An appeal to gather anew by Canon Martha Tatarnic

BY THE RT. REV. PETER COFFIN

Church membership in Canada has been in decline for decades, and COVID has further contributed to this trend as well as hurting our communal life in so many other ways. Places of worship were closed and then opened with limited numbers and now fully so, albeit with restrictions. It is encouraging that a number of people are still with us online, in zoom events and with continued financial support, but nothing replaces in person gatherings and hopefully the day may come when we can see full faces again. If we are to be totally honest it just looks grim. It is in this context and for such a time as this and in sharing the struggles with her own vocation and a prevailing sense that sometimes nothing seems to be working anymore that Canon Martha Tatarnic, Rector of Saint George’s, Saint Catherines (Diocese of Niagara), has written, hopefully and helpfully, Why Gather?

This is not a ‘state of the church’ nor a how to save the institution book but an appeal not to acquiesce to what seems to be the case but to stayed tuned to what is still a living breathing truth. In her words -‘Ultrarealism.” In her words again: “The last thing that the church needs right now, or that the church needs out of this book, is permission to give up.” She then encourages us to gather again or anew and makes a case for why it matters, personally and to the credibility of the Gospel’s witness as to who we really are. In