Crosstalk — September 2021

Page 2 Thoughts from our Bishop

Pages 9

Pages 13

Expert advice for parishes re-opening

Page 14

Centre 105’s sweet success

Crosstalk Diocese launches Project Anti-racism

St. Mary Magdalene’s new trail

THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF OTTAWA Section of the Anglican Journal September 2021

photos

Leigh Anne Williams

By Leigh Anne Williams

T

he Anglican Diocese of Ottawa has retained the international consultancy firm GlobalLK to lead it through a major staff development and training program: Project Anti-racism: advancing inclusion and reconciliation in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.

Bishop Shane Parker said that the program will be mandatory for senior staff, all clergy and all community ministry managers. Preliminary work began over the summer and the project will officially launch with a keynote address from GlobalLK’s president and CEO Laraine Kaminsky on Sept. 22. The intent is to “build our capacity to address issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in our church and specifically take on racism in all its forms,” the bishop said.

The summer was marked by the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools and by the tragic deaths of four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont., apparently targeted in a hate crime based on their religion. Both are reminders that racism is a current and systemic issue in Canada, as it is around the world.

Bishop Parker said that the Diocese of Ottawa takes this issue very seriously and wants to take all positive actions possible. “The hope is that this training and education program will build our capacity to offer further education and development using our own resources.”

GlobalLK is a boutique consultancy firm specializing in customized diversity, equity and inclusion strategies for organizations of all sizes. Based in Ottawa, GlobalLK has provided services to organizations such as 3M, Google, CBC and the UN. In an interview with Crosstalk, Kaminsky said that although she has done some volunteer consulting with parishes and one of her colleagues has done some work with the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, this is the first time GlobalLK has been hired by a religious organization and described it as pioneering work.

See Crosstalk’s interview with Laraine Kaminsky on p. 10.

Opening doors

Parishes enjoy a cautious return to in-person worship

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

S

unday, Sept. 12 is slated as the day when Anglicans across the diocese will return to inperson indoor services in all parishes, but Christ Church Cathedral and some churches began to open as soon as it was permitted in July and August.

St. Barnabas in Ottawa reopened on July 11, and in August resumed having two Masses on Sundays.

“We’ve had a really good response to people coming back to church,” Incumbent, the Rev. Canon Stewart Murray told Crosstalk. “I was getting calls all the time asking when are we open? Can I come to church?” He said he was surprised to find that older parishioners were the most eager to return while

younger ones were more anxious about safety.

Murray said that the parish had weathered the pandemic storm remarkably well. Parishioners quickly adapted to online services and lay people stepped forward to help. “Devin Crawley, who has been doing the streaming of our services, short of taking some holidays the last couple of weeks, has been here every Sunday, plus doing things throughout the week for the last 18 months. That’s incredible. People really want to keep the parish going as strong as possible.”

He noted that parishioners had also faithfully continued to support the parish financially throughout the pandemic.

Opening doors, page 8

Christ Church Aylmer began welcoming parishioners and visitors back on Aug.1

Page 2 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

FROM OUR BISHOP

Paddling out of the storm

L

ast summer I took myself up to a large lake in Algonquin Park for an annual three-day silent, solo, retreat. Like all of you, I welcomed the chance to have a break from managing things during the pandemic. Because my vacation was just beginning, I had to wrap up some work things, finish up some

Photo: Art Babych

The Rt. Rev. Shane Parker, Bishop of Ottawa

home chores, and pack for the trip, so I was late getting on the road.

The long drive north was uneventful, but it was close to 5:30 pm when I finished making my way along 40 kilometres of gravel road to the place where I would park my car and head out into the “backcountry” of Algonquin Park.

I loaded up my kayak, evenly distributing the weight in the various compartments, with some things strapped on top of the decks.

Packing a 17-foot sea-kayak is an art and takes some concentration.

I was aware of the late hour and the 90-minute paddle across open water to the area where I would camp. I glanced at the sky and thought it looked like rain, so I put on a waterproof paddle-jacket and a spray-skirt (to seal the cockpit so you don’t end up in a bathtub) and got underway.

Normally I bring two kinds of paddles with me: a straight-shaft paddle with long narrow blades for

travelling distances on relatively calm water; and a bent-shaft paddle with shorter, wider blades for windy, wild, wavy water. I set out with the latter strapped behind me, under my sleeping mat and some other light things, thinking I would be fine with the calm water paddle. But I had failed to study the sky carefully, and 20 minutes out onto the lake I looked behind me to the northwest and saw a massive storm front rolling in—looking like an iconic Tom Thomson painting, but with very real winds whipping up the water and torrential rain (not to mention peals of thunder and lightning off in the distance).

Like the gospel stories of perilous storms arising suddenly on the Sea of Galilee, I was quickly engulfed in strong winds, large waves, and sleeting rain. Normally I enjoy wild sea conditions but with a fully weighted boat and a less than ideal paddle, it took some adapting to keep stable and stay on course (and to stop lamenting that I should have seen the signs before I headed out and used the more suitable paddle).

After I had paddled for a long time, the sky began to clear in the distance, as you can see in the three photos accompanying this column.

Soon a perfect rainbow began to form—like a portal to a new world.

It was so striking I felt moved to somehow capture what I was seeing even though I was still being tossed around in the wind, waves, and rain.

Eventually the single rainbow became a double rainbow—unworldly, beautiful, and beckoning. I knew I was paddling out of the storm.

In March 2020, we were all caught off guard and unprepared for a global pandemic—even though the signs were there weeks in advance.

We careened this way and that as we learned to adapt—lamenting the losses while coping with the changes.

And the pandemic kept deepening and revealing its frightening contours.

But we have kept everyone in our diocese safe, and we have stayed connected with God and one another.

We are now carefully making our way out of it. The end is in sight, and it will be so very good to be together again.

CLERGY NEWS The Rev. Jonathan Askwith has been appointed Associate Incumbent of the Area Parish of Mississippi Lake, effective Aug. 3, 2021.

The Rev. Simone Hurkmans has been appointed the Incumbent of the parishes of St. Alban the Martyr and St-Bernard-de -Clairvaux, effective Aug. 3.

The Rev. Canon Kevin Flynn has been appointed Incumbent of the Parish of Chelsea-LascellesWakefield, effective Nov. 28, 2021.

The Rev. Mark Lewis, ordained as a transitional deacon on June 29, 2021, has been appointed Deaconin-Charge of the Parish of South Dundas, effective Aug. 3.

The Rev. Susan Lewis has been appointed Regional Dean of West Quebec, effective June 21, 2021.

The Rev. Cynthia MacLachlan, ordained as transitional deacon on June 29, 2021, has been appointed Assistant Curate (part-time) in the Area Parish of the St. Lawrence,

The Rev. Robert Sicard has been appointed Assistant Curate in the Parish of St. John the Evangelist Smith Falls, effective July 1 to Dec. 31, 2021.

The Rev. Arran Thorpe has been appointed Regional Dean of Ottawa East, effective May, 27.

Page 4 • CROSSTALK • February 2019 September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 3

STEWARDSHIP

First virtual Bishop’s Gala in May raised funds and lifted spirits

Giving Our Thanks and Praise

By Leigh Anne Williams

B

ishop Shane Parker extended his thanks to everyone who helped make the 38th annual dinator for the Anglican and first ever virtual Bishop’s Gala on Church of Canada, led the May 27, a success. first Giving Our Thanks & “It was so good to be able to Praise Workshop to introwidely share the Gala this year,” he told Crosstalk. “Even though the duce this program starting tickets sold out quickly for those who in the deaneries of the Cacould afford them, everyone was thedral, Ottawa Centre and

By Jane Scanlon, able to tune into the event for free, Stewardship Development Ottawa West. Although it and to learn about the work of our Jerusalem and PWRDF partners, was the day after the tornaOfficer and maybe bid on an auction item or does blew through Ottawa, Healthy and vital congretwo—and to enjoy all of the fantastic it was well attended by 33 gations workbytotalented shape genentertainment provided representatives – a mix of memberserous of ourdisciples diocese!” who live out The event raised $32,000, allowing clergy and laity. Susan introtheir faith from a place of the Diocese to send $16,000 to duced the three pillars of the gratitude. Helping congreeach of the gala beneficiaries—the AboveGTP — Theprogram: Primate ofinviting, the ingations inspire, invite and Episcopal Jerusalem PrincesstoBasma Centre, Diocese of Jerusalem spiring and thanking. which offers virtual rehabilitative thank people is the basis of a delivered greetings and thanks.Along therapiesnew to children disabilities with the pillars, the emphasis way ofwith seeing and carryin Gaza and the West Bank, and a Right — Ahmad, who receives throughout the workshop is out what have called therapy COVID ing extension of the we All Mothers from the Princess Basma onoffered leadinginspiring best practices stewardship.

To support con- Centre, and Children Count program, words for which supports PWRDF partners fostering generosity, giving gregations and theirin lead- and smiles.

Rwanda,ers Mozambique, Tanzania and gratitude in congregaa resource, Giving Our

Offering congregational resources for faithful, intentional and generous responses to God’s mission

tions. Overall, the workshop Thanks & Praise (GTP), has received very positive evalubeen developed by the Angliations. One participant said can Church of Canada. This it was the most helpful stewprogram is being introduced ardship workshop that he has across Canada and has reattended, and a number of ceived positive feedback from congregations have indicated parishes that have implethat they are already adoptmented it. GTP provides “a ing some of the practices in very enjoyable and helpful the GTP program. experience with lots of choicThree Giving Our Thanks es.” “Our ministers and lay & Praise Workshops, led by leaders loved the kit.”

Direct from Morrisburg, the band West of the Rock (including Susan, will be offered OnMartin September 22, Tremblay) 2018, performed the Rev. Jon and Becca a lively Alan in 2019.

Registration will include reSusan Graham Walker, ReDoyle tune. freshments and lunch. sources for Mission Coor-

STAFF NEWS Nutrition, Warner-Lambert Pfizer, Sanofi, among others). “I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa helping it deliver its mission and vision for the Church and its various community ministries.”

Ringo Morella has been hired as director of Human Resources, effective July 1, 2021. He has held executive HR positions and has more than 20 years experience working with leadership and management teams. Morella has worked with multinational consumer and pharmaceutical companies (Mead Johnson

Carol Sinclair has retired from her position as director of Human Resources, effective Aug. 31, 2021.

The 2019 GTP workshop dates are: • March 30 for the Deaneries of Arnprior, Carleton and Lanark. Held at St. James, Carleton Place. Early Bird registration ends March 07.

• May 4 for the Deaneries of Pembroke, Pontiac Renfrew and West Quebec. Location to be decided. Early Bird registration ends April 22.

• September 21 for the Deaneries of Ottawa East and Stormont. Hosted at Epiphany, Gloucester. Early Bird registration ends September 09.

Giving Thanks and Praise is a giving program for parish leadership. Its aim is to shift the conversation from funding budgets to focusing on how we inspire people to the life of faith and invite them and Burundi. The COVID extension to participate meaningfully provides PPE (personal protective in God’s It is anfor easiequipment) andmission. other necessities pandemic safety as well as helping the ly adaptable guide to increase partners maintainand important generosity givinggains in conin food security, maternal and child gregations.

Congregations health during the original program. start government GTP anywhere The can Canadian was and matching funds for the Mothers on at any time byAllbuilding and what Children Count extension on aand is already in place 6:1 basis, which increased the funds by project takingtosteps to introduce for that $94,000. some new ideas to invite, inspire and thank people. It is

Hosted by the bishop, the gala included special appearances

by Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church for whatever the size of scalable Canada; Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Primate of the Episcopal and location your parish. It Diocese Jerusalem the discomesof with the and I Intend Middle East; Will Postma, executive cipleship booklet director of PWRDF; andasthewell Rev. as a GTP program guide and Patrick Stephens, diocesan PWRDF representative, with his children planning workbook. All regEsther and Rupert Stephens. istered parishes will receive Talented musicians (including printedfrom resources. twothese 7-year-olds!) across theOndiocese entertainedare guests, playing at line resources available a diverse range of music from www.anglican.ca/gtp. classical to folk offerings. Wendy Clergy in every parish Morrell and Rosalind Reid of the are Dance encouraged to register Sacred Guild danced, and the Morrisburg Westat of least the Rock, and to band identify two sent everyone home with the tune representatives from among from Newfoundlander Alan Doyle’s their wardens song Bullylay Boysleadership, rolling through their and stewardship commitmemories.

Archdeacon Peter Crosby tees to register.

Parish teams praised the gala as one of the best will leave the workshop with fundraising events he had attended training and the in hands-on a long time. “It celebrated diverse tools to children take the gifts of both andfirst adults;steps it had a clear purpose supporting two to effectively implement the kingdom-oriented charities. Plus, we program in their congregadidn’t have to wait forever for either tions.or They will Short continue a drink our dinner. drive to be supported by the Stewardhome as well!”

Gala committee co-chairs Heidi ship team of the Diocese.

Pizzuto and Heidi Fawcett said planning and organizing the event workshops are was “a bit dauntingAll when we realized we needed to go virtual this year…. from 9am - 3pm It was at times hard see how it was Early Bird to Registration: $15 all going to come together but it did!

Regular Registration: $20 Our gala committee is very pleased with the final product, as affirmed by many participants from around ourat Register online diocese.

We look forward to doing it ottawaanglican.eventbrite.com or all again, hopefully in person in 2022.

Heidi May Danson Save the datecontact – Thursday, 26.”at

heidi-danson@ottawa.anglican.ca

Page 4 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

EDITORIAL

Listening to Indigenous voices and hard truths 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.

Crosstalk is a member of the Canadian Church Press and the Anglican Editors Association.

Subscriptions For new or changed subscriptions, please contact your parish administrator or visit: www.anglicanjournal.com Suggested annual donation: $25 Advertising Crosstalk welcomes advertising from parishes, agencies and enterprises wanting to support our mission and reach our readers.

Publication does not imply endorsement by the Diocese of Ottawa or any of its principals, and Crosstalk reserves the right to decline advertisements.

Advertising enquiries should be directed to: crosstalk.ads@gmail.com Submit a story or letter Editorial enquiries and letters to the editor should be directed to: crosstalk@ottawa.anglican.ca Leigh Anne Williams Crosstalk 71 Bronson Ave. Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6G6 613 232-7124 Next deadline: September 1, 2021 for the October 2021 edition

Crosstalk acknowledges that we publish on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabe Nation.

May we dwell on this land with peace and respect.

A

t a loss about what to write or how to address the shock, grief and shame felt across the country as news of the unmarked graves of Indigenous children who attended residential schools began to break, I decided to walk to the memorial left by many people at the Centennial Flame in front of Parliament.

It was the week before Canada Day and school was out, so I took my 10-year-old daughter and her cousin with me. On the way, we talked about residential schools, which they have been learning about in school—a big step forward since my school days when there was no mention of the schools or a government policy that forcibly separated children from their families. We talked about what it would have been like for the children who suffered in so many ways.

I mentioned that an ice cream shop where the girls like to go in Ottawa, The Merry Dairy, had announced that it would close on Canada Day this year. I’ve since looked up the thoughtful message on the shop’s website explaining the decision to close on what is normally a busy, fun day. It is well worth reading in its entirety, but here’s a bit from it: On Canada Day, we come together to celebrate Canada as one of the best and greatest countries on earth. But to truly be the best and greatest country means owning up to the brutal facts of our past and present.

Each of us needs to do our own part to atone, reconcile, and live together as fellow human beings with the respect and dignity each of us deserves.

So if your little one asks why the ice cream shop is closed on Canada Day, tell them it’s for all the kids who never got to enjoy ice cream or any other treat on a beautiful sunny

Leigh Anne Williams day with their own families, in their own homes. And if they ask what they can do, maybe one thing is to draw or write a message of love and healing. And if they drop that message off at our shop on that day, or any day, we’d love to share it with as many people as we can.

When the girls and I reached Parliament Hill, the memorial was clearly an outpouring of those kind of messages. All around the flame were children’s shoes, toys, and handwritten messages and signs.

Photo Leigh Anne Williams

Four young Indigenous women were there singing and drumming.

I asked what brought them out that day. “We came to sing for the children,” Amanda Fox, who is from Wiikwemkoong unceded territory, told me. “It’s important to sing for them.”

I asked if they would allow me to include them in the photos I was taking of the memorial for the newspaper (far right in the photo below). They said yes, and Fox thanked me for asking. She said often media outlets don’t always ask and recounted how an image of her holding up a sign for her sister ended up in a CBC advertisement without her permission.

“A sign for your sister?” I asked.

She explained that her sister, Cheyenne Fox, had been murdered in Toronto eight years ago. The family protested when the police ruled her death a suicide after an all-too brief investigation.

So much pain in her own family, and yet, here she was singing for the children, a picture of the strength and resilience of Indigenous peoples.

After I returned home and was reviewing my photos, a moving note that I hadn’t read at the site caught my eye. It was written in a beautiful script that looked like water flowing over a background of syllabic characters, and in its spare words expresses so much.

We found you You can go home properly You can rest properly You are loved I pray that the power of God working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine to help Indigenous families and communities heal and to help Canada find a new path toward justice and right relations.

We grieve with all whose children never came home.

T

he Rev. Canon Hilary Murray represented the Anglican Church at an interfaith vigil to honour the memory of Indigenous children who did not return from Indian Residential Schools held at the Human Rights Monument in downtown Ottawa on June 5.

She offered words from Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada: “We grieve with all whose children never came home.

The Anglican Church of Canada shares in the painful legacy of residential schools.

We remain committed to the long, hard road of reconciliation including apologies made for our part in residential schools (1993) and for the devastating spiritual

Photo Leigh Anne Williams

harm caused (2019) and ongoing work towards reconciliation and support for healing for personal and intergenerational trauma….

We, as Anglicans, commit to working with Indigenous communities, leaders and elders to heal this legacy and honour the

lives of the children who never went home.”

Murray also shared a message from Bishop Shane Parker, who had instructed that all parishes observe a moment of silence for the children at services that Sunday: “Now is a time to listen to Indigenous voices, and to hear the profound pain, anger, and wisdom in those voices. The lives of the Indigenous Children matter very much, and the voices of Indigenous People matter very much as we absorb the full reality of this heartbreaking horror….May the bracing and challenging love of God be with us all as more stories of Indigenous children who perished in residential schools come to light.”

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 5

Lemaire appointed Anglican Indigenous Advisor Photo Archdeacon Chris Dunn

By Leigh Anne Williams On June 21, National Indigenous People’s Day, Bishop Shane Parker announced that he had appointed Margaret Pachanos Lemaire as Anglican Indigenous Advisor to the Bishop of Ottawa.

Lemaire is a member of Christ Church Bells Corners, where she has served in a number of leadership roles. She is also a founding member and co-chair of the diocesan All My Relations Circle, whose mandate is to provide leadership to individuals and parishes concerning Indigenous Peoples and to encourage engagement with the 94 Calls to Action from the Final Report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As such, Lemaire is a familiar face to many in the diocese, but she graciously agreed to an interview to help Crosstalk readers to get to know a bit more about her.

A member of the Cree First Nation of Chisasibi, Lemaire grew up on the eastern coast of James Bay, where her parents, like most of the community, were out on the land 10 months of the year, hunting, fishing and trapping. “When I first went to school I went to the Indian Residential School of Fort George. (St. Philip’s Indian Residential School),” Lemaire said. Later, the whole community was relocated. “They moved that settlement on the mainland when the big James Bay hydroelectric project was put in on that river.”

She went to an Indian Residential School in La Tuque, north of Shawinigan, for a year. “La Tuque was the hardest in terms of being lonely. Oh my gosh, I thought I’d die of loneliness when we left because that was the first time I’d ever left my

Margaret Lemaire, a member of Christ Church Bells Corners, has been a gracious and inspiring speaker at many diocesan synods and sessions. community. I think that’s why they put us in the far away place. There were a lot of kids that tried to run away and go home. And some of them did not make it.”

Lemaire said the schools had very harsh rules. “I remember at least twice where I got the strap.” It was a shock coming from a culture that did not discipline children like that, she recalls. “But the worst part, looking back, is you are put into this environment where you do not have your family with you and when you needed consoling, there was nobody

The Rev. Canon Hlary Murray, June 5, 2021.

to hug or kiss you.”

When school was finished and the ice was gone from the rivers, people would return back to community, and the children could return to their families for the summer. Lemaire said the Cree language in that area is very strong. Her parents did not speak English and she continued to speak Cree.

In the 1960s, the churches began to give up operation of the schools and the government took over and began closing some of the schools.

Lemaire was among children who were sent to the community of Rouyn-Noranda to continue their schooling. ”They placed us in foster homes,” she said.

Despite the emotional cost of being separated from her family and community, Lemaire said she wanted to go to school. “Unlike some of my friends, I used to feel so bad, when they said I’m quitting school. I just wanted to continue going to school.”

After graduating, Lemaire began post-secondary studies in business administration in Montreal, where she met her husband. He was pursuing his Master’s degree in education at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, so Lemaire continued her education and began her career and family in Fredericton, working with Indigenous organizations, including the Non-status and Metis Association (now called Council of Aboriginal People) and the Union of New Brunswick Indians, (the First Nations of New Brunswick.)

While working with the Non-status and Metis Association, she travelled to Winnipeg as a representative from New Brunswick to help Sandra Lovelace prepare to go before the United Nations to argue that The Indian Act discriminated against Indigenous women who lost their Indigenous status if they married non-Indigenous men. “It was interesting. And I kept a close eye on her and what the outcome was, and as we know Bill C-35 came about when the Indigenous women got their status back,” said Lemaire.

Later in her career, she worked for the federal departments of Indian and Northern Affairs and for Human Resources and Development Canada.

Reflecting on the issue of Indian Residential Schools, Lemaire says people have asked her “Why didn’t you says something? And I say “We did.” The communities are so devout Anglicans. You didn’t dare question authority. So when some student would tell parents this is happening and they would sort of say ‘Sh, sh, sh.’ So nothing came about until the students themselves started to speak up as they got older and that’s when it all started.”

Regarding the unmarked graves found at the sites of the former schools, Lemaire said “We knew something was happening. … Because in the communities, when we went home in June, some kids didn’t come home. I know of at least two cases. My brother-in-law’s sister had died in the residential school, and the parents were never told until we went home in June. The father turned to his other kids and asked where’s your sister? …. And the other one was a father who went down to meet the plane as the kids were coming home, and he said, ‘Where’s … my daughter?’ And that’s when they told him.

He just fainted in shock. A lot of them, that’s how they were told.”

Lemaire said that even if parents were out on the land, they could have received news about the deaths of their children in better ways.

“There was the mail… All communities had a church…Every time, I cry when I hear. And I say, finally.

Finally those little ones are speaking and people are listening now.”

“There’s so much to be told,” she said, adding that Bishop Shane has encouraged her about the need for truth-telling. “That’s where I was coming from with the All My Relations, the education part. I said, “It is coming. Some people are way ahead, like the school boards. They have incorporated learning about the culture. … Some people are really interested. It’s amazing the spectrum of people we’ve met ever since we started All My Relations.”

Page 6 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

Our diocese’s road to reconciliation is becoming rockier

BY DAVID HUMPHREYS

A

nglicans have shared in the distress that has followed multiple gravesite discoveries at former residential school locations during the summer of 2021.

In his statement issued after the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation announced that they had found 215 unmarked graves at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, Bishop Shane Parker said, “Now is the time to listen to Indigenous voices and to hear he profound pain, anger and wisdom in those voices.”

The Roman Catholic Church has become embroiled in a wave of anger and outrage over the failure of the Pope to apologize personally for the church’s role in operating 57 of the 101 schools.

Anglicans who are too young to remember and those outside the church may be asking what actions the Anglican Church of Canada and the Diocese of Ottawa have taken thus far, so it may be an appropriate time to reflect on that more recent history as well the longer history of the schools.

It is 31 years since the Oka Crisis when the Mohawk people protested against the proposed expansion of a golf course and townhouse development on disputed land that included a Mohawk burial ground in Kanesatake. The 78-day stand-off in the summer of 1990 reverberated through the country.

In the Diocese of Ottawa, a year after Oka, The Rev. Canon Allen Box produced a paper that challenged the Diocese “to find ways to come together” with Indigenous people, “to listen, learn and be enriched…”

Diocesan Synod expressed support for national church initiatives towards reconciliation. Bishop Edwin Lackey commissioned a study that recommended forging links with Indigenous organizations.

The most significant government

action following the Oka crisis was church’s committhe establishment of the Royal Comment. The total was mission on Aboriginal Peoples which scaled back to just reported in 1996, raising the tragedy over $1 million when of residential schools. The report the national church’s triggered more than 11,000 lawsuits obligation was reagainst the federal government, duced. claiming damages for abuse.

Every parish Without undue self-satisfaction, was assigned a “fair Anglicans with long memories will be share” quota and parishioners rethankful that the Primate, Archbishop sponded generously. When treasurer Michael Peers, apologized formally in Lorne Bowerman contacted the do1993 for the church’s participation in nor of $500 in a small parish to verify running 26 of the schools. The apolthat the decimal was in the right ogy set in motion a process of healing place, he was told, “The family deand reconciliation within the church cided that the cause was very just and that can stand as an inspiration for that they would contribute more than the wider society. The Primate’s apolusual to help those who could not ogy came five years before make a contribution.” the federal government That was the spirit of followed with its own giving that succeeded That was the apology. in raising more than $1 spirit of giving Years of negotiations million and it must not between the government that succeeded be forgotten. and the churches on the At the time we in raising more thought we were bringextent of their responsibility followed. When the than $1 million ing closure to a painful government received a chapter in the church’s and it must not history. Within the lawsuit, it sued the church responsible for the school church perhaps we did. be forgotten. which was the subject of But we are not exempt the claim. The Anglican from the current wave Church paid about $5 of public outrage. million in legal fees over five years.

The media frequently refer to “the The Diocese of Cariboo was forced churches” and while we perhaps feel to close. For a time, it seemed that frustrated -- we did “the right thing” others would have to follow.

-- we were undeniably a party to this In crisis mode in 2003, the Anglitragic government policy. The road to can church broke away from negotiareconciliation has become rockier. tions that were in progress between The Prime Minister’s repeated the four denominations involved and calls on the Pope to apologize personthe government and agreed to pay ally for the role of the Roman Catho$25 million as its share of liability. lic Church, however well justified, are Two years later, the amount was a reminder that the federal governreduced to $15.6 million after the ment has always been quick to focus other denominations reached a more the spotlight on the churches. favourable agreement.

Its unnecessarily aggressive acThe Diocese of Ottawa estabtion against all four denominations lished a Residential Schools Settlethat ran schools – Roman Catholic, ment Commission, chaired by the Anglican, United and PresbyteRev. Canon Roger Steinke. It was rian – was not preordained. Federal charged with raising $1.6 million policy established the schools and the as its contribution to the national government was responsible for the

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education of Indigenous children.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported six years ago that “The federal government never established an adequate set of standards and regulations to guarantee the health and safety of residential school students and… never adequately enforced the minimal standards and regulations that it did establish.”

Further: “The failure to establish and enforce adequate standards, coupled with the failure to adequately fund the schools, resulted in unnecessarily high death rates at residential schools.”

Notable also, the commission reported extensively on grave sites, providing detailed maps and photographs and recommended a process to the federal government to document the tragic deaths. No action was taken until First Nations released their findings this summer.

Over the summer, The Globe and Mail published excerpts from the damning report written by Dr Peter H. Bryce in 1922. The report offered detailed recommendations to remedy grave problems at the schools. It soon disappeared from sight without action.

It will take a lot more action than a Pope’s apology to bring about closure and reconciliation.

True reconciliation will mean listening and finding ways to come together such as has been counselled

by Bishops of Ottawa, present and past.

David Humphreys was a member of the Residential Schools Settlement Commission from 2003 to 2007.

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 7

Page 8 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

Opening doors From page 1

“They are really excited because after Aug. 3, we are into the different zone and we’ll be able to have more music again. People have been missing that.

They love to have the organ and a soloist, but to have even a little quartet would be just wonderful.”

All Saints Westboro began welcoming people back into the church for the first time after the spring lockdown on Wednesday, July 7 to the delight of parishioners who were longing to return to services in person. “They are so happy to just see people in-person even though you are still wearing masks. It’s a big change,” said Incumbent Archdeacon Chris Dunn. All Saints has continued to share services online as well.

“There are still some people who are reluctant to come out because they are hearing about variants and risk factors,’ Dunn said. “Although I would say that you are probably less at risk at church, because of the precautions we have in place than you are at a grocery store or any shopping centre,” he added, noting that the church is careful to ensure social distancing and distributes hand sanitizer when people enter and when they come forward for communion.”

Attendance reflects summer numbers when All Saints generally would have 90 to 100 people at a

Photo Mark Holzman

At All Saints Westboro, a hybrid service streamed in the presence of a congregation limited by COVID protocols happened in July and August.

Sunday service. On the last Sunday in July, 43 people attended, but about 35 more were watching on Zoom. Dunn said the hybrid model of in-person services and electronic sharing of the worship has expanded All Saints’ reach in some ways. “some will watch even from their cottages now, watch the broadcast either live if they have a good Internet connection or catch up with it later.”

He mentioned that a couple from Belleville, Ont., who have friends at All Saints, also often tune in, and that a woman told him that she sends links to his puppet stories for the children’s ministry to a friend in Kenya.

Some parishioners have also told Dunn that they continued to watch services from home because they wanted to sing along, which was not permitted while the diocese was in the amber stage of COVID precautions. He thought a few more might return to services in the church in early August once the diocese moved to the yellow stage of precautions, allowing people sing if they wear masks. “I’ve warned them what it is like to sing with a mask on… it’s not easy, but… people want to be able to sing together even if it is wearing a mask. So we’re moving forward.”

Many other parishes held outdoor services during the summer.

Opening doors, page 8

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September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 9

Opening doors

COVID-19 and the Common Cup

From page 8

St. Thomas the Apostle in Ottawa had another variation, continuing online services until September but inviting people to receive communion in the parking lot outside the church after the online services concluded.

“It’s basically the premise of reserve communion just adapted,” the Rev. Michael Garner explained.

“People will walk if they are close, or bike or drive.

If they are in their car, they stay in their car, so we do a short prayer with them, share the consecrated bread, so another prayer, say the doxology together, and then move to the next person.”

Garner added, “For Father Tim [Kehoe] and I, it is absolutely joyful for us to be able to share these interactions with people…. And I think the feedback we’ve gotten from congregation members who come is that, for a lot of people, it is sort of the highlight of their week….This may be the one human interaction beyond picking up their groceries that they have during the week. So I think it has really helped maintain connections with Saint Thomas during this really difficult time.”

Although parking lot communion may sound flippant, Garner said, “When I think about Jesus breaking bread, Jesus sharing food, it’s done in the places where people can be and where the people are. So [now] the people can’t be in the church so you are in a space where they can be, and I think that’s been really great.”

He added that it has also been

A

Photo Contributed

Parking lot communion at St. Thomas the Apostle Alta Vista in July. a fun witness to the broader community.” We have people walking their dogs on a Sunday morning and I’m out there not always in an alb, maybe just a clergy shirt and a stole, but sometime in an alb, and

it is an interesting witness that the congregation is active,” Garner said.

People walk by and ask ‘What are you doing? “Well, we can’t be in the church, so we are bringing the church outside.”

Advice for the fall: Stay nimble, think local

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ept. 12 is a Back to Church Sunday like no other. And after the long hard trudge through the pandemic and so much time confined to home, going back to gathering is a change that has many people feeling both joy and some anxiety.

Fortunately, the Diocese has the advice of the Rev. Michael Garner, the associate incumbent of St. Thomas the Apostle Church as well as an epidemiologist, who worked as an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada for 13 years. He answered a few COVID-related questions for Crosstalk in late July: Do you have some advice for parishes as they reopen?

I think the challenge is assessing where people are at. There is what is safe versus what people are sort of ready to tolerate and the perception of risk that will be the challenging thing in the fall, plus the Delta variant and how that emerges in Canada. … It likely will, so what I said to the Bishop was we can move to yellow, but we still need to be ready to move

Photo Archdeacon Chris Dunn

to be vaccinated. Well, some choirs may decide that 90% or 100% is where they are at and that’s okay….

Understand[ing] your local situation and what’s going to work best there has been part of the approach that we have had. We will tell you the minimum, but you can do more and be more cautious and that’s okay.

The Rev. Michael Garner cautions against vaccine passports within the church. back to amber, hopefully not, but it’s this nimbleness we need to continue to have.

People are going to be able to start singing in yellow, which I think is really great…It is very context dependent. We’ve put in [a requirement] that 75% of the choir needs

Could parishes ask people about their vaccinations, for example, before communion?

I’m pretty adamant that we can’t do a vaccine passport or that sort of thing within the church. I am pro all of the ways that the government and businesses may push vaccination levels as high as possible…The challenge for church as a slightly unique entity is that people who are of more challenged circumstances, say people who just don’t have access yet to the vaccine because of their work schedule, and certainly we see an income disparity, people who are wealthier have better access to the vaccine, so we wouldn’t want to exclude someone who legitimately hasn’t been able to access it yet.

s the Diocese moved into a yellow stage of pandemic safety protocols in early August, parishes had the choice to resume using the Common Cup in Holy Communion. A message linked to the weekly Diocesan COVID Communiqué on July 28 acknowledged that this change, “after 16 months of pandemic hygiene measures, may be worrying for many of us.”

The message went on to offer the following reassurance and information based on a paper written for the national House of Bishops by the Rev. Michael Garner, associate incumbent of St. Thomas the Apostle Church, who worked as an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada for 13 years: People have questioned the hygiene of sharing chalices during communion for more than 100 years, but during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, research showed the risk of transmitting HIV by using a common cup was very low. Since then, research on infection risks at communion has focused on whether viruses or bacteria can be found in the common cup after the service, and so far there is no documented evidence of diseases being spread by sharing the cup.

People also worry that during a regular communion service, the chalice will be contaminated by the saliva of the participants. While it’s true a shared cup could transmit infection through saliva, the risk is extremely low, with no documented cases of any disease ever being spread that way. In the case of COVID-19 the risk is even lower because it’s spread by aerosols and droplets: the fact is, the risk of catching COVID is far greater from breathing air exhaled by an infectious person next to you than from sharing a common cup.

It’s essential, however, that in addition to wiping the chalice carefully after each participant drinks from it, we maintain the practices that have kept us safe so far: keep screening people to ensure no one who has symptoms, or who has recently travelled (or who has been exposed to others who have) do not attend services in person.

Keep everyone physically distant during Holy Communion.

However, the most important thing is that you do what you feel is best for yourself and your loved ones. In the Anglican church, communicating in either kind, just bread or just wine, is considered full communion. You need not share the cup if the idea makes you uneasy. Simply fold your hands across your chest when it is offered.

Page 10 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

Fighting racism with head, heart and hands

BY LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS

Photo Contributed

just a one and done. It has to be a consistent effort for individuals and their organizations. So if you are a community leader, how is this impacting on your community? If you’ve got a congregation, how is this impacting on your congregation?

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araine Kaminsky is president and CEO of Ottawa-based Global LK, which she founded it in 2003. She and her team will lead Diocesan senior staff, all clergy and all community ministry managers through Project Anti-racism: advancing inclusion and reconciliation in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa. She kindly made time for a conversation with Crosstalk this summer. Here are a few excerpts:

What would you say to encourage participants who are aware that everybody has unconscious biases and are feeling anxious about what they might see in themselves?

You’ve had a long career in crosscultural training. Do you see signs of change or things getting better?

No, I have not seen a change for the better….

People often say to me, “Laraine, [with] the next generation, you won’t be doing this work anymore. My children’s classes are like the United Nations, you’ll see.” And then this young man mows down a family in London, Ont. So don’t tell me that it is a generational problem. There are so many examples of cruelty and disparity, terrible actions.

For sure, organizations that didn’t do this work in the past are doing it. I’ve always had the banks, professional services, doing the work, but right now we are seeing it across many different sectors.

So maybe there is some momentum in increasing awareness, at least?

Who are we?

BY HEATHER MALLETT

with Pat Howes, Rhondda MacKay, Karol Partridge, Leslie Worden

I

am not a racist.

At least, that’s what I thought, until I read the book, Waking Up White by Debby Irving. The author writes as a white woman growing up in an elite environment, showing how her childhood experiences formed her attitudes of privilege and entitlement. She reveals some of the ways America the Beautiful has an ugly underbelly.

Our small prayer group decided we would study this book together over six months, doing a couple of chapters each week. We are using Irving’s self-critique model to examine systemic/ institutionalized racism. We all happen to be creativity-friendly, so we write lots of poetry, do lots of drawings, and enjoy exploring our spiritual awakenings through the arts.

Often times people who have been in a well-meaning or helping occupation feel in some way kind of threatened or concerned.

“What have I been doing GlobalLK president and CEO Laraine wrong in the past?” …

Kaminsky will launch diocesan I know many church groups have Project Anti-racism done great things with welcoming Syrian refugees, for example, which Yes, and now there is a push to go betook them out of their comfort zone. yond awareness. [People are saying,] They got to know the other, got to “We want to see some action. What walk a mile in someone else’s shoes… are you going to do?”

[Come with] that attitude and willRolling out an educational proingness to be open, to learn, to be cucess like what we are doing with rious.… Our approach is very much the Diocese, we are starting with an come join us and learn together. … awareness piece. Now, some people There are people on our team who are already aware, but then it’s being are racialized themselves, so they’ll more aware to facilitate education. provide examples from their own This cannot be, in any organization,

One of the many topics in Waking Up White looks at complicity—how we manage, often unconsciously, to allow racism and prejudice to thrive, even when we believe we are not racist.

We decided to make masks depicting the idea of complicity. Rhondda MacKay, an artist and ordained priest, created a fine, friendly face, wearing the rose-coloured glasses with which many of us walk the earth. Look at those self-satisfied lips, with the unspoken mantra, “Everything is lovely.” What a mask!

And then she turned it over.

The back of the mask is a collage that reminds us of “all people that on earth do dwell,” and the symbolism is not lost on us. They are on the BACK of the mask, hidden from view by our tendency not to notice, not to see, not to understand.

When do white people wake up in the morning wishing that our skin was a different colour? When, with whom, and how often do we talk about what it means to be a white person? When, if ever, were we taught about residential schools?

When were we shown photographs of black three-year-olds in a cotton field, with burlap sacks slung over

background.

I personally come from South Africa where I saw legitimized, legislated racism, which is why I left and now live in the second coldest capital city in the world,… but like many people, I came here to make a better life for my children. But so did that Muslim family who were walking in London, Ont… I have thought a lot about that….

It’s like someone has taken off the band-aid at the moment and we are seeing the hurt and the pain and people are articulating that pain.

How would you describe your approach?

Our philosophy is that each one of us, and I am saying us, it is all of us,[must ask] how are we going to engage our head, our hearh and our hands? The 3 Hs are really important. The head to increase our knowledge, and again we are in different places with our knowledge.

And our heart — the empathy, compassion, the recognition that there is work to be done and not to deny.

And then the third thing is the hand — what do you do? Depending on your role at the Diocese, you can do different things.

And if everybody does what they can, we will move to become a more inclusive and compassionate, empathetic organization where leaders will have more of the three and congregants of the communities will have opportunities to do things differently.

their shoulders, expected to fill the sack by sundown? Who ever told us about the seizing of property and the internment of Asian people on our continent during the two World Wars?

Most of us have grown up on unceded territory – land that was stolen from our Indigenous brothers and sisters just a few generations ago. Most of us have grown up in ignorance of what it means to be privileged.

We, in our small prayer group, are discovering, in the words of Carter Hayward, that “The best I can ever hope to be is a recovering racist.”

We are trying our best to untie some of our old knots, so that the backs The Rev. Rhondda MacKay painted of our masks are no longer hidden the rose-coloured glasses that may behind rose-coloured glasses. We blind many to the realities of others. want with all our hearts to be proud members of a multi-cultural society, • It’s not seeing those I dismiss. in which all persons are valued and • Focus on pigmentation to mainloved for who they are, not who white tain privilege. people think they should be.

In answer to the question, “What is • What teaching, what madness, one small thing we can do now?” we makes murder okay? each contributed to the online Race • The human race includes ALL Card Project – responding to the people. word RACE with six words. Here is • Why aren’t all the flowers beautiwhat we wrote. ful?

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 11

Affordable housing projects on track for 125th anniversary

By David Humphreys

support our new neighbours in their homes.” A fundraising campaign aims to raise at least $300,000 to support renovation and maintenance of properties.

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even parishes are considering, actively planning or constructing new affordable housing.

Their ministry will ensure the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa will more than meet its goal of creating 125 units in celebration of the Diocese’s 125th anniversary this year.

A total of 167 units are now either completed, in construction or in the final stages of planning. The 125 goal will likely be exceeded in 2023 or 2024 when units at the Julian of Norwich project become available to tenants. The following is a summary of the current status of projects.

Cornerstone Housing for Women, All Saints Westboro Cornerstone opened its new residence on Princeton Avenue in Westboro late in 2018. The residence provides 42 apartments, a Respite Room for special care needs and other facilities for homeless women.

All Saints Westboro raised $78,187 for the Respite Room as well as providing volunteer help.

Christ Church Bells Corners The Housing Project for Bells Corners hopes to welcome tenants sometime next summer. A building under construction will provide 35 mixed use affordable units that will house 56 people as well as a resource centre and food cupboard. The project is a partnership between Christ Church Bells Corners and the Diocese. The parish’s fundraising campaign has raised more than $650,000 towards its goal of $1.6 million.

St Thomas the Apostle Ellwood House – affordable housing for seniors – opened in 1988 on the campus of St. Thomas the Apostle

St James Carleton Place The parish’s mission statement aspires to a leadership role in affordable housing. The aspiration is moving forward with current steps to build a coalition with other denominations and stakeholders. The parish is looking for the best entry point for a faithbased coalition to play a meaningful role in the town.

Christ Church Bell’s Corners’ housing project, launched in November 2020, hopes to welcome tenants in summer 2022. church. Expansion dreams have been percolating for years and are now coming true, with plans to extend onto the site of the former rectory.

Last June two meetings—a special vestry at St Thomas and then Diocesan Council—approved motions to move forward. The Ellwood House Extension project team is working toward City planning approval in the fall. When completed the extension will more than double the existing 30-unit capacity.

Julian of Norwich The parish of Julian of Norwich is partnering with the Diocese and the Multifaith Housing Initiative in a project that combines reimagining what it is to be church with affordable housing and community space in the Merivale Road district. The target date for completion of the entire

project is 2024-2025 although some parts will be completed sooner. Multifaith Housing Initiative will start fundraising in 2022. The project will provide about 60 affordable housing units, with a focus on family-sized units and the ability to house up to 200 residents. There will be a variety of units from smaller units suitable for seniors to units for larger families.

St James Perth St James has taken leadership in establishing the Caring Community Housing Initiative Perth (CCHIP).

Following a town hall meeting this summer a steering committee is being formed to implement the proposal: “to gather members of the Perth community to work to create new units of safe, affordable and secure housing each year for three years from existing housing stock and

St John the Evangelist Smiths Falls St John’s has identified affordable housing as a top priority for its service to the wider community. The parish has a working group and has held congregational meetings where options for the church’s participation have been discussed. Meanwhile, a special vestry meeting moved to implement the parish’s second priority – support of local youth. The St. John’s Anglican Church Memorial Scholarship is valued at $20,000 over four years and will be awarded annually to a graduate of Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute, pursuing post-secondary education in an accredited college or university, who demonstrates financial need.

St Paul’s Almonte The congregation is looking at ways to reimagine a property that contains the church, the rectory and a “parish house” with a small parcel of land that was bequeathed to the parish.

The parish house is rented to a refugee family at subsidized rates. Affordable housing is a leading option for redevelopment.

Diocese will continue to focus on housing for the future

By David Humphreys

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omelessness and affordable housing can be the key to helping parishes engage with their communities.

Bishop Shane Parker participated as the Homelessness and Affordable Housing Working Group (HAHWG) began to develop a roadmap for its future.

The bishop explained how housing issues fit perfectly into the four strategic priorities of the Diocese: communications; the shape of parish ministry and the use of buildings; engagement with the world; and lifelong learning.

He said the Diocese wants to be seen as a resource for the community, not as a burden. “We have to do this.

It is a top and urgent priority for us…

Our Community Ministries are all about engagement.”

Bishop Parker referred to the Diocesan Communications Advisory Panel that has been charged with developing a three-year strategic plan to position the Diocese and the parishes to minister to their communities.”

“This,” he said, “is the sweet spot for HAHWG:” to help parishes provide context with their communities.

He added, “we will see a lot of action” once the communications advisory panel has reported.

The working group discussed a broad range of projects for its future work plan. Priorities for action will be decided at a meeting in September. Among the subjects of discussion: • The Community Ministries are now seen by the outside community as part of the identity of the diocese.

• Activity is beginning outside of the City of Ottawa and in rural communities.

• The Diocese could host an event, based on experience such as repurposing buildings and reaching out to other dioceses and agencies.

• • •

•

•

The need to address rural homelessness.

Steps to improve relationships with governments and political action in support of housing.

Opportunities to partner with other denominations and stakeholders such as the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa.

The need to build trust, particularly among younger people, many of whom distrust Christian communities and are tired of charity models that don’t work.

The affordability of housing doesn’t apply only to subsidized housing but very much includes market housing that is often out of reach for many.

Page 12 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

Cornerstone adapts to provide temporary shelter Photos Contributed

BY DAVID HUMPHREYS

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here is no good time to have to move 125 vulnerable women from a secure shelter to a new improvised location. But Cornerstone Shelter for Women has made the most of a summer respite to set up temporary facilities in an Alta Vista community centre.

The experience tested the resiliency of both the women and the shelter staff, says Cornerstone’s executive director Sarah Davis. After some initial concern about moving from private rooms at a University of Ottawa residence to dormitory style in Alta Vista the women adapted well and gave positive feedback.

Since the centre was ill-equipped to provide food service, the staff doubled down to prepare daily meals at Cornerstone’s Booth St. residence for delivery to the centre. “The creativity of our Cornerstone team is unmatched,” Davis says.

The gym was turned into a spacious dorm with portable partitions to give a modicum of privacy. The centre’s wi-fi accessed the Internet and e-mail and its theatre provided movies and television. Soon after moving in, the staff began to reintroduce allimportant support and recreational programs.

The summer was a blessing in that it helped with accommodation.

Capacity at the university location for 125 was reduced to 107 at Alta Vista.

Some women chose to stay with family or friends. Others camped out for a while. In early August the registration at the centre was down to 85, still about 25 more than the capacity of the shelter’s O’Connor St. residence.

A community centre gymnasium has been temporarily transformed from a place for hoop dreams to a dormitory for nightly dreams.

The shelter’s challenges are taking place in the context of a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people and strained support services in Ottawa.

The dislocation began just before Christmas last year when the lack of physical distancing forced a move out of O’Connor St to the university location. It was always seen as a temporary solution but a shock came Photo Contributed

with notice to leave at the end of June, a month earlier than expected.

The next move will be back to O’Connor St. in November. But renovations that have been under way with the building’s infrastructure such as replacing a boiler won’t increase its capacity of about 60 residents.

That leaves two challenges.

The first is finding alternative

accommodation for the overcapacity and being ready in case a fourth wave of the pandemic strikes in the fall. Davis is in discussion with the City and is confident solutions will be found.

The bigger issue is the knowledge that the 40-year-old O’Connor St space isn’t a long-term solution. A new, expanded building with the right facilities is the answer. “That’s at the top of our to-do list,” Davis says.

Spirit of the Zibi Flotilla boosts fund for affordable housing projects

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he 10 km flotilla down the Ottawa River from Portage du Fort to Sand Bay is a summer favourite for a little group who make it an annual event. It just so happens that three of the paddlers, Archdeacon Kathryn Otley, Jim Davison and Canon Sue Garvey, are members of the Diocese’s Homelessness and Affordable Housing Working Group.

So it was natural that our paddle would also become a way to raise some money for a Diocesan affordable housing initiative. We gave ourselves the team name“Spirit of the Zibi” to honor the Algonquin name of the Ottawa River, and set ourselves a goal to raise $2,000 toward the Christ Church Bells Corners affordable housing project.

The Quebec COVID restrictions

determined the numbers of people participating this year, but we had lots of support from friends and family members who sponsored our paddle and contributed generously to the CCBC housing project. We were joined by friends in kayaks, canoes, paddle boards and a couple of cyclists who checked out a pretty Pontiac bike ride while the rest of us paddled. A celebratory BBQ and impromptu jazz performance was a perfect end to a perfect summer day.

To top it all off, we surpassed our fundraising target!

So our challenge to anyone who has something they love to do: get some friends together and make it an opportunity to have fun and make the world a better place for some people who need a good home.

— Sue Garvey

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 13

Centre 105 gets by with a little help from its neighbourhood friends Photos Contributed

By Leigh Anne Williams

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entre 105 in Cornwall is celebrating the success of a summer cereal drive and giving special thanks to its friends and supporters from the Village Diner for their generous help feeding vulnerable people in the community.

When the Centre 105 launched the drive, the restaurant owners, who had helped with a water bottle drive in the spring that has kept the Centre supplied all summer, wrote on their Facebook page that they wanted to collect 100 boxes of cereal. But with the enthusiastic help of their customers, they collected 596 boxes.

Cindy Bartch, who co-owns the diner with Brenda Trotman, says the drive brought out the best in everyone. Because the diner was operating as take-out only during the COVID-19 lockdown, Bartch says they had plenty of room to start displaying the cereal boxes they were collecting as a drop-off location for the drive. “We had a house built…

And anybody that came in to get take out would ask ‘What’s that?’ and then they’d bring some. It was amazing.”

Other local businesses got involved. “[The owner of] Green Acres Snow Removal came with 20 boxes and told us she was challenging other people. Then a roofing company brought some and Shiny Bud brought some. And it just went crazy. We were just flabbergasted. Our customers are just awesome…. Mike from Mike’s Mobile Pressure Washer, he came in with 50 boxes. And it doesn’t matter if it is 50 or one, it is the idea that they are just doing it.”

Once that mountain of cereal boxes was collected, customers also volunteered to help deliver it to Centre 105 in their trucks. “It took a few trucks to bring it over. The guy that helped bring it over came back and said, “Oh my God, I couldn’t believe

(L to R) Village Diner co-owners Cindy Bartch and Brenda Trotman, with server Penny Bartch, are all smiles after telling Crosstalk how they and their customers collected 596 cereal boxes for Centre 105. it. There are kids sitting there with their parents waiting for this cereal.”

Bartch thought the kids would like what they saw. “People brought cereal that I’d never seen before, like blueberry Cheerios. I couldn’t believe all the different types, so these kids are going to freak out over it. It was really awesome cereal. People brought oatmeal and porridge.”

Centre 105’s program director Taylor Seguin told Crosstalk that the Centre had received another 150 boxes from other donors, so with the 596, from the Village Diner, they had a grand total of just under 750 boxes.

“We were able to donate 50 boxes to each of the other food agencies in the

Right— A stack with only some of the cereal boxes contributed to the Cornwall based community ministry.

Photo Contributed

city of Cornwall (The Agape Centre, Salvation Army Food Bank, and St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank).” He says the agencies in Cornwall work together co-operatively to support vulnerable individuals and families.

“The Village Diner is an incredibly strong and generous supporter of Centre 105 Drop-In Day Program,” said Seguin. “Their team donates 20 loaves of bread to Centre 105 every week and have been doing so since

Left— Centre 105’s new outdoor seating area created in partnership with Trinity Church, Cornwall.

the beginning of the pandemic, in March of 2020. Although they are a small team, running a small restaurant during these difficult times, they still support their community.”

Bartch said they are happy to help Centre 105. “They feed anyone who is hungry. We think they are just awesome.” She added that they want to continue to help as long as they are able. “We’re in there like a dirty shirt,” she said with a hearty laugh.

Page 14 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

PARISH NEWS

St Mary Magdalene Church blazes a new trail Photo Contributed

BY MARIAN MCGRATH

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n July 18, the Rev. Cathy Davis, Interim-Priest-inCharge, and the members of St Mary Magdalene (SMM) Church in Chelsea, Quebec, welcomed Bishop Shane Parker and Albert Dumont, Elder and Algonquin advisor to the Bishop, to celebrate the Feast of St Mary Magdalene and to bless a new community path located on the church’s land.

In 2018, the Municipality of Chelsea, Quartier Meredith, a new housing development behind the church, and Sentiers Chelsea Trails approached SMM church with the idea of building a multi-purpose, publicly accessible community trail across the church land that would link Quartier Meredith with Route 105 and the network of community trails in Chelsea. The Municipality is committed to promoting recreational and active transportation through walking, running and cycling, and skiing and snowshoeing in the winter.

At the annual Vestry meeting in 2020, days before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, members of SMM decided to practice their commitment to being a welcoming Christian community open to the needs of their Chelsea neighbours.

A negotiating team comprised of Barbara Gagné, Mary Trafford and myself [Marian McGrath], was given the mandate to negotiate the terms and conditions for the construction of the path. The pandemic presented challenges. With the unwavering support of diocesan Chancellor Henry Schultz and the professional advice of Megan Throop, the notary representing SMM, a long-term lease with the Municipality was concluded in April. On May 19, Bishop Shane authorized the signing of the

With support from the diocesan solicitor, parish members (L-R) Barbara Gagné, Mary Trafford and Marian McGrath have negotiated terms of use for a recreational path crossing the parish’s property in Chelsea. lease. Construction started shortly thereafter.

Throughout the negotiations, the SMM negotiating team was very mindful that the path would be constructed on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg, and invited Albert Dumont to bless the trail on the occasion of the Bishop’s pastoral visit.

In his pastoral message, Bishop Shane spoke about the life of Mary Magdalene and some of the myths

through the lives of people who walk in the way of love.”

Prior to smudging the path, Albert Dumont shared his reflection, stating, “I would walk on it in a state of meditation with the Spirit.” He spoke about the trail of life and the trauma and unresolved grief in Indigenous communities, and remarked, “We need to care about human beings wherever they are.”

He expressed his hope that the path would be a healing place, a place to stop and to meditate, and a place for the people to think how they could Photos: Barbara Gagné and Marian McGrath make themselves a better human being.

Bishop Shane and Albert Dumont walked the length of path together, while Bishop Shane prayed and Albert Dumont smudged. After their walk, all gathered to join in the smudging. With the relaxing of the public health restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the blessing of the path was a joyful celebration for all to be gathered again for inperson worship outdoors on a glorious summer morning.

Regarding his experience at SMM church, Albert Dumont remarked, “A lot of The parish turned out to celebrate the trail agreement on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalener, with the welcome presence good energy was present.” of Albert Dumont and Bishop Shane Parker. and misconceptions associated with her persona. Bishop Shane encouraged everyone to be like Saint Mary Magdalene, “the Apostle to the Apostles” and the first witness to the resurrection of Jesus, who did not flinch or flee, and who did not abandon hope and love. He referred to the many crosses and tombs that try to destroy love and hope, including Residential Schools.

In closing, Bishop Shane said: “We must not abandon or deny the power of love as it is revealed to us in the presence of Jesus, and in creation and

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 15

PARISH NEWS BRIEFS Good Shepherd Barrhaven gives thanks Virtual Walk for the Centretown Emergency Food Centre

O

ur Virtual Walk for the Centre is back on Oct. 3, 2021 from 1 to 4 pm. We are walking together in spirit and solidarity for our hungry neighbours and Centretown Emergency Food Centre.

Despite COVID restrictions, last year was successful for the Food Centre, with a dedicated staff and 45 volunteers following COVID safety guidelines. The Centre is open three days a week and served 6,105 people bags of prepackaged food in 2020.

The Food Centre originated in 1975 and its founding members were an ecumenical group of nine churches. of the Centretown Churches Social Action Committee. Now, an ecumenical group of 22 churches, they have served our community with anti-poverty relief and social justice advocacy for 46 years.

The Centre offers a helping hand and a smile to those with financial, social and food insecurities. Their clients are the vulnerable, the isolated and marginalized for which they provide resources for community services—where to find groceries,

meals, shelters and drop-in centres.

Neighbours helping neighbours at 507 Bank St. in the basement of Centretown United Church (Bank at Argyle).

The 2021 walk is our sixth Walk for the Centre. Join the fun! Choose your own path in virtual teams and solo strolls around your favourite trail. Decorate a personal poster and take a selfie for the Walk and share them with us. We have contests with prizes on our online venue (http://centretownchurches. org/walk/). Join us to show your support for food insecurity and the Centretown Emergency Food Centre.

Choose to raise funds or make a donation online supporting a walker or virtual team. If you are collecting money the traditional way, download a pledge form online. We will announce a drop off location online on the day of the walk. You can also send a cheque to: CCSAC, 507 Bank St., Ottawa, Ont., K2P 1Z5. Rain or shine the Walk is time to celebrate a worthwhile event.

Elizabeth Kent St. Matthews

A banner day at St. Michael and All Angels

D

ue to COVID-19, I felt that something had to be done for our church. Our future church should know that we experienced this pandemic as part of our history. I decided to make a banner which would always be in view as a reminder. With some help, I started the banner last summer, and it was hung in time for Advent Sunday 2020.

The dark blue background represents the darkness of the pandemic. The yellow border represents light, which will be when the pandemic is over.

On top is COVID 19 and under the world is the word pandemic in Hebrew, 2020.

Then on the bottom is a Scripture verse from Rev. 21: 5, “Behold, I make all things new.”

There is a deep message in this banner, and it truly gave me joy making it. I want to thank a dear

friend who helped and the men who climbed the ladder to hang it.

Blessings, Marion Bebbington St, Michael and All Angels

T

Photos Contributed

he people of Good Shepherd Barrhaven church distributed more than 200 Tim Hortons cards to to our neighbours in the Parish administrator Paula Desrosiers with mall (at retail shops, a baskets of the cards on the altar ready to drug store, restaurants, distribute. an eye clinic, foot clinic, a large medical clinic, and a Montessori child care centre) and to the Queensway Carleton Hospital to say thank you for serving others during this difficult time. We are having fun and those receiving the cards are so thankful, not only for the cards but that we are thinking about them and saying thank you, and we are still on our mission. This outreach ministry was in lieu of participating in the Big Give as we usually do each year but could not this year due to the pandemic. So our Big Give still went on after all!

Norma Wheeler and Paula Blessings from all of us at Good Desrosiers (foreground) delivering Shepherd Barrhaven Church cards to a hospital volunteer.

Page 16 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

YOUTH MINISTRY

Youth reflect on their Internship Program

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nother year has come to a close in the Youth Internship Program. Some of our amazing 13 interns graciously gave me permission to share their impact and highlight statements.

Journeying with these young people is such a privilege! Here are some excerpts from thoughts they shared.

You can see why I love my job!

Donna Rourke Youth Ministry Animator

EMILY MARITSA YIP INTERN FOR PWRDF YIP INTERN FOR aving a mentor, a person ST. JOHN BAPTIST dedicatedTHE to listening, providing

H E

advice, perspecarlyand Julybringing 2021, atnew the beginning tivesof is quite possibly the part of the the week, I got a reminder program I will miss most.

Facetiming on my phone saying my YIP exit with my mentor every Icouple of felt interview is this week. suddenly weeks and letting her into my worldfor sad and didn’t feel that I am ready [made me feel] vulnerable at the this to be over yet! YIP has been a big beginning, wasI so rewarding as part of my but life, itand started thinking we ways both and shared life Iwith of things caneach offerother. to To have someone looking out for benefit the program! For example, my well-being, also talk being a mentorsomeone or on thetopanel about the YIP program with, andto to interview etc. I just am not ready hearbethe faith of somenot part of perspectives the Youth Internship one a little older than was invaluable Program. to my growthmy throughout proThrough YIP time, this Donna gram. … has encouraged and supported Faith Formation sessions were grace-filled and the love put into the content of these discussions was so evident. We discussed all things, Hell, EMILY does it exist? Who goes there? How could INTERN a loving God use this imagery?

YIP FOR PWRDF We discussed what faith looks like in a mentor, a person action.aving What does praying look like? dedicated to listening, providing What could praying look like?

We advice, and bringing new perspecdiscussed what beliefs we were taught tives is quite part of the growing up inpossibly churchthe or have learned program I will miss most. Facetiming with my mentor every couple of weeks and letting her into my world [made me feel] vulnerable at the MARITSA beginning, but it was so rewarding as YIP INTERN we both shared lifeFOR with each other.

To have someone looking out for ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST my well-being, someone to also talk at the beginning aboutarly theJuly YIP2021, program with, and to week, I got a reminder hear of thethe faith perspectives of some-on my phone sayingthan my YIP interone a little older was exit invaluable view this week.

I suddenly sad to myisgrowth throughout thisfelt proand didn’t feel that I am ready for gram. … this to beFormation over yet! YIP has were been a big Faith sessions part of my and life, and I started thinking grace-filled the love put into the of waysofand things I can offer content these discussions wastosobenefit the program!

For example, evident.

We discussed all things,being Hell, a mentor or on thegoes panel interview does it exist?

Who there?

How etc. I just am not to not be part could a loving Godready use this imagery? of the Youth what Internship Program.

We discussed faith looks like in Through YIP time, Donna action.

Whatmy does praying look like? has encouraged and look supported me What could praying like? We through every I was discussed what obstacle beliefs weuntil were taught being heard seen or in have my commugrowing up inand church learned nity.

As a young person who is part of that maybe don’t serve us anymore. a community that run, ait was What beliefs do weadults hold with difficult to beWhich seen and heard aswe an closed hand? ones could

H

me through every obstacle until I was being heard and seen in my that maybe don’t serve us anymore. community. As a young person who is What beliefs do we hold with a part of a community that adults run, closed hand? Which ones could we it was difficult to be seen and heard hold with an open one? A belief I as an equal, but I was treated like an know I hold with a closed hand is equal in the end of my internship. that I am God’s beloved. A belief I I grew up in a Christian family came to discover that I hold with an and community where no questions open hand is that Jesus was a white are asked; we are just supposed to man, the way He is often depicted in iconography. These sessions created space for questions I was holding as a young adult and a chance to explore things I hadn’t thought about yet, allowing myself to be grounded in my faith further. This conversation was so relevant to my life that I often asked my mentor, my church friends, and my current small group the same questions.

E

hold with an open one? A belief I know I hold with a closed hand is that I am God’s beloved. A belief I came to discover that I hold with an open hand is that Jesus was a white man, the way He is often depicted in iconography. These sessions created space for questions I was holding as a young adult and a chance to explore things I hadn’t thought about yet,

follow the priest and what the Bible says. This year’s faith formation On Leadership sessions: Leadersessions helped me unpack my faith ship sessions were SO awesome!! and be able to ask the big questions. I From sessions about confronting learned that faith is not just as simple anti-black racism, to how to navigate as attending church every Sunday! casual and stressful conversations, to And just like an onion, I was able sessions on mental health, and gender to peel back layer by layer to get to diversity, I was always left with so the truth and be able to find answers much to learn and act on. These to the questions that I was never sessions left me feeling informed, empowered, and brave. The discussion questions in the Leadership Sessions were always incredibly thoughtful, allowing myself to be grounded in intentional, and authentic, which my faith further. This conversation bred fantastic discussion. In breakout was so relevant to my life that I often rooms we were able to dream, ask, asked my mentor, my church friends, and imagine what the world might and my current small group the same look like if we cared for our bodies questions. and minds more, if we put aside and On Leadership sessions: Leaderinvestigated biases, and shared God’s ship sessions were SO awesome!!

From sessions about confronting anti-black racism, to how to navigate casual and stressful conversations, to sessions on mental health, and gender diversity, I was always left with so much to learn and act on. These sessions left me feeling informed, empowered, and brave. The discussion questions in the Leadership Sessions were always incredibly thoughtful, intentional, and authentic, which bred fantastic discussion. In breakout rooms we were able to dream, ask, and imagine what the world might look like if we cared for our bodies and minds more, if we put aside and investigated biases, and shared God’s love with the world more. The leaders of these sessions were consistently enthusiastic about the topic bringing a contagious energy that I could always feel.

Being able to be part of an organization doing such wonderful work like the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, was such a glori-

love with the world more. The leaders of these sessions were consistently enthusiastic about the topic bringing a contagious energy that I could always feel.

Being able to be part of an organization doing such wonderful work like the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, was such a glorious opportunity! I was able to join a small team of young people within the organization working to share the stories of PWRDF through a podcast. I learned lessons in communicating with a team, the pace things need to happen to ensure full inclusion of all members, and how to create a podcast episode from start to finish!! It is inspiring to think back eight months ago [when I had] nothing but a blank Google Doc and now to have podcast episodes on Spotify is crazy! YIP’s consistent connection with my supervisor was also vital to my success in this placement. supposed ask.Youth Internship was Overall,tothe the faithdedicated, formation and sessions, I an In enriching, fantaswas able to be who I am and be true tic program for young people to be to myself.

During the our leader faith formation a part of. Donna, of the sessions, learned that faith is notI a program,I was available any time room that has four is alife huge wanted to check in,walls; reflectiton or playground that has no limits, and the things we were learning, or prayit comes in varioushappening shapes andinforms over something my and colours andteam heights. life. The prayer was a powerful source of inspiration and strength, being able to exercise this faith muscle and pray for the people in the YIP community and know they were ous I was ableleader to join a also opportunity! praying for me.

Every small team of young people within in the program I encountered was the organization working to explained share excited to be there and also the storieswith of PWRDF through afor concepts relevant examples podcast.

I learned lessons in comyoung people. municating with a team, the pace things need to happen to ensure full inclusion of all members, and how to create a podcast episode from start to finish!! It is inspiring to think back eight agotreated [whenlike I had] nothequal,months but I was an equal ing but a blank Google Doc and now in the end of my internship. to have podcast episodes on Spotify I grew up in a Christian family is crazy!

YIP’s consistent and community where noconnection questions with my supervisor was also vitaltoto are asked; we are just supposed my success in thisand placement. follow the priest what the Bible Overall, the Youth Internship was says. This year’s faith formation an enriching, dedicated, andmy fantassessions helped me unpack faith tic forask young people to be I andprogram be able to the big questions. alearned part of.that Donna, leader of simple the faith the is not just as program, was available any time I as attending church every Sunday! wanted check in, reflect onable life or And justtolike an onion, I was to the things we were learning, or peel back layer by layer to get topray the over happening in my to truthsomething and be able to find answers life.

The prayer team was a powerful the questions that I was never supsource of inspiration and strength, posed to ask. being ablefaith to exercise thissessions, faith I In the formation muscle and pray for the people the was able to be who I am and beintrue YIP community and know they were to myself. During our faith formation also praying for me.

Every sessions, I learned that faithleader is not a in the program I encountered room that has four walls; it is awas huge excited to bethat there explained playground hasand no also limits, and it concepts relevant for comes in with various shapesexamples and forms young people. and colours and heights.

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 17

CALEB YIP INTERN FOR KAIROS

Y

NAOMI YIP INTERN FOR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY ST ALBAN

Y

IP was a positive experience for me. I learned many valuable skills that will definitely help me in future professional settings. I really appreciated the Leadership and Faith Formation sessions, particularly a session where we got to meet the bishop.

What I appreciated most about that session was how approachable and how ‘near to us’ the bishop was. Bishops are often seen as being somehow ‘far away’ from us individuals, almost inaccessible.

However, inviting him to one of the Faith sessions deconstructed that belief. Personally for me, one of the best parts of YIP was learning through the relationships developed with my supervisor, Donna and my coworkers. Coming back to YIP for a second year, I am looking forward to more relationship building.

IP provides all interns with a safe environment where we are encouraged to share opinions with one another.

The faith formation sessions provided a great chance for me to restore my faith during the pandemic as it gave me the opportunity to speak freely and ask questions.

YIP has taught me how to manage my time and become more organized in a professional manner in a workplace environment In the midst of the pandemic YIP faith formation and leadership sessions gave me something to look forward to, by speaking with my fellow interns and learning as we went along.

CALLUM YIP FAITH FORMATION INTERN

Y

IP helped keep me grounded in my last year of high school, it brought stability in a chaotic time.

YIP convinced me that I am valued within the diocese and the church and I will be eternally grateful for that understanding.

ALEX YIP INTERN FOR THE GLEBE WELLNESS CENTRE

F

or anyone who is considering going into YIP, … my advice for you would be to do it. You meet a lot of other amazing people, especially Donna. She is always there for you to support you and all round one of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet.

You get a lot of experience and a lot of lessons about things that you are definitely going to need in the future. I learned a lot of things. Going into YIP was definitely one of the best decisions I ever made.

FREDDY YIP INTERN FOR THE PARISH OF BEARBROOK-NAVAN-BLACKBURN

B

eing a part of the YIP program this past year has had a huge impact on me. … Getting to discuss our faith and [how to navigate] difficult conversations helped me step outside my comfort zone and discuss the topics that aren’t usually brought up. Having a chance to meet other youth and my mentor kept up the social aspect of my life during a time where we all had to stay at home. The work placement was tremendously helpful as it gave me real life experience in the work field that I now can use for the future.

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Page 18 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

STEWARDSHIP

Building a communications plan for your parish

BY JANE SCANLON

Upcoming events for parish communicators

updates to the congregation, pastoral communications, and communications with volunteers.

Internal communications channels include texts, emails, phone calls, announcements, and so on.

I

n our increasingly digital world, filled with so many diverse messages, a communications strategy for your parish is essential to ensure that your messaging reaches your audiences, is clear, and reflects your mission. An effective communication strategy will.

• Ensure consistent messaging • Keep messages aligned with your parish’s vision • Engage audiences (both internal and external) Here are some questions to ask to get started to build your communications strategy: What kind of communication does your congregation prefer? For example, are reminders and updates sent by email effective?

What channels of communication get a better response? For example, do text messages perform better than phone calls?

When is the best time to send messages for maximum impact? For example, instead of reaching out just on Sundays, will a middle of the week text, email, or social media post improve engagement?

By considering the answers to these questions, you will have some helpful information to begin developing a communication plan that is aligned with your parish’s mission and vision.

Jane Scanlon Director of Communications and Stewardship Development Communications options to consider Before building a communication strategy, it is important to understand the church communications options that are available. Knowing what they are and understanding how they can impact your audiences will help you craft a more effective communications plan.

There are two kinds of church communications to consider.

Internal communication is all communication that is focused on keeping church members informed, engaged, and involved. Internal church communications include

Nov. 3, 12 noon to 1 p.m.

Lunch and Learn on Facebook for Beginners Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee (with optional 30 minutes Q&A at 1pm).

Register here: https://bit. ly/3iU6qiw Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

Nov. 17, 11:30 a.m. or 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. (with optional 30 minutes Q&A at 1pm) Lunch & Learn on Social Media Strategies & Plan for Advent and Christmas Session will begin at 11:30 with an optional 30-minute Q&A from November 3rd session. Or join us at 12pm for the session on Social Media Strategies.

Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee Register here: https://bit. ly/3zNjn4H Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

December 2, 12:00-12:45pm.

Q&A Session from the November 17th Session Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee Register here: https://bit.ly/3rIu7i7 Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

External communication is all communication that is focused on reaching audiences outside of your congregation. It aims to promote the church and its events to the outside world giving it more visibility and boosting new member registration. Examples of external communications include social media updates about events, advertising, updates on the church website, and so on. Typical external communication channels are social media, website, signage and posters, and word of mouth.

A good church communication strategy strikes a balance between both forms of communication and uses storytelling to present compelling and consistent messaging. Here are some links to help you to begin developing your parish’s plan: https://callhub.io/churchcommunication-best-practices/ https://callhub.io/web-basedchurch-management-software/ https://callhub.io/churchcommunication-strategy/ Compiled by Jane Scanlon, from CallHub

Share the Light • PWRDF Ottawa’s Ride for Refuge 2021

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s Canadians, many of us take for granted that adequate light is available when women are in labour and their babies are being born. However, this isn’t the case the world over. Most of us don’t even ever wonder what light sources are being used to help midwives and physicians assist with safe deliveries when they are thousands of miles from a power grid.

PWRDF is supporting an innovative project which provides the necessary power all wrapped up in a suitcase giving a “Light for Every Birth”.

This initiative provides Solar Suitcases to remote and rural health clinics in Mozambique, so that they too can have lighting during the night. And not just light… a solar suitcase is a wall-mounted unit that opens to reveal phone charging ports, a portable headlamp and a fetal Doppler to monitor baby’s heartbeat, all connected to a roof mounted solar panel. For more details about this initiative visit our website at www. pwrdf.org.

It’s fairly certain that most people

“Light for every birth”

The wall-mounted solar suitcase in this clinic is ready to provide light, fetal heart monitor and charging Photo PWRDF ports.

reading this right now, were born with an adequate and reliable amount of light in the room. With that blessing in mind, PWRDF is inviting everyone across our Diocese to participate in the Ride for Refuge … so that we can all share the light!

Last year the ride had to be done virtually because of the pandemic limitations. With the improving community health situation this year, participants can once again physically get out into their communities.

Following on the theme of “Share the Light”, on Saturday, October 2nd, members of our diocese are encouraged to drive/walk/bike and meet up “halfway” with other participants from a nearby parish.

At the halfway point, symbolically “Share the Light” with one another!

Be creative with this — you could exchange candles, flashlights, lightthemed artwork, or however you’re inspired! Be sure to take some pictures and send them to PWRDF Ottawa at pwrdf@ottawa.anglican. ca.

Your photo might find its way

into the Advent/Christmas issue of Crosstalk which will feature more information about the Solar Suitcases and its impact in remote rural communities.

We are pleased to announce that an anonymous donor has come forward with a 1:1 funding match, up to $100,000. The match will apply to donations received between May 26 and September 30, 2021.

Be sure to register soon as a participant in our PWRDF Ottawa Team, so that you can ‘share your light”!

Together, we can light up the Ottawa Diocese and provide Light for Every Birth!

PWRDF Ottawa Team Page: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage. aspx?teamID=958132&langPref=enCA For more information contact Rosemary at: pwrdf@ottawa. anglican.ca

September 2021 • CROSSTALK • Page 19

DIOCESAN ARCHIVES

By Glenn J Lockwood

Not Your Standard A-Frame

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n a summer evening just before dusk in 1955, in a part of the City of Ottawa that had not yet quite fully adjusted to being expropriated from the Township of Nepean, an anonymous individual took this photograph of a momentous building beginning to take shape in a quickly suburbanizing area.

The time was auspicious. A dozen years earlier the Second World War brought 40,000 temporary residents, military and civilian, to work for the government in a city of less than 180,000 inhabitants. There were no resources for a major building program; instead temporary buildings sprang up across the city. The rapid influx of people and overnight construction of federal temporary buildings put pressure on housing within the city and on its supply of drinking water, with people jammed into every possible space in the existing stock of city housing.

After the war was over, it was expected that the population would shrink, as the temporary population brought in by the war would leave.

Those expectations proved wrong.

Instead, the federal government continued to expand and to hire even more employees. The population in the next decade doubled to 400,000 as returning veterans qualified for grants to build new housing infrastructure, young couples married, and a postwar ‘baby boom’ took

Ottawa West Deanery

Ottawa, Saint Mark

Diocesan Archives, 51 O20 3 place. This led to the massive annexation of adjacent areas of Nepean and Gloucester townships on which to build the massive subdivisions of new ‘Victory’ houses.

We can see some of these ‘Victory’ houses in the background, dwarfed by the main timbers of the new Saint Mark’s Church. These houses Photo leigh anne williams

COMING NEXT ISSUE...Repairs and renovations to the J.C. Roper House at 71 Bronson Avenue are now complete, so that the bishop and Diocesan Synod staff were able to move back into the offices in July. Watch for photos and a full story in the October issue of Crosstalk.

seventy years later appear small, but they were marvels of design efficiency compared to older houses in the Diocese. They took advantage of the water, septic and hydro services provided by the City of Ottawa.

Saint Mark’s was one of a number of large churches being planned and built in Ottawa’s suburbs from the

late 1940s to the 1960s. Even the tall hydro poles in the distance are dwarfed by the timbers of the church jutting into the suburban sky. The bold structure must have seemed a dramatic harbinger of bold new ideas in church design to those in the young congregation volunteering to help put it up. So it must also have seemed to Anglicans around the diocese.

Saint Mark’s was not the only Aframe church being built in this era.

Judging from the skeleton of large beams framed against the evening sky, it may have seemed a standard A-frame design, but it proved not to be. This photograph was taken from the back rather than the front, hence the three closest A-frames were taller than those in the nave of the church.

This provided a focal point on which to place a large cross, thereby bypassing the need for a church tower.

As dramatic as the new church seemed, it marked no departure from traditional Anglican worship and ritual, with a long nave providing a processional aisle leading to the focal chancel at the front with altar, font, lectern, pulpit and choir grouped in the traditional order.

If you would like to help the Archives preserve the records of the Diocese and its parishes, why not become a Friend of the Archives? Your $20 membership brings you three issues of the lively, informative Newsletter, and you will receive a tax receipt for further donations above that amount.

Page 20 • CROSSTALK • September 2021

CALENDAR Photos Leigh Anne Williams

Sept. 7 Seniors in Conversation Guest speaker: Glenn Ogden “What’s new at the Canadian War Museum?”

10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. To receive the zoom link please email seniors@trinityottawa.ca with their email address, postal code and phone number.

Ottawa School of Theology & Spirituality: Connecting People on the Path of Faith and Learning OSTS will offer another year (2021/2022) of amazing courses!

Courses are available in both the fall and winter terms, and are held on Monday evenings starting at 7:30 p.m. Due to Covid19, we continuing the 100% online format for at least the fall term. Adult learning—no exams. ZOOM tutorial available if required. Register and view courses at: http://osts.ca/

Sept. 14 Seniors in Conversation Guest speaker: Senator Peter Boehn 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. To receive the zoom link please email seniors@trinityottawa.ca with their email address, postal code and phone number.

Marriage Preparation Registration is now open for our 2021-2022 Marriage Preparation Courses. We will be hosting courses on Zoom in October, November, February, and May. Information and Registration can be found on our website at the link below.

The Marriage Preparation Course is designed to help participants to learn and grow through online presentations given by professional speakers, online small group discussions with trained facilitators, and couple conversations.

All couples are welcome, and participation is not limited by gender, age, or previous marital status. https://www.ottawa.anglican.ca/ marriage-preparation

Sept. 21 Seniors in Conversation Guest speaker: Juliane Labreche “Master Gardeners ‘Water in the Garden’” 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m To receive the zoom link please email seniors@trinityottawa.ca with their email address, postal code and phone number.

Sept. 28 Seniors in Conversation Guest speaker: Albert Dumont, Algonquin Spiritual Advisor to the Bishop of Ottawa 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m To receive the zoom link please email seniors@trinityottawa.ca with their email address, postal code and phone number.

Oct. 3 Virtual Walk for the Centretown Emergency Food Centre 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. http://centretownchurches.org/ walk/ (see p. 15 for details)

Diocesan Hospital Ministry calls for new volunteers to help

By Rev. Deacon Steve Zytveld

O

ur Anglican ministries at the Ottawa Hospital are already preparing for a post-COVID-19 world —and you may be able to help us!

Oct. 21 Building a Community of Hope 12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m – Virtual tour, fundraiser and silent auction to support the Diocese of Ottawa’s Community Ministries. (see p. 7 for details)

Fall 2021 Lunch & Learn Sessions Nov. 3 Lunch and Learn on Facebook for Beginners 12 noon to 1 p.m. (with optional 30 minutes Q&A at 1pm).

Register here: https://bit.ly/3iU6qiw Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca Nov. 17 Lunch & Learn on Social Media Strategies & Plan for Advent and Christmas 11:30 a.m. or 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. (optional 30 minutes Q&A at 1pm).

Session will begin at 11:30 with

Bulletin Board

an optional 30-minute Q&A from November 3rd session. Or join us at 12pm for the session on Social Media Strategies. Register here: https://bit.ly/3zNjn4H Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidifawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

Q&A Session from the November 17th Session December 2, 2021 – 12:00-12:45pm.

Register here: https://bit.ly/3rIu7i7 Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidifawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

Over the past many years, our Diocese has provided a caring presence at both the Civic and General campuses of the Ottawa Hospital (or, TOH) for Anglican and Lutheran patients.

The comfort we provide would normally include pastoral care for patients and their families, worship led in TOH’s chapels, bedside Communion, and so much more to extend the healing hand of God to those who suffer illness and injury.

These ministries, however, have been on hold since March 2020 when the pandemic was declared and TOH was forced to shut its doors to visitors and volunteers.

In the meantime, we are on the lookout for new volunteers who can help us when TOH reopens and when the need for caring helpers is expected to be even greater than before.

If you believe you can bring your voice and heart to those who suffer—and often alone—you are warmly invited to contact Deacon Steve for further information regarding training and further requisites. Experience is helpful but not necessary!

And a reminder that our team of On-Call Clergy continues to be available on a ‘virtual’ basis for patients who require pastoral presence and care while seriously ill or dying. A phone call request from the patient or their family to the Spiritual Care Department at either the Civic or General campus is all that is needed to arrange for this ministry of presence and prayer.

Life does go on at TOH as patients receive needful treatment from the hospital’s skilled team of doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other caregivers. And our Anglican Diocese of Ottawa is there for all of them.

The Rev Deacon Steve Zytveld is the Coordinator of Anglican Ministries at the Ottawa Hospital. Contact him at eszytveld@yahoo.ca