattern of prayer, study of Scripture and worship that are honest expressions of time and lifestyle will bear more fruit than one that is too ambitious.

Prayer is at the core of our life in Christ and making time in your day for a conversation with God can be a simple but important rule

to follow. Everyone’s schedule is different, but it is possible to find times that work for you. If the mornings are already overfilled, maybe on your lunch hour, or during the morning coffee break at your desk would work. It is not the length of time but the quality of time that we give that matters. I have found that I often can take a few minutes before a pastoral visit to sit in my car and offer prayer for the visit. At other times, perhaps while doing errands, after parking I can pray for the people or situations reported on the recent news reports that I heard while driving.

You could also take advantage of opportunities for worship through the week. As much as I love the Sunday Masses and seeing the ‘family’ gathered, mid-week services are a wonderful, quiet offering of prayer and thanksgiving. Another simple discipline is to develop the habit of reading sacred Scripture using one of the wide range of daily readings guides such as the Upper Room to make it manageable.

I invite you to take a few moments to write down a simple rule of life that is manageable in your life and to begin today to follow it and to grow into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church this Easter Season.

The Rev. Canon Stewart Murray is Incumbent of St. Barnabas Ottawa PHOTO: ART BABYCH

DIOCESAN ARCHIVES

The Family Compact comes through

BY GLENN J LOCKWOOD

Local tradition tells us a mission was started at Cornwall in 1784 for Loyalist refugees, and by 1787, a parish was founded. The Rev. John Strachan arrived in 1803. A frame house of worship put up in 1805 prompted Strachan to opine that “Cornwall had the finest church in Upper Canada—and that in the poorest parish.”

Some things never change. Over 60 years later, when the 1805 house of worship was showing its age, there were those who doubted that funds could be found to build the size of church needed by the parish. They may have doubted that Trinity could aspire to a church designed in the splashy ecclesiastical High Victorian Gothic Revival style. They were wrong.

Some astute parishioners realized that Trinity had one thing in its favour that no other parish in the country had going for it. And that thing was an idea, or, if you will, a memory. To be specific, their first rector, the Rev. John Strachan had presided over a famous grammar school at Cornwall (famous because it had very high standards). Within its walls, he had nurtured (in an academic sense) the elite of Upper Canada known to history as the Family Compact, before going on himself to become the first (and long-lived) Bishop of Toronto, who

Trinity, Cornwall Stormont Deanery

the cathedral adopts the mediaeval arrangement of central nave flanked by side aisles, all oriented towards the choir. Faithful to the ideal of structural rationalism, they will continue, each element in the plan is clearly expressed in the exterior composition.

Perhaps. But it had taken seven years to build the Fredericton house of worship (the spire we know today was a major later change).

Twenty years later, Trinity, Cornwall was of comparable size and built in only two years (1868-1869) to a florid unified design that had been thought through from the start.

The ambitious tower of Trinity prefigured Scott going on to design the soaring Mackenzie tower on the West Block of the parliament buildings in Ottawa, although he exchanged the lustrous gold stone of Cornwall for a vivid polychromy at Ottawa.

as a power in the land had founded McGill University (with his wife, the widow McGill’s money), the University of Toronto, the University of Trinity College and the larger Ontario school system.

Anyone who doubts there was a Family Compact should take a good long second look at Trinity Church, Cornwall. The funds to build this ambitious Gothic Revival temple designed by Thomas Seaton Scott were raised by subscription.

The now deceased Mr. Strachan’s satellites were told that the large

new church would be known as Trinity (Bishop Strachan Memorial) Church. All men who were Strachan’s students or whose lives had been touched by his ministry came through and subscribed handsomely to build the remarkable house of worship we see here. Some architectural historians will tell you that more than any other religious building in Canada, Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton best illustrates the principles of the Cambridge Camden Society. They will tell you that in its final form,

Alas for Trinity’s tower, it began to lean before construction could begin on a spire meant to be as high again as the walls of the tower beneath it. More than a century would pass before an abbreviated spire was placed atop the spire. Was the failure of the tower’s design the source of the legend that the ghost of a saddened Bishop Strachan was said to play the bells at night?

The Diocesan Archives collects parish registers, vestry reports, service registers, minutes of groups and committees, financial documents, property records (including cemeteries and architectural plans), insurance policies, letters, pew bulletins, photographs and paintings, scrapbooks, parish newsletters, and unusual documents.

PWRDF responds to earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria and the drought in Kenya

When disasters happen, Canadian Anglicans count on the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) to quickly respond on their behalf.

Earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria

After massive earthquakes caused catastrophic damage in Türkiye and Syria in early February, PWRDF immediately allocated $35,000 to the ACT Alliance (a global, faithbased coalition) and began to accept donations for aid, which had totalled more than $88,800 by late February.

As a member of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, PWRDF also participated in a Humanitarian Coalition appeal. On Feb. 24, the Canadian government announced that donations made to the appeal and its members would be matched up to $10 million.

Donations made between Feb. 6 to 22

were matched —raising $91,000.

A relief grant of $5,000 has been provided to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which will be used to provide food, water, clothing and medical supplies to those affected in northern Syria.

Due to the effects of war, Syria is a challenging environment in which to provide support. The ACT Secretariat has negotiated a process to facilitate sending funds to Syria, which is under sanctions. Many members working in the area have been responding to humanitarian needs while ACT and its members have called for sanctions to be lifted during the crisis.

PWRDF has also partnered with the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). On Feb. 13, the MECC invited all member churches in Aleppo to discuss coordinating a response. The Aleppo Church Leaders Committee (ACLC) agreed to establish an ecumenical Syria earthquake committee along with a technical-legal committee

to deal with the safety of building structures affected by the earthquake. This committee will assess the priorities of those who need help to find housing or implement repairs. The MECC will also distribute necessities to existing shelters while seeking fast and effective ways to get cash assistance to people.   The ACT Alliance has issued an appeal for Syria to: respond to the earthquake (US $6 million); and continue resilience work (US$5 million). So far there has been a pledge of $3 million by the funding members.

Drought in Kenya

In Kenya, close to 90% of the people in Marsabit County have been affected by drought. More than 5.5 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Hunger is expected to become more extreme because of limited food availability, market disruption and loss of livelihoods,    PWRDF has allocated $260,000 along with $250,000 coming from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank account.

These funds will support a threemonth humanitarian response project in Kenya. This emergency food distribution will be implemented by Church World Service in Maikona and Korr/Ngurunit wards of Marsabit County, providing three months of food basket transfers to 2,000 households (approximately 12,000 individuals).

How you can help

Please keep the people affected by these events in your prayers. You may support PWRDF’s response online at pwrdf.org or over the phone by calling 416-822-9083 (or leave a message toll-free at 1-866-308-7973 for a return call.) You may also donate by mail. Send your cheque to PWRDF, 80 Hayden Street, 3rd floor, Toronto, ON. Canada M4Y 3G2. Please indicate “Syria/Türkiye Earthquake” and/or “Drought in Kenya” in the memo field.

Submitted by Janet Allingham on behalf of the Diocesan Working Group with files from Naba Gurung, PWRDF Humanitarian Response Coordinator

BULLETIN BOARD

Calendar

April 7

Good Friday

April 9

Easter Sunday

April 22

Earth Day

200th Anniversary Celebration Dance

7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

St. John the Baptist, Richmond

67 Fowler St., Box 82, Richmond, ON, K0A 2Z0

Telephone: 613-838-9643

Marriage Preparation now online

To provide maximum flexibility for couples and clergy, the Diocese recommends an online Marriage Preparation webinar provided by HumanCare Marriage Prep at  https://www.marriageprep. com/.

The pre-recorded webinar is designed to help participants learn and grow through viewing presentations and having couple conversations completed within 30 days of registration. A certificate of completion will be provided.

All couples are welcome and participation is not limited by gender, age, or previous marital status.

For more information, please contact:   mmurray@marriageprep.com

Send us your feather photos!

In collaboration with the diocesan All My Relations Circle (AMR), Crosstalk is publishing photos to highlight how parishes have chosen to place, display or use the ceramic feathers they received at Synod 2019. Please send photos and any explanatory text to AMR at allmyrelations@ottawa.anglican.ca

PHOTOS LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Art at St. Mark’s during Black History Month