For more Diocesan news and events visit www.vancouver.anglican.ca

A section of the Anglican Journal

SUMMER 2011

This Table is Reserved

IN THIS ISSUE

Missioner appointed for the Central Fraser Valley.PAGE 4

Bishop Michael Ingham PAGE 3

Another successful Artaban Cream Tea.PAGE 10

The Rev. Christine Rowe began the worship Sunday morn-ing, May 1st, 2011 at St. Catherine’s Capilano by wel-coming the congregation. She thanked everyone who had been involved in the organization of the combined service bringing together the six North Vancouver Anglican wor-shipping communities and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, also located in North Vancouver.

Christine asked that all the people in the congregation visiting from Gloria Dei please raise their hands. This request resulted in the hand-raising of 20 – 25% of the capacity congregation. They were acknowledged with an enthusiastic round of applause. Following the welcoming of the Lutheran visitors, Christine then asked each of the North Vancouver deanery parishes to identify themselves, also with a show of hands, She made particular mention of St. Agnes’ who were also celebrating the first day of the new ministry of their new Incumbent, the Rev. Stephen Muir, and St. Clement’s who were supporting parishioner and baptismal candidate Kristina Xue Fong Lee, her family and sponsors.

The combined choirs co-directed by St. Catherine’s Organist and Director of Music, Siiri Rebane and Gloria Dei’s Organist and Director of Music, Annabelle Paetsch led the music in worship.

The preacher for this special service of Choral Eucharist with Baptism celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Waterloo Declaration was Gloria Dei Interim Pastor, Kim Staus. Pastor Kim began his sermon by saying how happy he was to be asked to speak at a gathering com-memorating this important event in the histories of the two denominations.

He admitted to “weeping tears of joy” at the signing of the declaration in 2001 and had desperately wanted to be present but his ministerial responsibilities precluded his attendance. The Waterloo meetings were of particular significance to Kim because of his years of ministry in the northern regions of Canada. During those years he had come to know Anglicans, Presbyterians and others through his experience as a pastor in sparsely populated areas.

He was particularly close to Bishop John Hannan the former Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Caledonia and jokingly admitted that because of how the Bishop signed his name he initially thought Bishop John’s surname was Caledonia and was surprised at the amazing coincidence. For Kim, Bishop John modeled contextual ministry, he got out among people and met them on their turf. Kim remembered Bishop John coming to his home and enter-taining his then young children by making impressions in Play-Doh with his Episcopal ring.

Pastor Kim went on to speak about shared ministry and stated that he believes that the current resources of the North Vancouver worshipping communities gathered that day are enough to move forward.

“It’s God’s Spirit that is moving us together.”He went on to discuss some of the shifts that happened

in the ELCIC around the ordination of Bishops because of the changes evolved from the Waterloo Declaration.

Kim then focused on the Gospel for the day, John 17:1 – 6, 15 – 23 and how those words related to Kristina’s upcoming baptism. Kristina with all her gifts is being called to make God’s name known and he went on to comment on the juxtaposition of Kristina’s education in Computer

Science and the language and ritual (some might say archaic) of Anglican liturgy. Pastor Kim asked, “How will that work out? What will both components bring to, and benefit from, each other?” In his opinion, the result of the Waterloo Declaration is a parallel situation.

Here we are 10 years later talking about how Lutherans and Anglicans can do gospel-centred ministry in North Vancouver. The conversation that is taking place today in North Vancouver and other places around Canada might

North Vancouver Churches Gather to Celebrate 10 Years of Full CommunionRandy MuRRayCommunications Officer, Diocese of New Westminster, Editor of Topic

St. Catherine’s Organist and Director of Music, Siiri Rebane, conducts the combined choirs of the six North Vancouver Anglican worshipping communities and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.

not have happened without the Waterloo Declaration.Kristina’s baptism, presided over by her priest, the Rev.

Dr. Lynne McNaughton was a joyful welcoming of a new member into the Family of Christ and was certainly one of the highlights of the morning.

Congratulations to Kristina and to the people of North Vancouver who are embracing the changes necessary to

“Grow communities of faith in Jesus Christ to serve God’s mission in the world.” W

The Rev. Lynne McNaughton (left) and the newly baptized Kristina Xue Fong Lee (centre with candle and blue cardigan), her family and sponsors.

It’s God’s Spirit

that is moving us together.

Gloria dei Interim Pastor, Kim Staus

SUMMER 2011 2

Published ten months a year as a section of the Anglican Journal by the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster.

Editor Randy Murray rmurray@vancouver.anglican.ca

Issue This is the 6th issue in the 42nd year of publication.

Deadline For Submissions • Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 for the September issue. 

Subscriptions The Anglican Journal and TOPIC are sent to members of a parish who pay for it through their contributions to the national Church. Others, $10.

For address changes please notify your parish secretary or write TOPIC c/o Anglican Journal, 80 Hayden St., Toronto ON M4Y 3G2 or visit  www.vancouver.anglican.ca and click on the TOPIC link at right.

Printed and mailed by Signal Star Publishing,  a Division of Bowes Publishers Ltd. Circulation 8,000.

The Anglican Church The Anglican Communion A global community of 70 million Anglicans in 64,000 congregations in 164 countries.

The Anglican Church of Canada A community of 640,000 members organized into four ecclesiastical provinces, including British Columbia and the Yukon.

The Diocese of New Westminster The Anglican Church in the Lower Mainland and on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, 74 parishes and one ecumenical congregation.

The Bishop of New Westminster The Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham.

Address Diocese of New Westminster,  #580 – 401 West Georgia Street Vancouver, BC V6B 5A1

Phone 604.684.6306 ext. 223

Website For latest news and features go to www.vancouver.anglican.ca

Designer Jennifer Ewing

Contributors & helpers for this issue Stephen Bailey, Brenda Berck, Andrea Carr,  Tasha Carrothers, Simon Chambers, Wayne Chose, Hilary Clark, Phil Colvin, Darla Dickinson, Patrick Doerksen, Dean Peter Elliott, Ronald Harrison, Tony Houghton, Bishop Michael Ingham, Martin Knowles, Richard Leggett,  Rod Mackin, Glen Mitchell, NIck Parker,  Jessica Schaap, Steve Schuh, Ryan Schutt,  John Stephens, Adela Torchia, Art Turnbull,  Craig Vance and Al Wakarchuk

Thank you!

In November of 2010 the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada received new regimental flags — Colours. When a regiment accepts receipt of these new Colours, the “Old Colours” are retired or “laid up” in the regimental church or a church connected to the place with which the regiment is most closely identified.

In modern times, the retired Colours are conserved and placed in a museum or similar — under glass and after a symbolic period of not less than five years.

Christ Church Cathedral is the Regimental Church of the Seaforth Highlanders, the BC Regiment and the Irish Fusiliers and proudly displays the retired First World War Colours of all three Regiments in a cabinet located in the east chancel alcove.

The two “Old Colours” retired April 16, 2011 were given to the Regiment in 1962. They’ve seen members of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada serve in Germany with NATO, and on various peacekeeping operations around the world. They have also been present during domestic opera-tions such as the forest fires of 2003 in British Columbia, Olympic security in 2010 and over the last 10 years with forces in Afghanistan.

Dean Peter Elliott began the service by welcoming the members of the Canadian Forces and civilians gathered in the sanctuary and informing them that they would be witnessing a ceremony that, although not often seen, remains a great tradition of the church and of the Canadian military.

The Dean reminded the congregation that Christ Church Cathedral has been the place that Vancouverites have come to mourn the dead of the First and Second World Wars and to celebrate the freedom we enjoy that was dearly bought with the lives of Canadian soldiers.

The ceremony began with the procession to the Altar of the Old Colour Party and Escort, accompanied by the Commanding Officer and the Adjutant moving in slow time to the accompaniment of a single piper playing Loch Duich, the Regimental Slow march.

Major Raesler, the Acting Commanding Officer of the regiment, received the Colours from the Escort Officers. He then advanced in slow time to the Altar where Dean Peter waited. Major Raesler then passed the colours to Colonel David Fairweather, CD. who was accompanied by Honourary Lieutenant Colonel Michael Shields, CD. Colonel Fairweather then presented the Regimental Colour followed by the Queen’s Colour to the Dean. As the Dean received the Colours, Honourary Colonel Shields said,

“These consecrated colours, formerly carried in the service of Sovereign and Country, we now deliver into your hands for safe custody within these walls.” The Dean responded saying, “We accept these Colours in the memory of those who were faithful to the sacred cause of Queen and Country and in confidence of the inspiration they will afford to all who may behold them.”

Dean Peter Elliott then placed the Colours on the Altar.

After the singing of O God Our Help in Ages Past the congregation listened to Vancouver actor and Cathedral parishioner, John Innes read Isaiah 2 1:15, followed by a moving reading by Vancouver actor and Cathedral parishio-ner, Joy Coghill of a letter of thanks to Canada written by a Dutch woman liberated by the Canadian forces in 1945.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Symbols of SacrificeLaying Up of the Old Colours of The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

TOP LEFT The Old Colours.TOP RIGHT The Old Colours are presented for laying up.

MIDDLE The New Colours being carried down Christ Church Cathedral’s steps.BOTTOM The New Colours on parade in downtown Vancouver.

3 SUMMER 2011

THIS MONTH IN HISTORYcompiled by Anglican Archivist Melanie Wallace

PONTIUS PUDDLE by Joel Kauffmann

45 years • 1966 Anglicans of Kingcome Inlet celebrate 100 years of Anglican Ministry.

20 years • 1991 Diocesan shared ministry development program, Stewards in Action, is praised by US and recommended as a model of American Episcopal churches.

15 years • 1996 Spencer Commission offers its first report to Diocesan Synod regarding the most effective uses of property and buildings.

Several years ago a woman in the parish I was serving came to see me to ask about being baptized. This came as a bit of a shock because she had been a regular communicant at the altar rail for many years.

Of course I had never asked to see anyone’s baptismal certificate. The thought had never occurred to me. Neither had I given enough serious attention to the fact that in a post-religious society it is no longer the norm for people to be baptized as infants.

So I resolved to do two things. One was to help prepare an already faithful Anglican for Baptism. And the other was to do more teaching from the pulpit about the Eucharist, and especially its relationship to Baptism.

I asked my parishioner if she would undertake a ‘Eucharistic fast’ as part of her preparation for Baptism. We studied the deep meaning of initiation into Christ. And on Easter Eve that year she was joyously baptized and continues to serve God in this church.

At the recent meeting of the Canadian House of Bishops there was discussion about the emerging practice — in some parishes across the country — of offering the Eucharistic elements to all comers, regardless of Baptism. Whilst it was recognized that the so-called ‘Open Table’ is a response to the post-religious reality of mostly non-baptized adult enquirers, and an effort to be inclusive and welcoming rather than erecting barriers to participation in worship, the bishops felt it is important to maintain the sequential relationship between Baptism and Eucharist, and not to reverse it as the new practice does.

From earliest times, the Eucharist has been the fel-lowship meal of the baptized. Christian initiation is the process of entering into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus through the sacramental waters of Baptism, and then joining in the table meal of the Last Supper with Jesus’ own disciples.

Some may argue that this is too restrictive. They may point to the public feeding by Jesus of the four and five

thousand as the primary lens through which the Eucharist should be understood. But our historic and ecumenical tradition has traced its origins to the Last Supper, and its antecedents in the Passover meal of the Jews, where the doors are open, but the table is reserved.

Prof. James Farwell of General Theological Seminary writes: To offer Eucharist without Baptism sets aside the call to redemption and human flourishing as a life lived, and replaces it with a welcome that should at any rate have already been offered through the public efforts of outreach, evangelism, and acts of hospitality.

And this view is supported from quite a different per-spective by Canadian Jewish leader, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who writes: Unless I am mistaken, communion is more than

full participation. It is full embrace of the faith. If that is the case, then it would hardly make sense for a member of a distinct faith community to wade into another faith, unless it was for the purpose of conversion. Otherwise, the interchangeability is an insult to the integrity of the faith in question.

The Canadian House of Bishops resolved unanimously to continue the tradition of Christian initiation prior to Eucharistic participation. But we also agreed that much more work needs to be done to develop ways of extending appropriate hospitality and welcome to spiritual enquirers, and to offer teaching resources to the Church on the full depth of Christian Eucharistic understanding. More on this will follow. W

The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund are pleased to announce the launch of Living Justice, a con-firmation resource for youth. This 6-session curriculum is designed to be used as a supplement to any existing confirmation preparation process. Each session explores a different aspect of justice: Deep Justice, Fair Trade, Extreme Poverty, HIV/AIDS, the Environment, and Gender Justice. Living Justice is based around a multi-media experience: PowerPoint, video — a variety of activities to meet many learning styles. It will be available as part of the PWRDF resource order form this year, as a download from the PWRDF youth website (www.justgeneration.ca), or by con-tacting Sheilagh McGlynn, the justgeneration.ca Facilitator, at smcglynn@pwrdf.org. It will ship in September 2011.

Living Justice was envisaged as an opportunity to engage young people at a time when they are attending church —

PWRDF Launches Living Justice Youth Resource

their confirmation preparation time. By providing Living Justice as an easy to use “plug-in” for any confirmation process, PWRDF hopes to instill a sense of the importance of justice in the lives of Christians. While Living Justice is geared towards confirmation students, it has a much broader reach. “This isn’t just for confirmation — the sessions can be used by youth groups, Bible study groups, adult education groups. It’s a great resource for anybody,” says McGlynn.

The Living Justice resource will highlight PWRDF partners and the work of PWRDF in Canada within each session, but its scope is wider. “It gives a great overview of justice issues,” says McGlynn. “Living Justice will allow students to be able to engage in justice issues within our faith context.” W

This Table is ReservedBIShoP MIchael InGhaM

SUMMER 2011 4

In the May issue of Topic we reported on the initial progress of the making of this year’s Synod documentary, Moving Forward in Mission.

As this, the June/Summer issue of Topic will not be in readers’ homes until the second week of June, the film will have premiered at the 110th Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster. The film will be available on vimeo or youtube and a link will be available to one of those on-line services via the diocesan website.

The second half of film-making involved detailed edit-ing of the March and April footage as well as two days of filming in North Vancouver.

Cliff Caprani and Randy Murray made their way to North Vancouver on a very rainy Thursday to obtain foot-age of the churches and the surrounding neighbourhoods that comprise the North Vancouver Deanery.

Once that material was “in the can” it was time to meet with North Vancouver Regional Deanery Council members at St. Catherine’s Capilano to film interviews with represen-tatives of that group on the subject of Ministry Assessment Process (MAP) implementation.

Regional Dean and Rector of St. Catherine’s, the Rev. Christine Rowe, warmly welcomed the film crew and was happy to be the first person interviewed for the segment.

The interviews went extremely well and the St. Catherine’s chancel was an excellent venue.

The next item on the agenda was to continue the task of editing and applying post-production techniques to the existing footage to create a finished film.

One of the challenges for the film-makers was to compress the 36 minutes of interview footage from North

Moving Forward in Mission Film • Part 2

Vancouver into five minutes while managing to retain the salient points made by participants. Five minutes is still too much time to have just one static shot of a person being interviewed so other images relating to the content also need to be interspersed with the interview footage to provide added interest.

The next filming day was Sunday, May 1st back at St. Catherine’s, as the six North Vancouver Deanery Worshipping Communities joined together with members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada congrega-tion of Gloria Dei celebrating 10 years since the signing of the Waterloo Declaration that brought the ACoC and the ELCIC into Full Communion.

There were six clergy from North Vancouver in atten-dance. The Rev. Jeremy Clark-King of St. Martin’s presided at the Eucharist and Gloria Dei Interim Pastor Kim Staus was the preacher.

After filming the procession, Cliff set the camera up in the pulpit for the duration of the 90 minute liturgy. The footage of the procession was a tremendous asset to the section of the film that focuses on the North Vancouver Deanery.

A preliminary cut of the film was completed May 6th, 2011 and submitted for the approval of the Chair of the Plan 2018 Action Group, the Rev. Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles. If you would like a copy of the film for your parish or organization please contact the Communications Officer, rmurray@vancouver.anglican.ca. W

Topic is delighted to announce that Bishop Michael Ingham has appointed the Rev. Allen Doerksen, Missioner of the Central Fraser Valley effective July 1st, 2011.

This past April, recommendations to Diocesan Council were received from the required diocesan enti-ties (Administration and Finance {A&F}, Grants and Loans Committee and the Ministry and Congregational Development Committee {MCDC}) that Diocesan Council give positive consideration to the provision of a Diocesan grant to fund this new ministry position.

At the May 10th, 2011 meeting Diocesan Council unanimously approved the recommendations.

Due to the withdrawal of St. Matthew’s, Abbotsford from Anglican Church of Canada ministry there is a need to draw together Anglicans in the area of the Fraser Valley, east between Sardis and Chilliwack and west to Aldergrove. This will be the primary ministry for Allen as Missioner.

There is a small but committed congregation that meets for worship at 8 am on Sundays in the Parish Hall of St. Matthew’s Abbotsford and Allen will take on pastoral duties for that congregation as well as establishing an Anglican Church of Canada presence in Abbotsford for evangelism and the establishment of compassionate service ministry.

The Reverend Allen Doerksen Appointed Missioner of the Central Fraser Valley

The Bishop anticipates that this position will be for an initial three year period with the opportunity for renewal or extension.

By the time this issue of Topic reaches homes in mid-June of 2011, diocesan staff will have researched the need for office space for Allen and if gathering space is needed that will be addressed as well.

Since 2004, Rev. Allen Doerksen has been Incumbent at St. Aidan Anglican Church in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In his almost 20 years of ordained ministry he has dem-onstrated great skill in Congregational Development and Missional Project supervision, specializing in the re-development and the revitalization of ministry and the development of evangelistic ministry.

He has experience in equipping Christians to discover and exercise their spiritual gifts through small group teach-ing and ministry classes.

Allen is married to Denise who is also a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Topic hopes to publish a full length feature interview article with Allen in the fall of 2011 but in the meantime, welcome Rev. Allen Doerksen to Abbotsford and the Diocese of New Westminster. W

TOP LEFT Cliff adjusts the camera’s rain protection. TOP RIGHT Filming on a rainy North Vancouver day. BOTTOM Cliff filming the procession at St. Catherine’s.

5 SUMMER 2011

More than 200 people from around the Diocese of New Westminster attended the pre-synod day at St. Mary’s Kerrisdale on Saturday, May 7th, 2011.

In 2009, Synod approved a vision: “Growing commu-nities of faith in Jesus Christ to serve God’s mission in the world.” At the pre-synod day, participants heard an excel-lent address from Bishop Michael Ingham and attended interactive presentations on parish initiatives that are sup-porting the Diocesan Priorities:

The purpose of the day was to allow Synod delegates and others to join with friends from across the diocese and learn together about homegrown excellence in mission. Over 20 diocesan and connected organizations arrived early in the morning at the St. Mary’s Kerrisdale gymnasium to set-up display tables featuring their ministries. At 8:30 am, the gym was a hotbed of activity as people arrived, registered,

Moving Forward in Mission • Pre-Synod DayRandy MuRRayCommunications Officer, Editor of Topic

grabbed something hot to drink and enjoyed community time visiting the displays, asking questions and discover-ing new happenings in and around the Diocese of New Westminster.

The event officially opened with a brief worship service at 10 am. Following worship, the Rev. Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles, Chair of the Plan 2018 Action Committee, intro-duced Bishop Michael Ingham. Bishop Michael began his address by thanking those in attendance “for a day of your weekend for your church.” He went on to observe that it was too rainy to be in the garden so “God wants us to be here.” Bishop Michael began his address with two words inspired by the reading (Deuteronomy 30:11 – 20) choose life. In his address (available on-line: please type http://bit.ly/itPyAU into your browser or if you do not have internet access ask someone in your community to print a copy for you) Bishop Michael said that God wants us to make right choices. We rarely have to make life and death decisions but we are always making important decisions in “little ways.”

Later in the address, Bishop Michael pointed out that for 40 years Anglican churches have been asked to move from maintenance to mission. All over the world, the church has remained concerned with survival rather than being passionate about outreach. He observed that people today, particularly younger people, are attracted to movements and organizations that are passionate and idealistic about their causes. In order to be present and relevant, we must be clear about what we stand for and be prepared to meet people where they live. We must go

1. nurturing Spiritual Journeys, 2. Supporting christian education 3. deepening anglican understanding 4. Renewing our Worship 5. nurturing the Parish community 6. Building a community of Parishes 7. Participating in local communities 8. cultivating Interfaith understanding 9. caring for God’s earth 10. addressing Issues of PovertyA more detailed list with definitions can be found by typing http://bit.ly/msm5Vx into your internet browser.

out and meet people in their neighbourhoods but more than that, we need to educate ourselves about current communications concepts like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other social media, embracing people where they live in the cyber-world.

Bishop Michael finished the presentation by encour-aging those present to “remember our purpose, and the word of God spoken in our minds. Choose life. So that you and your descendents may live. Choose life in the big decisions and also in the small ones. So our children, and their children, and generations yet unborn, may know the glory of God and live in a world of hope.”

The rest of the day was divided up into separate morning and afternoon sessions totaling 11 panel discussions involv-ing 33 ministry initiatives from around the diocese. Each session was led by a facilitator responsible for moderating the presentations and the resulting questions and dialogue. The sessions embraced a large range of initiatives, all con-nected to one or more of the ten Diocesan Priorities.

Between the two sessions, there was lunch. The lunch, prepared and served by members of the St. Mary’s Kerrisdale Community Lunch ministry, was typical of the fare offered by that ministry to their regular Tuesday noon hour community. The meal was greatly appreciated by the 200 plus who lined up around the St. Mary’s gym.

At the end of the day Bishop Michael began his clos-ing observations by reading 1 Corinthians 12:1 – 12. He observed that the day “was a fountain,” that we had all drunk from, and that “there was a movie going on here today and we each were able to see a few scenes.” Like many faith communities, we met in small groups today but when we assemble together we are large and diverse. But in our diversity we still need each other and we need to remember that we aren’t in competition with other denominations or faith groups, we are in competition with a society that is increasingly distracted and disengaged. By pursuing our commitment to God’s Mission we are choosing life in this post-religious time. W

TOP Elizabeth Northcott and Michael Batten at the Plant Eat Pray Love session.

MIDDLE A full house enjoys the Transforming the World session.

BOTTOM Fueling up at lunch to prepare for the afternoon session.

how to tell our story in a consumer oriented culture

Holy Trinity Anglican Church1440 West 12th Avenue

Vancouver, BC

Phil Cooke is changing the way church leaders influence and engage the culture in the 21st century. If your goal is to share a message of faith, raise money for charity, preach the gospel, or build an inner-city outreach you should attend this day long learning experience including Phil Cooke’s 3 dynamic one hour presentations. Find out:

Learn the answers and much more, join us at

branding faithbuilding hope

A Road to 2018 event

saturday october 22, 20119:00 am to 3:30 pm

admission and registration information tba

how can smaller congregations make the most of websites + social networking?

what is the church’s mandate to make the most of media?are traditional media like print still worth using?

SUMMER 2011 6

I started dog rescuing in England as a young child. Throughout my life I have rescued many dogs from a variety of situations, from grabbing strays in traffic to the more formal work of volunteering for a dog rescue society.

It was a freezing cold night that Cesar, a blind dog, came into my life. He had been neglected and was suffering greatly. He required medication urgently.

“It’s all right Cesar; I know how painful arthritis is.” I stroked him. He was given an injection for pain and antibiotics. I covered him in a heated blanket. For three nights he cried. I could barely function from lack of sleep as I kept rising to comfort him. Wherever I put him, he was unhappy and whined.

I could not put him in my room as I had my other dogs. He was terribly lonely. Finally I found the solution. I put him near my other big dog and he slept and I slept. He began to relax and settle in.

His nose is amazing and twitches like a divining rod in search of food. I left a can of dog food on the counter… after all he wouldn’t see it there. Cesar nonchalantly ambled by, reached up, clamped his teeth on the can and walked off with it.

I began to wonder… who is blind? Sometimes I scold him with, “just because you’re blind doesn’t mean you can take advantage of me!” He smacks his head into the walls as he tries to familiarize himself with his surroundings. “Try putting vanilla on the walls,” I am told.

I walk down the street and he careens to the left and right. We’re obviously not in rhythm, what I need is a blind dog for a blind dog! I told my friend.

I take him to a field with his leash on. Here he is free of any obstacles and he wags his tail like a young dog again.

My special-needs dog is also partially deaf. But I still talk to him.

One day as I was preparing dinner he decided to play hide and seek. Determined to peel the vegetables I ‘hid’ at the sink. He weaved his way around the table and each chair plotting out his course. “Found you!” His big nose smashed into my leg and his tail thumps wildly.

Then he decides to explore more and noses back the baby gate. Cesar trots up the stairs waiting for me to catch up on the landing. He doesn’t see the danger of coming down. I grab his collar and turn him around. I am holding a vertical 70 lb dog. He paws the air realizing that noth-ing is in front of him. Now like a train he is going down fast. “Slow down” I yell out in fear but he is almost deaf, my brain screams back. I bounce down each stair like a wayward caboose.

We hit bottom. My gliding Dalmatian saunters off as I see spots before my eyes. “That was tricky,” I mumble after him.

Now we seem to walk in rhythm: he leads, I follow. Too often we want to control anyone with special needs and rush over to help. I used to guide his nose to his food dish. Of course he can find it, he can find a dog crunchy in a haystack. So he has taught me to let go and allow him his independence.

Cesar’s gift of the spirit to me is Piety. That willingness to go beyond duty as when we serve God.

CesarWhat I’ve learned from my unbelievable rescue dogsandRea caRRChurch of the Epiphany, Surrey

The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

The musical highlight of the service was Highland Cathedral, a piece composed by German musicians, Ulrich Roever and Michael Kolb for the 1982 German Highland Games. This version featured Christ Church Cathedral Organist Rupert Lang and the Pipes and Drums of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. The performance was absolutely superb; the audio balance between the tracker action organ and the pipes and drums was like a digital recording. You could feel the energy of the congregation surge as the stirring music flowed from the Cathedral’s organ gallery.

The brief homily was delivered by Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Chaplain, Major the Rev. Jim Short. Major Short began by saying that in some ways this ceremony was the second ending to the Seaforth Highlanders Centennial celebrations. The laying-up of these Colours was particu-larly significant as the Queen’s Colour retired that day was among the last of the Union Jack regimental flags.

Jim chose for his theme the word “sacrifice.” There is no greater love in the world — Sacrifice. He went on to list

examples of sacrifice: the Canadian soldiers in Holland in World War II, the caskets in the Airport at Kandahar being prepared for the long journey to Canada, the sacrifice of Jesus, all represented in the two Colours laid out on the Altar that afternoon.

He said in closing that the worst thing that could hap-pen in Battle is the capture of the Regimental Colours. If capture was imminent, a mortally wounded Junior Officer could rectify the capture of the Colours by wrapping them around his injured body and take them with him into the next life — Sacrifice.

Following the service, the Regiment exited the Cathedral and assembled on Burrard Street. The Saturday afternoon traffic at Downtown Vancouver’s busiest intersection had been diverted. It took about 10 minutes for the Regiment to muster in parade formation and then they turned south and marched to the beat of the drums and cry of bagpipes the two kilometre distance to the Seaforth Armory located just south of the Burrard Street Bridge for a well-earned celebration. W

TOP Cesar using his nose. MIDDLE Tequila, ready for his close-up. BOTTOM Andrea Carr with Baby.

Andrea Carr is a parishioner of the Church of the Epiphany in Surrey and among other things she is the Founder of Saint Frances Dog Rescue (saintfrancesdogrescue@hotmail.com). Presently Andrea is seeking donations to cover the rescue dog’s expenses and would like to expand the operation. To this end, she is seeking property to operate the rescue project in Nanaimo, BC. To inquire about having “Bambi” the Chihuahua, who has been screened to do pet therapy, for visits to schools, hospitals, care facilities etc., or to book Andrea for speaking engagements please contact her by email. W

Tequila • Tall ChihuahuaGave me counsel. he is quite supernatural with intuition. he knows he’s got to act when the going gets tough. Tequila was found tied up on a 2 ft leash for two years and had to learn to walk again.

They say blind dogs see with their heart. He sees into mine and fills it with love.

These are the gifts of spirit my other rescue dogs have given me:

Toto • Yorkshire TerrierGave me wisdom. he is an old soul and he knows all things will happen in the right time. Toto is a toy breed who was neglected and left outside in the backyard in all kinds of weather.

Clara • DachshundGave me fortitude. no matter what, you can will yourself to survive. clara was relinquished by her owner as the owner’s husband planned to shoot clara.

Baby • California Chihuahua Gave me courage. Baby is only 4lbs and can stand up to a pit bull. She was abandoned in the streets of Mecredi, california.

Bambi • California ChihuahuaGave me knowledge. using the right knowledge can save your life. Bambi was also abandoned in the streets of Mecredi, california.

Chase • Pit Bull Lab Cross Gave me understanding. understanding him to help him and all things. chase was found with a tow truck chain and padlock as a collar attached to 1 ft of chain. he was lying in feces with no food or water, guarding cars.

7 SUMMER 2011

Our first home was a tent.

One hundred years later, we’re holding an outdoor service to commemorate the humble

beginnings of our beloved St. Mary’s Kerrisdale. Please join us for morning service followed

by lunch and a very special afternoon of celebratory music and family festivities.

Holy Eucharist, 10 am Sunday, August 14, 2011

2490 West 37th Avenue, Vancouver BC 604 261 4228

Visit www.stmaryskerrisdale.ca/centennial for details.

So many ways to celebrate 100 years…

SMK_HE_3.2x7.5_FC_TOPIC_Ad.indd 1 11-05-05 6:12 PM

The Rev. Dr. Wendy Fletcher, Principal and Dean of VST began her report by playfully remarking that many of the students being recognized that evening have been working on their programs longer than they thought they would. A unifying virtue of the 2011 group is “endurance” which is quite fitting as they are the 40th Anniversary class. She then quipped that no graduate present that evening had taken 40 years to complete their program.

She reminded the group gathered in Christ Church Cathedral that two institutions “gave themselves over to death” in order to give birth to a new institution — The future is always built on the back of change.

Dr. Fletcher went on to point out that these 22 recipi-ents of Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees are the most diverse group ever to graduate from VST and that each one of them will embark on or continue their unique ministries all around the globe.

One of the first items of business following Dr. Fletcher’s report was the installation of the Very Rev. Dr. Peter Elliott, Dean of the Diocese of New Westminster and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral as VST Chancellor by VST Board of Governor’s Chair, Dr. Helen Clarke.

Dean Elliott’s installation in this new addition to his ministry came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of his ordination as Priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. Following his installation, Dean Elliott presided over the Awarding of Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees.

There were many highlights and memorable moments in the two-hour ceremony.

One of the highlights of the evening was the Convocation Address given jointly by Timothy Scorer, a former program staff and management team member at the United Church of Canada’s Naramata Centre and currently Minister of Adult Education at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in downtown Vancouver, and the retired Bishop of British Columbia, the Right Rev. Barry Jenks (Bishop Barry graduated with a Diploma in Theology from the Anglican Theological College one of VST’s founding institutions in 1964 and was ordained to the priesthood later that year at Christ Church Cathedral). Both Tim and Bishop

Barry received Honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees later during the Convocation. The topic given to them by Dr. Fletcher was “What We Have Learned About How to Journey From Here.”

In their presentation they took turns speaking, going back and forth with Bishop Barry taking more the role of “preacher” and Tim’s comments perhaps slightly more professorial and philosophical.

Bishop Barry began his comments by saying that for most of us, God is not what is written on a bumper sticker. God is not the one who is only up there... God is not pres-ent just to meet us when we die. God did not abandon his creation. God is not absent from life, God is present with us in creation. God is “an unfolding, evolving mystery” that we discover more and more.

Tim began his first section by indentifying himself as the grandfather of four children ranging in age from 2 months to 12 years. His next observation elicited a ripple of giggles from the congregation when he said that at his current age of 67 “both God and I have changed.”

The Rev. William Ferrey received a Master of Divinity that evening. He had been ordained to the Transitional Diaconate in the Diocese of BC just the day before in

Celebration and Convocation Vancouver School of Theology

Victoria where he has begun his curacy. Rev. Ferrey received three honours: the “top student” award which is The Chown Memorial Prize in Divinity for distinction in the Master of Divinity program, The Daniel McPherson Scholarship for excellence in the graduating year and he shared The Reverend George and Mabel Fallis Prize for excellence in Pastoral Theology with one other student.

Another highlight of the evening was his short speech of thanks. Will’s address was gracious, wise, extremely funny and to the point.

After the 22 graduates received their Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees, it was time for the bestowing of the Honourary Doctor of Divinity Degrees. The Ven. Ronald Harrison presented the Citation for Bishop Barry Jenks and Dr. Louise Rolston presented the Citation for Timothy Scorer. It was an inspiration to listen to the accomplish-ments in ministry achieved by Tim and Bishop Barry in the course of the pursuit of their vocations.

During the next 40 years, the 2011 recipients of Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees from VST will continue this tradition and each of the 22 graduates will make their own mark as they work through their ministry to further God’s mission in the world. W

TOP The Very Rev. Dr. Peter Elliott receives the chancellors robes and mortar board.BOTTOM LEFT The Right Rev. Dr. Barry Jenks acknowledges the applause after receiving his doctoral robes and hood. BOTTOM RIGHT The new chancellor is welcomed.

SUMMER 2011 8

A number of diocesan clergy gathered together at the Bethlehem Retreat House in Nanaimo from April 4th – 6th for a time of quiet reflection. Retreat leader was Bishop Jane Alexander of the Diocese of Edmonton, who delivered five talks entitled “Drinking Living Water.”

Bishop Jane focused her reflections on the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. She also led participants through a guided meditation on the prayer of St. Theresa of Avila that affirms in us “we are the only hands and feet Christ has on earth.” Wonderful times of music and worship regularly punctuated the silence of the retreat.

Bishop Jane challenged participants to return home with a renewed sense of calling and an assurance that the love of God in

April 5th marked 25 years of marriage for North Vancouver, Regional Dean, the Rev. Christine Rowe, Incumbent, St. Catherine’s Capilano and Archdeacon of Fraser the Ven. Stephen Rowe, Incumbent, Church of the Epiphany, Surrey.

Following a Whistler get-away, the happy couple returned to the Lower Mainland where there were two Silver Anni-versary parties held. April 9th was a joyful scene at the Rowe’s home where Christine and Stephen’s three children hosted a pot-luck dinner party for 40 guests complete with a “wedding” cake bedecked with flow-ers. The next day Christine and Stephen’s milestone was celebrated by the two faith communities at St. Catherine’s.

In the photo Christine and Stephen cut the cake (and it wasn’t a fruit cake it was a two-tiered Black Forest cake). W

Captain Bert Bjorndal has been appointed chairperson and vice-president of the Mission to Seafarers in the Diocese of New Westminster by The Right Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop and president of the society, effective April 6th, 2011. Capt. Bjorndal joined the Mission’s board of directors on April 11th, 2006. He succeeds Glen Mitchell who has retired after serving nine years as a board member, six as chair and vice-president.

Capt. Bjorndal is well known in BC’s maritime industry as a professional pilot who currently serves as vice-president of The BC Coast Pilots Ltd. This group, based

The 2011 Clergy retreat group. PHOTO Stephen Bailey

AROUND THE DIOCESE• Diocesan Clergy Retreat, 2011 •

SUBMISSION Stephen Bailey

Christ surrounds us. In the words of poet W.H. Auden, she reminded participants that “He is the Way, follow him through the land of unlikeliness; You will see rare beasts and have unique adventures; He is the Truth, seek him in the kingdom of anxiety; You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years. He is the Life; Love Him in the world of the flesh; And at the marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.”

A special anniversary was recognized at the closing Eucharist as participants cele-brated the tenth anniversary of Archdeacon Ronald Harrison as our diocesan Admin-istrative Archdeacon. Archdeacon Harrison presided and Bishop Alexander gave the closing homily of the retreat. W

Archdeacon Ronald Harrison celebrated the Eucharist just a few days after his 10th anniversary as diocesan Administrative Archdeacon. PHOTO Stephen Bailey

• Silver Anniversary •

Congratulations to Christine & Stephen!

Rev. Jeremy Clark-King and Rev. Christine Rowe share a laugh after the service celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Waterloo Declaration May 1st at St. Catherine’s, Capilano.

• Bishop Appoints New Chair of Mission to Seafarers Society •SUBMISSION Nick Parker

in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo pro-vide essential pilotage services to the ocean going vessels that arrive and depart from port facilities along BC’s 15,000 kilometres of coastline.

The Mission to Seafarers Society has operated a home away from home for seafarers on the Vancouver waterfront, (and more recently at Roberts Bank-Delta Port) since 1903. The Mission’s Chaplains visit ships and welcome 15,000 seafarers annually with hospitality, internet and international telephone access, shore transportation, a small shop facility and chaplain’s services. W

Captain Bert Bjorndal and Bishop Michael Ingham.

9 SUMMER 2011

1 Bishop Michael has appointed the Rev. Jessica Schaap, following her curacy, which ends September 30th to an 80% position for a three-year term as Assistant Priest for St. James, Vancouver, beginning October 1st, 2011. The request from the Trustees came with the whole-hearted support of the Annual Vestry Meeting. W

Members of St. David’s, Delta got out of the cul-de-sac on Palm Sunday, April 17th and processed to the church from a nearby park. The Ven. John Struthers, The Rev.

Congratulations to the Rev. Elizabeth Northcott and the congregation of All Saints, Ladner for the front page coverage of that parish’s upcoming 130th Anniversary celebrations.

Elizabeth’s photograph appeared on the cover of the April 22nd issue of the South Delta Leader.

The two-page article entitled Historic Occasion was written by South Delta Leader editor, Philip Rapahel and consists primar-ily of an interview with Elizabeth.

The Anglican and Lutheran worshipping communities of St. David and St. Paul and Faith Lutheran in Powell River celebrated the Eucharist together, May 1st, 2011 in recognition of 10 years of the Waterloo Declaration that brought the two denomi-nations into Full Communion with one another.

The Rev. Adela Torchia of St. David and St. Paul reported, “It was a very posi-tive experience, with much joy and warm fellowship.”

For the liturgy, Adela and Pastor Carol Dennison used the readings and service recommendations that were produced by the two national offices for this milestone. Hymns and other components of the service were equally distributed between

“Let today be tomorrow.” With these words The Rev. Dr. Richard Leggett, Priest-in-Charge of Saint Faith’s Anglican Church, spoke of his hopes for the future of the full communion agreement between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. He and Pastor John Gramm of Redeemer Lutheran Church joined in the leadership of a Eucharist celebrating ten years of full communion at Redeemer Lutheran on Sunday, May 1st, 2011, hosted by Saint Faith’s and Redeemer.

Pastor Gramm set the stage for Dr. Leggett’s words as he welcomed the congre-gation, expressing his hopes that our future would be more than “anniversary parties” and would involve significant initiatives in

St. David and St. Paul, Anglican Church, Powell River presents an evening of reflec-tion, prayer and celebration with the music of U2 performed by local Powell River musicians. U2 has long been a voice for global justice and compassion. Admission by donation proceeds to Sunshine Gogos

PHOTO Al Wakarchuk

AROUND THE DIOCESE• A Different Kind of Crossing Guard •

Karin Fulcher and Calvin Smith led the way while the Rector, Paul Woehrle, blocked traffic. W

• All Saints, Ladner Receives Front-Page Coverage •In the last paragraph of the article

Elizabeth very eloquently summarizes what All Saints has meant to the community over the decades but she also communicates to readers what is happening now in 2011 as the church moves “out of the building a little more” and begins to engage the com-munity around it.

As of this writing an archived on-line version of the article Historic Occasion was available at http://bit.ly/fOarmA. W

• Powell River Celebrates the Waterloo Declaration Anniversary •the two denominations. Each section of the liturgy was shared by members of both worshipping communities.

For this occasion the Faith Lutheran congregation accepted the Anglican invita-tion for the 10th anniversary celebration and the plan is for the St. David and St. Paul congregation to visit Faith Lutheran for worship on the last Sunday of October. There are also plans in the works by the St. David and St. Paul Parish Council to host the Faith Lutheran Parish Council for a summer barbecue. W

Pastor Carol Dennison and Rev. Adela Torchia celebrate the Waterloo Declaration Anniversary in Powell River.

• Ten Years of Full Communion Celebrated in Vancouver •mission and ministry.

Dr. Leggett, one of the authors of the Waterloo Declaration, the charter of this relationship, used his sermon to encour-age those who had gathered at Redeemer to explore how we might commit some

“serious foolishness.” This “serious foolish-ness” was not something for some distant

“tomorrow” but a task for the “today” of God’s mission for Anglicans and Lutherans living in Metro Vancouver.

With the support of musicians and sing-ers from Saint Philip’s Anglican Church in Dunbar and from Redeemer, the congrega-tion celebrated in word, song and sacrament the achievement of the past ten years with prayers for the next ten years, as we grow closer as people united in Christ. W

• U2charist •June 18th at 6 pm

St. David and St. Paul Anglican Church6310 Sycamore in Powell River

(The Sunshine Gogos are the local branch of Stephen Lewis’ Grandmothers’ Group). The worship will be followed by a celebra-tory BBQ.

For more information on this event, please email atorchia@telus.net or phone 250.485.3919. W

• Appointments •

1 The Ven. John Struthers has been reappointed Archdeacon and Director of Deacons effec-tive with Synod until the end of 2014, when he will retire from this role. W

1 The Bishop has appointed the Rev. Jason Pollick as Interim Priest of St. Aidan and St. Bartholomew, Gibsons, effec-tive August 1st, 2011. Jason is the Rector of the Greater Parish of Gaspé (made up of ten small churches) in the Diocese of Quebec. W

1 The Rev. Janice Lowell, Assistant Priest for Holy Trinity, White Rock has been

extended to July 31st, 2011. This is a half-time postition.W

1 The Bishop has appointed the Rev. David Taylor, Assistant Priest at St. Mary’s Kerrisdale to be an Associate Priest with particular responsibility for Family Ministry, effective July 1st. W

Bishop Michael Ingham and the Rev. Jessica Schaap.

SUMMER 2011 10

“Randy, would you like to buy some pies, I have four apple, one peach and one cherry left?”

These were among the first words spoken to me by Artaban Cream Tea co-founder and long-time Holy Cross, Japanese-Canadian Church parishioner Gwen Lamacraft upon my arrival into the St. Augustine, Marpole Church Hall on the afternoon of Saturday, April 16th, 2011.

Unbeknownst to Gwen, my personal philosophy has as its foundation my appreciation for pie. In fact, I have threatened my loved ones for the last few years that I plan to get a tattoo, a tattoo that would illustrate my view on life. It would look something like this: a very happy man with a big smile, his tongue lolling hungrily out of the corner of his mouth, hands holding a fork poised at shoulder level as a gently steaming pie is being served to him. An easily accessible image that I’m sure all of you can visualize.

Anyway, I digress but I’m sure by now you’ve guessed that I purchased the peach and cherry pies with the last bit of cash I had in my pockets. And… they were spectacular. In fact, Gwen actually made or sourced homemade cherry pie filling. Homemade cherry pie filling!! I was delighted to share Gwen’s culinary creations with my family that night around the dinner table.

The St. Augustine’s Church Hall was abuzz that Saturday afternoon with tables full of people enjoying tea and homemade scones with strawberry jam and whipped cream served by a crack team of volunteer servers. Many of the helpers that day had been involved with Artaban since their youth and had also been involved with the camp when their own children were beneficiaries of the Artaban experience.

After our pie transaction, Gwen told me that she had also baked 34 sweet loaves: lemon, apple-raisin, orange-date as part of her contributions to the fundraising event. Gwen and at least 12 others spent the days before the event in the kitchen preparing baked items for sale at the “Tea.”

Following my brief discussion with Gwen, long-time Artaban supporter and Board member Sylvia Enga got up and introduced alumni camper Barbara Constantine.

Barb then related her most memorable Camp Artaban experience. One of the rites of passage at Artaban was the quest for the One Mile Swim badge. The requirements for receipt of this badge were minimal, the candidate would need to swim to the nearby small island (Snake Island) and back. On this particular run, there was only one girl in the water hoping to meet the requirement.

The candidates were accompanied by a boat and everyone in the boat would have either achieved the one mile badge or were waiting their turn. At about the half-way point the girl in the water came straight out of the water and into the boat propelled by a superhuman burst of adrenaline, she was absolutely shocked by her experience. She had chosen to do the crawl as her swim stroke of choice and while lifting and turn-ing her head to the side to take in breath she came face to face with a seal casually swimming alongside of her.

During my time at the “tea” there was a great deal of traffic in and out and the bake table was pretty much depleted. Both Gwen and I were given the opportunity to guess the number of pennies contained in a tin container. We weren’t even close.

Artaban means a great deal to a great many people. That was evident by the atmosphere in the St. Augustine’s Hall that afternoon. Don’t forget to inlcude Artaban in your giving and in your prayers.W

Artaban Cream Tea 2011The heritage of the Artaban experience is a big part of this annual eventRandy MuRRayCommunications Officer, Editor of Topic

AROUND THE DIOCESE

Unbeknownst to Gwen, my personal philosophy has as its foundation

my appreciation for pie.

TOP Every table at the Artaban Cream Tea is filled.MIDDLE Kirsten Oakes clotting the cream.

MIDDLE The Scones!BOTTOM Gwen attempting to guess

how many pennies in the tin.

Integrity VancouverAfter 30 years of ministry as a separate, registered society, Integrity Vancouver is reorganizing as a social network and returning responsibility for the pastoral care of gay and lesbian Anglicans to parishes.

The landscape has changed significantly since the early 80s, said Steve Schuh, Integrity Vancouver’s president since 2001.

“Our primary purpose at our founding was to create a safe worship space for lesbian and gay Anglicans in our diocese,” Mr. Schuh notes. “Thanks to the hard work of pioneers and champions over the years, gay Christians now worship and participate openly and honestly in many par-ishes. Integrity’s bold and holy witness has been effective.”

Integrity Vancouver registered as a membership-based society in 1981 and then as a charity in 1992. Members met twice monthly for a shared Eucharist and meal, and they coordinated events for outreach to the community. Services were led by a chaplain appointed by the bishop or an invited clergy guest.

Reorganizing the ministry as a social network rather than as a separate worshipping community comes after six years of discernment about Integrity’s mission, in light of the welcome now offered by several parishes in the diocese to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.

“By God’s grace, Integrity Vancouver is no longer a voice calling in the wilderness,” says Mr. Schuh. “In large measure the parishes we attend and our Diocese share our concerns. The voices of gay and lesbian Anglicans are heard, and our participation is welcomed.”

Integrity members hope the organizational change will free up energy and passion for their mission-related work that remains undone.

Mr. Schuh agrees. “GLBT inclusion in the Church is not yet complete. Locally, nationally, and certainly inter-nationally, the Anglican Church needs to be encouraged to express its stated belief about our equality more fully. Advocacy remains an important priority for us.”

But new social networking tools mean provincial incor-poration and CRA chartering are no longer necessary to affect institutional change, many Integrity members believe. The vote to dissolve the society was nearly unanimous.

“Integrity Vancouver Friendship Society will be dis-solved,” says Mr. Schuh. “But Integrity as a movement, as a grassroots community of shared values committed to the full inclusion of GLBT Anglicans in the life of the Church, continues.”

Friends of Integrity can connect and organize through Integrity Vancouver’s facebook group and website at www.vancouver.integritycanada.org. W

By God’s grace, Integrity Vancouver is no longer a voice calling in the wilderness.

11 SUMMER 2011

Christ Church, a small, vibrant parish in Hope, BC, is posed to celebrate its 150 year anniversary.

“Our historic church has recently undergone extensive restorations on the church windows,” says Darla Dickinson, manager for Christ Church Anglican & National Historic Site. “The windows are an essential piece of our history as they are a defining characteristic and a prominent feature of the gothic style that Christ Church is recognized for.”

Christ Church, the oldest church on the mainland of BC, became a National Historic Site in 1995 because of its gothic architecture. The windows, individual diamond shaped panes that were brought over from England via the Cape Horn, are reminiscent of the Crystal Palace in England. “The windows are beautiful, and definitely play a role in giving the Church its gothic feel, but it is their design and construction that is the most remarkable; we were able to preserve their historic integrity thanks to the volunteer efforts of a restoration specialist in our commu-nity,” says Dickinson.

The extensive window restoration project was largely funded through the National Historic Sites Cost Sharing

Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church believes that there is no better way to end off the year before summer than a most excellent party. So they are throwing their second annual Irish Ceilidh with the most excellent Celtic band, Blackthorn.

A Ceilidh (pronounced “kay-lee”) is a Celtic gathering with live music and dancing. There will be called Celtic dancing, lots of fun, and no experience necessary and of the sort that even a Baptist could handle. Blackthorn was received enthusiastically at last year’s Ceilidh. “The band is excited to be back as well,” said leader Michael Viens

“Christ the Redeemer put on such an excellent Ceilidh last year that was just so much fun that we wouldn’t miss it again for the world.”

“It’s been an extraordinary few days,” Bishop Michael Ingham stated at the beginning of his welcoming address, on Tuesday, May 3rd at St. Agnes’ North Vancouver. “We’ve had a royal wedding, a federal election, Stanley Cup playoffs, but saved the best for last… a Celebration of New Ministry.”

The Induction of Stephen Douglas Muir was well-attended by Stephen’s new parishioners, family, friends, Camp Artaban colleagues and clergy. Stephen has been involved in the church, specifically the Anglican Church in the Diocese of New Westminster for much of his life so it’s not surprising that his roots run deep.

It is always a treat to hear the words of Bishop Jim Cruickshank, who had accepted Stephen’s invitation to preach a “short homily.”

Bishop Jim began by congratulating the congregation of St. Agnes’ on their recent centenary and how honoured he was to preach at the induction of their 14th rector.

He chose for his text the opening sentence from the second reading, 2 Corinthians 4:1 – 6, Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

The Gospel is all about love, a love that is beyond human understanding; a love of such incredible depth is exemplified in the word mercy. He asked the congregation

“Why are we here tonight?” and he answered that question by saying, “We are trusted with the ministry of this good news, this tremendous treasure of God’s love.”

AROUND THE DIOCESE

Jonathon, a recent resident of Hope (originally from Zambia), works with restoration specialist John Johnson to restore the windows.

Celebration of New Ministry at St. Agnes, North Vancouver

Bishop Jim went on to say that even though he retired as Bishop in another diocese, he feels very close to the Diocese of New Westminster. He made reference to the priorities of the diocese and opined that they are like an epistle and the therefores are the goals “caring for God’s earth, cultivating interfaith understanding, addressing issues of poverty and social justice.”

Following the sermon, members of St. Agnes presented Stephen with various symbols of the ministry of the people and he was welcomed to the North Vancouver Deanery by Regional Dean, the Rev. Christine Rowe. Bishop Michael reminded those present that North Vancouver is imple-menting different ways of doing ministry together. Part of that implementation is that the six deanery parishes connect and communicate with each other on a regular basis.

Program with additional funds coming from the Anglican Foundation and the Parish. “In 2009 a random act of vandalism required that we restore one of the windows; this is when it became apparent that the windows required immediate attention,” says Dickinson. The project obtained official go-ahead in September of 2010 and worked dili-gently to restore the windows by February 2011.

“As part of the project we were also able to develop an interactive interpretive program that explored the role the Church and State played in the early days of Hope; this is all the more exciting as we are planning a number of celebrations for Christ Church’s 150th anniversary,” says Dickinson.

The first 150th (sesquicentennial) celebration is Christ Church’s Flower Festival, scheduled for June 25th and 26th. The celebration will offer historic tours through Christ Church, an array of floral arrangements, displays of art, an Afternoon tea on Saturday followed by an Evening of Praise on Sunday. For more information about the Flower Festival, and other events celebrating our 150 anniversary, visit www.anglican-hope.ca under Parish Community. W

Christ Church, Hope Celebrates 150 Years

CEILIDH! Gesundheit! No, it’s Irish for PARTY!

The event will be family friendly and childcare will be offered. It is also an excellent event for singles. Please call ahead to the church office and we can have a host to guide you to a table of friendly folks if you are coming solo.

The rector was asked if this was a sneaky way to get people to invite their friends to something religious.

“Absolutely!” said Rev. Craig Vance, eyes twinkling, “Especially if you find a righteous toe-tappin’ Irish fiddle band and a mug of Guinness a transcendent experience” (and who doesn’t?).

There will be suitable Irish themed food and beverages to be purchased at the event (“Vitamin G” as some Irish pubs refer to it!). W

DATE June 24th TIME 7 pm – 11 pm LOCATION christ The Redeemer anglican church 16613 Bell Road, Surrey Bc (near 168th and 57a Street) PRICE $12 in advance • $15 at the door • $30 for a family. childcare is $5/hour onsite if you would like some adult time. FOOD Food and beverage is extra. DETAILS links to Blackthorn’s music and a map are available on the church and diocesan website at www.ctrchurch.com. call 604.576.2216 to reserve or purchase tickets or email admin@ctrchurch.com.

Another highlight of the evening were the musical offer-ings of trumpet player/ baritone, Adam Muir who played a Corelli piece accompanied on piano by his grandfather, Herb Huestis prior to the beginning of the liturgy and sang Handel’s Si, tra i cepp during Communion.

At the conclusion of worship there was a festive recep-tion in the Upper Hall and of course the cutting of the cake.

Congratulations to the community of St. Agnes, may God bless you all in this new ministry. W

Bishop Jim went on to highlight three words: • Mercy • Ministry • Heart

TOP LEFT The Rev. Stephen Douglas Muir smiles after being welcomed to St. Agnes.TOP RIGHT Stephen cuts the cake.

SUMMER 2011 12

It was a cold, crisp early spring morning, April 17th as worshippers gathered in the sanctuary of St. Thomas, Anglican Church in the 2400 block of east 41st Avenue for the Palm Sunday procession.

The congregation was greeted by St. Thomas, Priest-in-Charge the Rev. Patrick Blaney who then gathered the community and began the palm procession liturgy.

The worship team from First Lutheran Church was gathered at the entrance to the chancel and led the community out the door and east on 41st Street to Wales Street with Pastor Hergy (the Rev. Richard Hergeshiemer) and Patrick completing the procession.

After a 10-minute walk the procession arrived and proceeded into the narthex

AROUND THE DIOCESEEast Vancouver Churches Celebrate Palm Sunday

and sanctuary of First Lutheran where a good-sized group awaited, their numbers increased by the presence of the combined choirs of both faith communities.

As soon as the two clergy were in the door, the organ began the opening strains of All Glory, Laud and Honour and the Sunday of the Passion Eucharist was begun.

The reading of the Passion from Matthew’s Gospel involved the entire congre-gation and all participated enthusiastically.

The music in worship led by the com-bined choirs and a group of talented musi-cians was joyful and appropriate and the fellowship created by the joining together of the two communities was inspiring.

The two churches also shared Holy Week services in 2011. W

LEFT TOP Father Patrick and Pastor Hergy bring up the procession from St. Thomas to First Lutheran Church.LEFT MIDDLE Parishoners processing into First Lutheran Church.LEFT BOTTOM Processing at First Lutheran to All Glory, Laud and Honour.RIGHT TOP The Peace.RIGHT BOTTOM Father Patrick and Pastor Hergy dismiss the congregations.

it’s what we do hereA Diocesan sponsored workshop

offered to promote year-round stewardship and the development

of generous faith communities.

Send your parish team to this all-day workshop with noted

Stewardship EducatorTerry Parsons

It’s about keeping our eyes fixed on the real and important work of being God’s agents of peace and forgiveness so that the world may become a better place. It’s about being generous because we worship a generous God. It’s about being who God means you to be — and setting the world on fire.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

location, admission and registration information will be available soon on the d of nw website and through parish mail.

Learn how to plan and implement a year-round stewardship program to meet the needs of all age groups

in your parish community.

Late Breaking News: This event will take place at St.Dunstan, Aldergrove

13 SUMMER 2011

On April 27th just a few days after we celebrated Easter, Father Mark Greenaway-Robbins and Archdeacon John Stephens met up with Bishop Paul Verryn of Central Methodist Church, Johannesburg, South Africa. Paul was visiting First United Church as the guest of Ric Matthews.

Central Methodist Church (CMC) is a place of refuge for literally thousands of people (at times as many as 2500) from all over Africa as they have found shelter and a home there welcomed by this church community which lives out a ministry of compassion and welcoming the stranger in very real and prac-tical ways. The church has been described as an ambulance as it offers care and first aid but has also raised the alarm of the plight of refugees (particularly Zimbabweans) in South Africa. Doctors without Borders (MSF) works closely with CMC in trying to offer health care to a huge number of people overcrowding this place of worship.

Paul Verryn describes these refugees and asylum seekers as sleeping all over the building in any place they can find. There are many problems that arise with the conditions created in this place but he also described the glorious worship and singing as they join in song and praise each day of the week. His church is committed to a min-istry to these refugees but also the countless homeless people living on the streets around the building. They take food and medical care out each day in hopes of offering some healing and compassionate ministry in the name of Christ. Paul Verryn was part of the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa and has seen the best and the worst that his country has to offer. Paul is seen as controversial by some and a saint by others. He is willing to stand up for the downtrodden and ignored in his city and is quite vocal about it. Mark and I had the opportunity to sit down with him for about an hour and simply ask him

about his understanding of the role of the Church in the world of today. This is part of what he had to say.

Paul Verryn is very clear about what he thinks the church’s role should be in society. He has great concerns that the message of Jesus has been distorted and forgotten as the Church has been too wrapped up in being an institu-tion instead of representing the kingdom of God. He said,

“The Church needs to go to the places of humanity and engage that humanity” living out its role in the places where

real people live. The separation of secular and sacred has become too defined; the division needs to be much more blurred. The Church needs to find ways of really engaging with people’s hurts and pains for we have cut ourselves off far too much from where many people live and the Church needs re-engage. He said, “The Church needs to be in places of death.” We need to be in the midst of people’s suffering

When there is a seeming void in the scope of Anglican Church services, all it takes is a creative person to recognize it and to fill it. Lesley Sutherland, the music director at St. Christopher’s Anglican Church in West Vancouver, who missed the traditional evensong of her childhood, initiated the idea of occasional evening services to fill that void, at the same time serving the needs of the community by focusing on areas of the congregational life not always satisfied by the current morning worship.

Encouraged and assisted by the Ven. Archdeacon Lou Rivers, Rector of St. Christopher’s, Lesley addressed the situation of the Prayer List, which is read during the main Sunday morning service and takes at least two minutes to read. This list involves many people whose names have been submitted by members of St. Christopher’s, but by and large are unknown to the majority of the parish.

Lesley Sutherland’s idea was to create a service entirely for the people on the prayer list, and to spend some time actually focusing on their need for our prayers. As Archdeacon Lou Rivers so succinctly expressed it, “The Lenten Series looks at a variety of ways to communicate with God. It is a journey toward conversations with God, and the length of the prayer list, primarily of people we don’t know, emphasized the need in the community for this conversation.”

The service took the format of music, reading, and reci-tation of names from the prayer list. The choir processed silently down a candle lit aisle, then sang a Gregorian chant. This was followed by the first poem, taken from the book, Prayers by French priest, Michel Quoist, from which most of the readings were taken. Then the congregation was asked to pray for the first group of names from the prayer list. This was repeated cyclically up to the meditation given by Archdeacon Lou Rivers. Following his reflection the final anthem was sung, “Amen — Song of the Butterfly” from

Paul Verryn Visits VancouverJohn STePhenSIncumbent, St. Philip, Vancouver, Archdeacon of Vancouver

The Prayer ListA service of reverence and contemplation at St. Christopher’s, West Vancouver on April 3rd, 2011hIlaRy claRKSt. Christopher’s, West Vancouver

Sutherland’s, Prayers from the Ark. The choir recessed silently to the organ’s “Kyrie de Angelis.”

“As the prayer’s list is so long, I felt that by breaking it up, and concentrating on it in church, we all have a moment to stop, a moment to be still, and to think about these people. The music was chant-like, and meditative, from all parts of the world, and from different times,” Sutherland explained. “It included a traditional spiritual, a South African chant, and an Inuit chant. My passion lies in finding a unifying, common truth and beauty within a range of sources. I believe a common truth can be deeply and instantly understood.”

AROUND THE DIOCESE

and death, not cut off from it. The Church has a role to play, perhaps even a unique role, in bringing compassion and turning places of prejudice to places of hope.

Paul spoke of the Church’s role in holding up the injus-tices that the poor of our country and our world face. He said, “If you say you are religious and have no relationship with the poor you are lying.” The face of God is seen in the poor he reminded us.

The Church’s calendar lived throughout each year really demonstrates what the role of the Church is all about. Having just come through Good Friday and Easter Day, the Church’s role is to see where there are still places of crucifixion taking place today. Where are the Calvary’s in our neighbourhood and our city and province? Where do we still need to seek out resurrection in our midst? The Church must offer a ministry of healing and reconciliation that brings hope to the world. We have a role to play in pointing out the economic apartheid, which continues to exist in the world even now. The Church must be seen in its local neighbourhoods, speaking out for justice and a new vision of understanding and reconciliation.

Paul has a strong message to offer and it comes out of living each day with the poor and the forgotten of his country, where the pain and suffering largely goes ignored. Mark and I met Paul at First United (in the same neighbourhood as St. James’ parish) where it is not hard to see the suffering and pain in our midst, but the same is true in all

areas of the Diocese. Where is God calling the Church of today to live out hope and justice? It does not take long to see possible places in our city where hundreds of homeless and countless others are using food banks, soup kitchens and community meals to survive each day. What words and action does the Church of today have to offer? W

Bishop Paul Verryn (centre) with Father Mark Greenaway-Robbins (left) and Archdeacon John Stephens (right).

The last reading, “Here I am Lord” from Quoist’s poems, wrapped up the vision of the service: “…Grant that I may be a meeting place, but a temporary one, A road that does not end in itself, because everything to be gathered there, everything human, leads toward You.”

Sutherland concludes, “I approach prayer as an empty vessel that needs to be filled up, as if God were clean cold water. People give so much in their lives, and they need to fuel up. I know I do.” W

St. Christopher’s Senior Choir singing for those on the Prayer List.

SUMMER 2011 14

Many of us yearn for spiritual connection or, once connected, spiritual growth, but don’t know how to begin on that path. Some of us don’t know how to look at our

lives, without automatically seeing only the negative — the imperfections and what hasn’t been accomplished. Others of us have done some spiritual work and then stopped — uncertain how to continue. Many of us strive for greater understand-ing of how the spirit operates in our lives and how to nurture that spirit. Or, we feel stuck and yearn to become unstuck and to develop a practice to follow.

For seekers such as these, The Rev. Dr. June Maffin’s Soulistry — Artistry of the Soul, will be a great gift.

The practice Maffin outlines begins with buying or creating a Soulistry Journal (instructions provided), and writing in it. Journal entries are personal, not necessarily to be shared. The practice includes consider-

ing quotations from indi-viduals whose wisdom Maffin has found useful (called Journal Prompts) and Soul-Quest ions which, together with the Prompts, can spark a thought, a memory, a question, together chal-lenging the seeker to con-nect more intimately with ones spirituality. The act

of responding to the Prompts and Soul-Questions is itself a spiritual task, for Maffin states that order is not important. Find a Soul-Question that “speaks” to you, she says. Journaling these responses may be a new experience or something you’ve done before, perhaps under other circumstances or with other intentions.

“Soulistry” is a coined word combining two words — soul and artistry — and was created by Maffin together with her son, hence the references to Soulistry Journal, Soul Space, and Soul-Questions. Some will find these words helpful, others, incidental. What all will find nurtures the spirit is the prompting of the quotations, and — espe-cially for those who were feeling stuck, the list of Prompts/Questions already prepared for consideration.

The care with which Maffin has devel-oped the series of activities is made evident by the instructions for making a Soulistry Journal: she describes what’s required, what’s optional, where to cut, fold or sew, and how to complete the Journal. Even those who consider ourselves inept will discover how easily we can accomplish this task. Since journal writing is meant to be a personal conversation with oneself and God, writing responses to the Journal

Prompts and Soul-Questions help clarify what you believe.

Even here, Maffin offers options to consider. It’s not obligatory that journal writing be solely personal; some might find it helpful to seek guidance from a counselor or spiritual director, she writes.

The sources of the quotations — what Maffin refers to as Journal Prompts — are wide-ranging, some from the Christian tradition, others not; some names known to all, others, less familiar. These include spiritual leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh, philosophers Martin Buber and Gerald Heard, Chief Seattle, poets Anne Sexton, Robert Frost and Langston Hughes, thinker/educator Confucius, Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, Gandhi, musi-cian Gordon Lightfoot, Thomas Merton and Herbert O’Driscoll. And Jesus. And many others.

My efforts with the practice Maffin has outlined taught me that the Prompts do indeed prompt reflection. And the Soul-Questions do cause one to dig deeper.

A final gift to the reader is Maffin’s description of how this book came to be. Illness, healing, ‘stepping out in faith’: lived experience. W

now that the diocese of ottawa has success-fully negotiated a property settlement with their dissenting churches, it appears to me ap-propriate for the diocese of new Westminster to quickly accomplish the same results. There is no legal barrier to a just and fair settlement, now that a clear and sensible precedent has been set, and the money saved by both par-ties would be considerable. The dissenting churches in this diocese are prepared to ne-gotiate a settlement. Why aren’t we equally willing? Indeed, why aren’t we reaching out to them to do so, especially when these are buildings that they and their predecessors built and maintained at their own expense, without financial assistance from the diocese.

What is presently occurring in a very public and shameful manner cannot in any way be construed as “the christian” so-lution to this problem. It is not a time of pointing fingers and affixing blame, there is enough blame to go around on all sides. We should be heeding the words of St. Paul as he was admonishing the corinthians,

“I say this to move you to shame. What, cannot there be found among you one wise man who shall be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded? Nay, but ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.”

We as christians should be conforming our conduct to what was once delivered by the apostles and not to the manner of the institu-tions of the world, for we are not of this world and our actions should not be conformed to it. There is a vow that is made during our bap-tism service, “Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of

bread, and in the prayers?” We vow before God to continue in the apostles teaching, not when convenient or some of the time but all the time. not some of the teaching but all the teaching. The apostles were sent by Jesus and Jesus was sent by God so their teaching is in essence God’s teaching, so we should pay at-tention to what they have to say. We should not be looking for winners and losers, but what is the best way for us to demonstrate to the world the love of christ that we have for one another, even if in the end we lose by the world’s standards.

We should look for a way to co-exist together with our Brothers and Sisters in christ, even if we do not agree on some of the doctrines of christian belief. We have at our church a Pentecostal congregation that shares the building and the sanctuary for their worship, an example of christian co-operation that benefits all. Why could not this kind of ar-rangement be made with some of the dissent-ing churches, where the larger congregation allows the smaller congregation to use the facilities, after the dissenting churches have either leased or purchased the buildings.

If we were honest about the size of the congregations that would be left if the dis-senting churches leave their property, it would probably not be enough people to support the buildings, clergy and Mission, so would need a large infusion of cash on an ongoing basis to sustain them. If this diocese is looking to hold onto these properties in trust for the future, it does not seem feasible or rational, since we are shutting and selling other churches in the diocese.

I therefore urge the leaders of the diocese to change course and make us all proud to belong to this denomination. W

OPINIONBook ReviewBRenda BeRcKSt. Mary’s Kerrisdale

Soulistry •  Artistry of the Soulcreative Ways to nurture your Spirituality

Written by June Mack Maffin

Published by circle Books, april 2011

Letter to Topic

Response to Letter The Matter is Before the CourtsThe VeRy ReV. dR. PeTeR ellIoTTDean of the Diocese of New Westminster, Rector of Christ Church Cathedral

I am grateful to Mr. houghton for raising these issues: it provides an opportunity to update members of the diocese on the legal proceedings.

The situation of the diocese of ottawa settlement is very different from ours in the diocese of new Westminster. In ottawa, the diocese had initiated legal action to solve the dispute around control of parish assets; in our diocese, certain individuals within the dissident parishes initiated legal action. The ottawa agreement came after unanimous decision in our court of appeal, which favoured the trial result that church properties in this diocese are set aside for worship within and for the anglican church of canada.

after the Bc decision, leaders of both groups in ottawa found common ground: the details of their agreement are confiden-tial but involved selling and purchasing one church property and vacating the other church property, allowing anglican church of canada worship to be re-established. In ottawa, the legal proceedings stopped and the dissidents agreed that the parish buildings were rightfully and legally under the jurisdiction and control

Topic does not have a regular letters to the editor section but in the past letters have been printed in Topic. Diocesan Communications intends to continue that policy on an ad hoc basis. Because of the subject matter of Mr. Houghton’s letter and the numerous statements in the letter that are

Letter Church Property SettlementTony houGhTonSt. Cuthberts

of the diocese of ottawa.That is not the case in the diocese of new

Westminster. The plaintiffs have continued their legal action. as of this writing, we await the decision of a panel of the Supreme court of canada whether or not to grant the dissident group Leave to Appeal the two Bc Supreme court decisions to the Supreme court of canada. The diocese has argued against a Supreme court hearing: we are satisfied with the decisions of the two courts.

In his letter Mr. houghton says the dis-senting churches are prepared to negotiate a settlement. attempts to mediate this dispute prior to Trial were not successful. With other executive officers of the diocese, I have met with Trustees from one of the dissenting congregations recently. It is clear that they are committed to seeing the legal action they have initiated through to its final result. The diocese of new Westminster respects their decision. our bishop has always been open to conversations to bring this matter to conclu-sion so that the mission of the anglican church of canada can continue in all of the parishes of our diocese. W

presented to the reader as facts, Diocesan Communications requested that Peter Elliott, Dean and Executive Officer of the Diocese offer a response to Mr. Houghton’s letter. Editor

Our bishop has always been open to conversations to bring this matter to

conclusion so that the mission of the Anglican Church of Canada can continue in all of the

parishes of our diocese.

15 SUMMER 2011

Time in line at the bank pays off. Recently while waiting in line I struck up a conver-sation with the man beside me. His name was Deng Majok. As we spoke to each other I discovered he was from Sudan. This got me interested as I am really concerned about the Sudanese as they march into their future.

Southern Sudan is to become the new Republic of South Sudan on July 11th, 2011. Civil wars, terror and subversive power struggles over the last several decades are draw-ing to a close. For the thousands of former and present refugees from that land it is good news. Deng is from South Sudan.

I asked Deng if he would meet with me sometime for coffee and a chat. He said he would and he asked if his cousin, Albino Nyvol, could join the conversation. We met at a Timmy’s for cof-fee, a Canadian thing to do.

I brought a book with me that I had been given about refugee children from the Sudan and other African countries. It was a gift from the UN Refugee Agency of Canada (UNHCR) and the Save The Children people, given to a group of diocesan refugee officers meeting in Vancouver in the early 1990s. The book, One Day We Had To Run, by Sybella Wilkes, told the story of boys, mainly from the Sudan, who through draw-ings, photographs and vignettes revealed the tragedies of their escape from war and death. They had fled from their villages, from their families and from their coun-try. Unaccompanied, all alone, these boys banded together and ran across the borders

to seek security. There were 18,000 boys, children under the age of seventeen, some as young as ten, all scared, all terrorized. They had been bombed out of their villages. They had been shot at trying to swim the River Gallo. They made it to Ethiopia. Having travelled hundreds of kilometres on foot they hoped they might be safe living in desperate makeshift camps.

After some time in Ethiopia many of the boys ventured back to Sudan. Again the war-lords and government troops forced the boys to escape once more. This time they made it to Kenya and were able to survive in UNHCR camps. They began get-ting an education, Grade

One for the first time in their lives. They had to forage for food. They had to cling to one another for survival. Some stayed in those camps for many years.

For the lucky minority, nations like the United States and Canada allowed some of these unaccompanied refugee children access. Upon arrival the boys went to pub-lic school, college and on to jobs, becom-ing citizens of their new countries. Those that came to British Columbia have done quite well. Deng and Albino are among these men.

I showed the book to Deng and Albino. I had no idea that they were among those depicted in One Day We Had To Run. From their experience some twenty years ago, these two men shared with me their story, prompted by what was in that book. It was an emotional moment for me and for them.

OPINION

CEILIDH JUNE 24, 7 pm

An evening of Celtic dancing, delicious food and Irish beverages. Great for families and singles. Child care is

available at $5/hr. Food and beverages are extra. Featuring the live music of Vancouver Celtic band

BLACKTHORN TICKETS

$12 in advance | $15 at the door | $30 for a family

Call or e-mail to purchase tickets: (604) 576-2216 or admin@ctrchurch.com

Visit CTRCHURCH.com for details, directions, and a

link to BLACKTHORN’S music.

16613 Bell Road, Surrey BC

CHRISTTHE

REDEEMER G

It is Time to Remember South SudanaRT TuRnBull Retired Priest, Member of the St. Matthew’s, Abbotsford Diocesan Congregation

Map of Sudan courtesy of the Nations Online Project.

Turning the pages of the book Deng exclaimed, “I was here!” He pointed out a picture of the crossing of the River Gallo. Being able to swim, Deng helped those who could not swim by pulling them to the far shore. The drawing depicts guerilla fighters on the Sudan shore shooting at the escaping boys.

Albino told me how they had nothing to eat on the long trek to Ethiopia and later to Kenya. The boys picked leaves from the trees and saved them until they stopped at evening. They made a brew out of the leaves to consume, as there was no other source of nourishment. Deng told me that once he picked the wrong leaves and nearly died from a reaction to their poison.

Both of these men identified vividly with the photos and drawings. Both of them tragically reminded of hundreds of boys that simply collapsed and died along the way. They saw in the book images of children who were just like them.

Today, these men are Canadian citizens. Deng and his young family are living a secure life. He was married in the camp in Kenya before coming to Canada. It took six years before his wife could join him. Albino works for Abbotsford Community Services as an advocate for newly arrived refugees and immigrants. Both men are excited that their homeland may at last be free. They both give as much support as they can to the people of South Sudan.

We Canadians have neglected the poor people of Africa. We Anglicans have ignored the plight of the Dengs and Albinos of the Sudan. We have not been able for whatever reason to follow through on promises we

made two decades ago. We said we would help then. We gave aid then. Then we went on to the next world tragedy of natural or human destruction. Currently the Primate World Relief and Development office has no projects in the Sudan area. I am searching farther afield to the Anglican Communion and Lambeth to see what the Church is currently doing. Our brothers and sisters of the Anglican Church of the Sudan cannot be left all alone again.

The Baptism Covenant of our Church tells us that we are to take an interest, take a position, and lend a helping hand towards people in need. The Holy Gospel tells us how we are to treat our neighbours. Jesus instructs us on the way to go. “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these you did it to me,” says Jesus. (Matthew 25: 31 – 46 NRSV)

I believe we should share some of our discretionary funds to help the South Sudan. Deng and Albino belong to the Twic Mayardit Relief Society in BC. This is a registered non-profit charity. The society is raising funds to provide for three services in South Sudan: clean water, education for children, and primary health care. The health care is focused at Turalei Hospital. That is the only health facility for thousands of people along the boundary of Darfur, Sudan. You can get information about the society at http://twicmayardit.com/index.html. If you can, please help Deng and Albino provide security for the people of South Sudan.

By the way, it is my opinion that you should not be strangers in line even at banks. Weird, isn’t it? W

There were , boys, children under the age of ,

some as young as , all scared,

all terrorized.

SUMMER 2011

News & Events for Youth in the Diocese of New Westminster

YOUTH CONNECTIONS

contact Diocesan Youth Coordinator Phil Colvin pcolvin@vancouver.anglican.ca 604.684.6306 ext. 225 (Wednesdays and Fridays)

youth groupsFor Parish youth Groups go to http://tinyurl.com/dnW-youth

At the two diocesan services in May, seventy-five youth and adults from nineteen parishes were confirmed, received and reaffirmed into the Anglican Church. And although each individual, and parish, made their own journeys of preparation, this year the majority of those being confirmed were able to share part of their journey together by taking part in the new diocesan preparation event, Confirmation for the Rest of Your Life.

Hearing about experiences of the confirmation service itself made up the first part of the day, and you can read a summary of the panel discussion which formed that part of the programme in the May issue of Topic. For the rest of the day, participants divided into groups of teenagers and adults to take part in activities exploring the not-so-insignificant caveat of the event’s title: For the Rest of Your Life.

As co-organizers of the day and facilitators of the youth program, the Revs. Kelly Duncan and David Taylor and I had spent time in the weeks leading up to the event discuss-ing exactly what we wanted the day to achieve. How could we, for example, lead an exploration of prayer with a group of teenagers potentially includ-ing those who’d been involved in church life and youth events for many years as well as those whose attendance in confirmation

Diocesan Confirmations 2011PhIl colVIn

Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator

classes marked their only interactions with church since baptism? Instead of looking towards instruc-tion, we started to think about experience and cre-ating the chance for youth from any background and knowledge base to explore and encounter prayer and spiritual gifts… maybe without even knowing they were doing it!

For the morning session, the worship space of the Cathedral became home to nine ‘pray and play’ sta-tions. Each was designed to be a different experience of prayer, but all were planned to be as interactive as pos-sible. There were individual expressions of prayer, using both finger labyrinths and

TOP The 21st Century confessional. BOTTOM Building corporate prayer through Scrabble.

art supplies. And there was also a confessional booth which amended the traditional experience of confessing to a priest by allowing participants to identify their faults and failings and then to put them into a shredder! That station presented an interesting challenge, since the sound of a standard office shredder is not necessarily a harmonious addition to a worship experience. However, in practice, it turned out to be an interesting dynamic as all around the Cathedral nave the sound of each shredding could be heard and observed. Even if the act of confession was individual in nature, the ‘absolution’ became a corporate act!

Other forms of corporate prayer included global and outward-looking prayers, achieved by marking points on a map and attaching threads to make a web of criss-crossing concerns across the planet. There were also Scrabble prayers, where each individual could form words and phrases and then connect them to those being made by others. One wall was dedicated to a prayer tree, whose multi-coloured leaves contained a large variety of prayer requests, concerns and thanks.

Conversation over lunch, made it clear that the experi-ence of the prayer stations had been an extremely positive one. Participants shared how they’d found themselves thinking about and utilizing areas of their lives in prayer, which they never would have considered for themselves. As we’d hoped, the boundaries between daily life and daily worship, along with sacred and non-sacred space, had been blurred by the morning’s explorations.

The afternoon continued in that vein by asking candi-dates to identify their gifts by answering simple questions about their skills, talents and preferences in dealing with other people. The ‘spiritual examen’ then contextualized their gifts in spiritual terms, pointing to how each could be used for worship and service, whether that be in terms of church or their lives in the wider world.

It was an excellent day, well received by those who’d taken part in it and it was gratifying to hear how the experiences of candidates helped inform their prepara-tions for confirmation, no matter what their background. Confirmation for the Rest of Your Life will now be a regular part of our diocese’s offerings around the sacrament of con-firmation, so that we can journey together with candidates not just at the confirmation services, but also before and after them as well. W