Anglican Life May 2009

1ANGLICANLife May 2009

ANGLICANLife

SERVING THE ANGLICAN DIOCESES OF WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND + CENTRAL NEWFOUNDLAND + EASTERN NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

May 2009 A Section of theANGLICAN JOURNALin NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

Newly ordained priest. The Rev’d Charlene Laing (centre) stands with Bishop Percy Coffin (left)and other visiting clergy and lay members of the Diocese of Western Newfoundland.

See Recognizing the Gifton page 12

New Priest for Parish ofBonne Bay South Article & Photo by

Florence Critch

December 18, 2008 wasanother special day in the life ofthe Church of the Epiphany atWoody Point in the Parish ofBonne Bay South. This daymarked the ordination to thePriesthood of the Rev’dCharlene Laing who serves theParish as the Incumbent.

The day began with a pot-luck supper in the Church all fol-lowed by the Ordination service.The Rt. Rev’d Percy Coffin, theBishop of Western Newfound-land led the worship and theRev’d Edmund Laldin preachedthe sermon.

Members of the Laing fam-

ily, as well as retired bishop, theRt. Rev’d Leonard Whitten andother visiting clergy participatedin the worship. The parishwarmly welcomes their newpriest to their church family andwish her many blessings in hernew ministry.

Make a differencein the lives that follow

See pages 6 & 7 for specialinformation on Gift Planning

“A reflector has no light ofits own!” stated ArchbishopDouglas Hambidge who led ourClergy Conference in October2008 for the Diocese of West-ern Newfoundland. A reflectorneeds light to shine on it in orderto be useful. The Light of Christshines in and through us in orderto be useful in the ministry towhich God has called us.

Through our CongregationalDevelopment/Stewardship Edu-cation Initiative we are more andmore learning and practicingwhat it means to be good stew-ards, to sow the seed and beGod’s hands and feet in thisworld. But stewardshiphas been seen as anaughty word.Archb i shopDouglas re-ferred to thetraditional idea of it as the “An-nual Fall Beg-a-thon”. In otherwords stewardship is often seenas a way to bring in the dollarsto meet the annual budget andso the Fall is geared towards thesales, dinners, and whatever totry and make ends meet. Arch-bishop Douglas reminded us thatStewardship is more. Steward-ship is a way of life.

Stewardship is using, to thebest of our ability, all the re-sources, time, energy, talents,people and money that God hasgiven to us. Stewardship is tak-ing care of the bereaved, the sick,the lonely, the elderly, the youngfamilies, the youth, and all withwhom we come in contact.Stewardship is taking care of ourenvironment, our earth, our wa-ter and all other resources.Stewardship is about caring andsharing.

In February 2008, at ourAnnual Clergy Conference/Re-treat, Bishop Percy Coffin re-minded us that we are on a mis-sion: Taking Care of God’s Busi-ness. He spoke about the FiveMarks of Mission established bythe Anglican Consultative Coun-cil. Bishop Percy reminded usof three convictions: “1. We areunited by our commitment toserving the transforming missionof God; 2. Mission is the bed-rock of all that we are, do andsay as people of God; and 3. Ourfaithfulness in this work will beexpressed in a diversity of mod-

els, strategies and prac-tices for as such are

the people of God.”Canon Geoff

Jackson, fromthe NationalChurch of-

fice brought words of encour-agement and a greater under-standing and awareness of thetheology of stewardship. Heidentified four stages of stew-ardship: 1. Worship God; 2. Doacts of love; 3. Live a ChristianLife as our Vocation; and 4. BeFree to Give. Through follow-ing these practices we becomemore in tune with what God iscalling us to do and to be in ourlives and our world.

There have been many hap-penings since the birth of thisInitiative. Many parishes havebeen asking themselves “Whatis God calling us to do and tobe?” in preparation for Covenantin Ministry and Strategic Plan-ning. Opportunities to preachand teach about congregational

Recognizing the Giftby Canon Roberta Woodman

Congregational Development& Stewardship Coordinator

Fifty years and still going strong

On March 19, 2009, theParish of Bay L ‘Argent markeda milestone in the life and minis-

try of their Rector.The Rev’d Ken Abbott cel-

ebrated the 50th anniversary of

his ordination. In attendancewere special guests: BishopDavid Torraville, the Rev’d JimPollard (retired), along with pa-rishioners, family and friends. APot Luck was served in thebasement of St. Hilda’s Church.A presentation of gifts followedthe meal. After supper there wasa service of Prayer and Praisewhere all clergy and lay minis-ters participated. The music wasled by the Praise Band and thecongregational choir.

In his sermon Rev’dAbbott recounted his ordinationon St. Patrick’s Day fifty yearsago. He also told the story of St.Patrick and how he broughtChristianity to Ireland.

Article & Photo byClayton Johnson

Fifty years a priest. The Rev’d Ken Abbott (right) was joined byBishop David Torraville (centre) and the Rev’d Jim Pollard (left) incelebrating his anniversary.

2 www.anglicanlife.blogspot.com

News From Parish Bulletins and Elsewhere

All Saints` Anglican Church Outreach Committee in Corner Brook hosted a Deanery Family SkatingParty at the Pepsi Centre on Saturday, January 17th followed by hot chocolate and snacks. Despitethe stormy weather outside, about 70 people came to enjoy the afternoon. A fun time was had byall. Article by Janet Spurrell. Photo by Andrea Barrett

All Saints’ Drama Troupeheld a unique take on the story ofGood Friday with the drama ‘ToCalvary with Mary.’ Thedrama followed Mary, the motherof Jesus, during her son’s lastdays from the Garden ofGethsemane to Calvary. (Parishof All Saints, Conception BaySouth)

In February, St. Mary theVirgin, St. John’s, incelebration of its 150thyear, hosted a Women’sOutreach Luncheon at theBella Vista with all profits in sup-port of Marguerite’s Place, aproject of the St. John’s Status ofWomen’s Council and the Wom-en’s Centre. This project willprovide safe and affordablehousing, along with support serv-ices to women whose situationsdictate their need for such sup-port. Guest speaker, Marie White,a former city councillor, enthralled

everyone with her presentationof perseverance and hope inter-spersed with humour. Attendedby approximately 250 parishwomen and friends, this lunch-eon was a tremendous success.(Parish of St. Mary the Virgin,St. John’s)

Bishop Cyrus Pitman ispleased to make the followingappointments:

The Rev. Dr. WayneShort, as Priest in Charge of theParish of St. Mark the Evange-list, St. John’s, effective June 15,2009.

The Rev. MichaelCarruthers as Priest in Charge,part-time, of the Parish of Bayde Verde, effective March 1 –July 31, 2009.

A little humour: In Eng-land a certain bishop was invitedfor a luncheon at the vicarage(rectory) following the morning

service. To the bishop’s surpriseand the embarrassment of thevicar and his wife there was noforks, knives or spoons at thebishop’s place. The vicar’s wifeasked their six-year old daugh-ter why she hadn’t placed anycutlery at the bishop’s place.“Oh, he doesn’t need any, sheanswered. “Daddy says thebishop eats like horse!” (Parishof Fortune-Lamaline)

A Brand New WorshipExperience at the GoodShepherd began on Saturday,April 25, at 4:30 p.m. This newworship time is designed to beinformal, family-friendly, andcontemporary and will meet theneeds of those who find Sundaymorning challenging because ofwork or family commitments.Coffee and refreshments beginat 4:30 with a Celebration of theHoly Eucharist at 5, ending by6. (Parish of the Good Shep-

herd, Mount Pearl)

A New Hope. The Parishof St. Paul’s, Goulds/Kilbride andthe Parish of Petty Harbour havejoined together under the bannerof the Anglican Parish of NewHope. (Parish of New Hope)

The St. Michael’s Men’sAssociation hosted the annualMothering Sunday Commun-ion Breakfast for ladies after the8 a.m. celebration on the FourthSunday in Lent, 22 March. Thisyear’s guest speaker was Arch-deacon Sandra Tilley. (Parishof St. Michael & All Angels,St. John’s)

AWARE Eastern New-foundland & Labrador spir-itual retreat for Anglican orientedwomen, but women of all faithswelcome. May 22, 2009 at theLavrock Camp and ConferenceCentre. Guest speaker is EmmaMarsh and the Chaplain is TheRev‘d Dana Mellis. For furtherinformation go towww.awareconference.org orcall Olive at (709) 229-6614 oremail [email protected]

New Parenting Coursestarted up April 15th for 5weeks (running alongside TheMarriage and The MarriagePrep Courses). The course ishighly practical and aims to giveparents tools for the commonareas in which parents often findthey need support. The sessionsare made up of Nicky and SilaLee talking on a DVD, inter-spersed with exercises, someindividual reflection and somediscussions in twos or threes andsome group discussion. Theevening will include a meal. St.Thomas’ has been asked to pilotthis course which will be later re-

filmed for use in North America.(Parish of St. Thomas, St.John‘s)

A New Parish Website isup and running again with thanksgoing out to George Sheppardand Kingsley Gifford. Thewebsite also has a new address,www.holyinnocents.ca. Take amoment to visit that site and allcomments and suggestions arewelcome to make it even moreuser friendly than it is already.(Parish of the Holy Innocents,Paradise)

Parish Mission, Sept. 13-18: In keeping with the Strate-gic Plan and Action Plan, we areplanning a Parish Mission forSeptember. Our leader for themission will be the Rt. Rev. LindaNicholls, area Bishop for theTrent-Durham region in the Dio-cese of Toronto. At the time ofher election, she was the Co-ordinator for Dialogue (Ethics,Interfaith Relations and Congre-gational Development) with theAnglican Church of Canada. The mission will run from Sun-day to Friday, Sept. 13-18. (Par-ish of Pasadena-Cormack)

Have you heard the lat-est news? Eleven priests fromthe Diocese of Eastern New-foundland and Labrador arelearning to dance!!! They arelearning some rather intricatesteps from some of the finestdancing instructors. Many whohave heard this latest news feelthey are steps in the right direc-tion. These Anglican priests, sev-eral dance studios, and manyvolunteers are working enthusi-astically to make an event pos-sible that will raise money forfamilies on the poverty line in theSt. John’s Region. Their goal isto raise $100 000 for VibrantCommunities. You can get fullinformation on this May 8, 2009Mile One Centre event, ‘Danc-ing with the Priests,’ by visit-ing the websitewww.dancingwiththepriests.com.Tickets are available from yourparish priest, and cost $75 perperson. The audience at theevent will surely enjoy the danc-ing-pair performances, the judg-ing panel, the live entertainmentand a Gala Meal prepared byChef Roary MacPherson. Fol-lowing the competition, the au-dience will be able to dance tothe music of the Kirk NewhookSix Band featuring Dana Par-sons. All this in the name of rais-ing money for Vibrant Commu-nities!!! (Parish of the Ascen-sion, Mount Pearl)


Henry Gordon’s Parish (part one)The Mission of Sandwich Bay, Labrador

PARROTT’S HEARING CLINICDr. Valerie F. Parrott

Audiologist84 Thorburn Road

St. John’s, NL, A1B 3M3

(709) 754-4884 1-800-563-0957

In the December issue ofAnglican Life, David Davismade use of extracts from theJournal of the Rev. HenryGordon to describe how Christ-mas and Harvest Thanksgivingwere observed in Cartwrightnearly a hundred years ago.Gordon, a graduate of KebleCollege, Oxford came to Lab-rador in 1915. He was 28 yearsof age.

I thought it might be usefulto look back to his ministry,which Archbishop Seaborn (inhis FOREWORD to LabradorParson) depicts as “remarkableand courageous”. The Arch-bishop went on to describeGordon as “... A devoted serv-ant of Christ, ministering lov-ingly to his people and seek-ing patiently to build them upin the life and fellowship of theChurch, by both example andprecept.” I wanted also to lookto the present, and to some ofthe challenges that face the com-munity of Cartwright - and theParish - in the first decade of thiscentury.

Not surprisingly, Gordonwas overwhelmed to learn howextensive the area was for whichhe had pastoral oversight. Hereis his description: Beginning atBatteau to the south and end-ing at Cape Harrison to thenorth, it included two exten-sive Bays of Sandwich andHamilton Inlet. The latter ofthese is something much morethan a mere bay. From its en-trance, by George’s Island, toits head at North West River, itextends due west for a dis-tance of 150 miles. About 50miles in, just above Rigolet, itnarrows down for about 10miles to a width of half a mile.

The other section is known asHamilton Inlet or (by the peo-ple) Groswater: above the nar-rows it becomes Lake Melville.... In all this vast area, the to-tal population was no morethan a thousand. ...Most ofthem were strung out ... in lit-tle groups of two or three fami-lies, or even in lonely single

homesteads, miles away fromany neighbour.

Cartwright, headquarters forthe Sandwich Bay Mission andchief trading centre on Labra-dor’s south east coast at the time,had no more than 70 people. Thepermanent population waslargely made up of descendantsof British settlers who had mar-ried Inuit women. Gordon couldnumber among his parishionersa considerable number of car-penters, coopers, tinsmiths aswell as fisherfolk and trappers.

What is remarkable aboutGordon’s ministry was the qual-ity of his pastoral care. It wasnot unusual for him to walk ten

or twelve miles on snowshoes tovisit just one family or individualto give a helping hand if re-quired, and to share in a shortservice of worship before mov-ing on. Often times in his travelshe found folk close to starvationand willingly shared of his ownprovisions. He loved those folkand enjoyed what he was doing.“Life now seems one big adven-ture,” wrote a reflective Gordonfollowing his first year in Labra-dor. As I noted in LabradorDiary, “The Incumbent of Sand-wich Bay Mission wasn’t sim-ply coping; he was enjoying thenorthern experience! Gordonentered fully into the life of thepeople among whom he hadcome to serve: ate their foods(including seal meat), fetchedwood and water (as they did),dabbled in carpentry, mechan-ics, gardening and even triedhis hand at raising fowl!”

Henry Gordon labouredin the Sandwich Bay Missionfrom 1915 - 1925. He wit-nessed a number of changesduring this period and played

a significant role in several, no-tably in the field of education.Together with Dr. Harry Paddonhe helped raise sufficient fundsto erect a boarding school atnearby Muddy Bay. It was builtinitially to care for the largenumber of children left orphanedby the Spanish ‘flu of 1918 -1919. Much to Gordon’s delightother children came, some whohad previously received only oneor two weeks of teaching duringthe year, and that from a travel-ling teacher. I need to add thatthe young priest was ably as-sisted in this enterprise, and inother areas of Parish life, byClara Ashall whom he recruitedin 1919 to be the first Principalof the Labrador Public School;they married in 1921.

Submitted byThe Ven. Francis Buckle

The Rev’d Henry Gordon.Photo courtesy of Diocese of EasternNewfoundland & Labrador Archives

Movie dealThe diocese of Ontario has negotiated with Criterion Pictures

and Audio Cine Films to cover the cost of annual video licences forall parishes in the diocese and Camp Hyanto (in the Kingston, Ont.area). The two companies cover virtually every film studio thatprovides video entertainment.

“We learned that some parishes were purchasing licences ontheir own, and at a significant cost,” said Wayne Varley, diocesanexecutive officer. Parishes often use movies to enhance ministry.

“The annual licences mean a relatively small diocesan invest-ment but a big savings to individual parishes, which will no longerneed to spend several hundred dollars to show a single film.

Dialogue

Canadians help observe election in El SalvadorA dozen volunteers from St. Mary’s Kerrisdale in Vancouver

served as election observers in El Salvador’s presidential electionin March. They came at the invitation of Bishop Martin Barahonaof the diocese of El Salvador, with which St. Mary’s has had arelationship for several years.

The St. Mary’s volunteers paid their own way and also visitedthe chapel where Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered in 1982,a prison where there is an active Anglican ministry and a projectsupported by the Primate’s World Development and Relief Fund.

Topic

Ottawa youth help rebuild New OrleansYoung people from six churches in the Anglican diocese of

Ottawa and one Lutheran church spent a week in February helpingthe residents of New Orleans rebuild and repair damage done whenHurricane Katrina hit the city three years ago.

“When we were told that we were going to ‘wade in the wa-ter’ of New Orleans with the Jeremiah Project, I envisioned ruin,poverty and hardship. What I did not expect was the incrediblegrace and resilience of New Orleans and her residents,” wroteparticipant Melinda Platte. The group learned how to hang drywall,tape seams, mud, and nail corner beading. “Along the way, wealso learned a lot about the social issues surrounding the rebuildingeffort post-Katrina, and met some incredible people who have shapedour faith in ways we are only now beginning to understand,” Ms.Platte said.

Crosstalk

Virtual Church School resource offeredAbout a year ago, the diocese of Keewatin began an Internet

ministry called “Virtual Church School” that provided weekly Sun-day school lessons usually based on the Gospel for the day foundonline at www.dioceseofkeewatin.ca/virtual-church-school.These lessons include an opening worship, a story and three craftlessons, and they are available at no cost to the parish or localleader who downloads them.

The ministry has expanded considerably. A lay reader fromthe diocese of Montreal offered to translate the materials into Frenchfor free so that small francophone parishes in Quebec would haveaccess to quality materials. A lay person from the diocese of Brandonoffered to provide seasonal prayer ideas. At the end of 2008, theCouncil of the North decided that the program should become aministry of the council as a whole and is promoting it throughoutits dioceses.

Canadian Church News Briefs


ANGLICAN LIFE in Newfoundland and Labrador is thenewspaper of the Anglican Church in the Province ofNewfoundland and Labrador. A co-operative effort of thethree Dioceses in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is publishedmonthly, except July and August, with an independenteditorial policy.

A section of the Anglican Journal

Editor-in-Chief:The Rev’d Sam Rose45 Tildacane PlaceConception Bay South, NL A1X 3C7(709) 834-9190 (h)Email: [email protected]

Advertising Rates and other information may be obtainedfrom:Bishop Donald Young34 Fraser Road, Gander, NL, A1V 2E8Phone: (709) 256-7701Email: [email protected]

Subscription Rates:Newfoundland and Labrador: $15.00Outside the province: $20.00International: $25.00

New subscriptions, cancellations, & changes of addressshould be sent to:CirculationThe Anglican Journal (attn. Bev Murphy)80 Hayden Street, Toronto, ON, M4Y 3G2(416) 924-9192 (O) (416) 925-8811 (fax)Email: [email protected]

Each parish is responsible for maintaining its ownsubscription list - please notify your parish office of anychanges. Changes sent to parish offices may take months totake effect. Please also send your updated information toCirculation at the Anglican Journal (above) or to Don Youngat 34 Fraser Road, Gander NL A1V 2E8.

Articles and photographs: Send to the Editor-in-Chief(above)

Parish Bulletins and Letters to the Editor: Send to the Editor-in-Chief, Sam Rose (address as above). All letters must includethe writer’s name, address, and telephone number. Telephonenumbers will not be published. Anglican Life does not publishletters under nom de plume. Letters should not exceed 300words (one double spaced typewritten page), and are subjectto editing at the discretion of the editor.

These policies were adopted by the Anglican Life Committee.Layout & Design: Sam RosePrinted by:Signal Star Publishing, A Division of Bowes PublishersLimited,Industrial Park, 120 Huckins Street,Goderich, Ontario, N7A 4B6

Circulation: 25,702

ANGLICANLifein NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

reflectionreflectionreflectionreflectionreflectionDo you remember theVoid Coffee House?

Before Cafe Ministry andFresh Expressions, and evenbefore Tim Horton’s andStarbucks, there was the VoidCoffee House.

The Void, formerly the OldComrades Room on the side ofthe old CLB Armoury in St.John’s opened a coffee houseon October 21, 1967. It wasopen every Saturday night. Irecently discovered some filesexplaining the Void and its min-istry to young people.

Doors would open at 8:30p.m. with the electriclanterns glowing andthe record playerthrowing out the lat-est tunes as back-ground music. By9:15 p.m. the localentertainment began.This usually featuredyoung folk singerswho played on a vol-unteer basis.

A 1971 Dioc-esan Synod Reporton the Void reads, “We havebeen fortunate to have profes-sional entertainment from otherparts of Canada and also fromIreland give of their time at nocharge. It is amazing to watchthe local kids improve (their mu-sicianship) over the years, forthe Void is one of the few placeswhere they can try out theirmusic on people their own age.Many of the entertainers whostarted in places like the Voidhave gained employment on tel-evision programs or in mightclubs.” (One such local singerwas the legendary Ron Hynes).

At 10 p.m. coffee anddonuts were served and this

menu stayed basically the sameover the years. It was reportedthat the coffee improved greatlyafter a proper coffee urn waspurchased. The serving wasdone by interested young girls,the core of which was threenursing students and an Educa-tion student from the University.

After the coffee was served,a second set of music wasplayed usually by a differentband followed by a third and fi-nal set at 11:30 p.m. The nightbegins to fade and by midnight

the Void shuts down. Rarely didthey have to ask people to leave.Closing seemed to come natu-rally.

The Void’s ministry was pri-marily to provide a safe placefor young people to go in St.John’s on a weekend. In thesummer, the Void served mostlyas a drop-in centre. Therewasn’t any charge and peoplecame to play pool or have agame of cards or a game ofchess. Others just listened tothe radio or shared new albumsthey had purchased. Manymore just came to talk and drinkcoffee. The room may havebeen small but sometimes as

many at 80 people packed theplace to hear the local bandsplay.

The Void maintained a re-lationship with St. Thomas’sChurch and the CLB from which

it started. The Curateat St. Thomas’sserved as the priestand pastor at the Void.

The 1971 SynodReport concludes, “Itis our intention by pre-senting this report tothe Diocesan Synodthat people will bemade aware of theneed for having aplace for young peo-ple to use and con-

sider their own. This needcould be filled by the openingof parish halls, schools, oldbuildings or unused houses.”

A similar ministry is nowbeing offered over 40 years laterin the Parish of the Resurrec-tion in South River. On the 1st

and 3rd Saturdays of the month,a Youth Cafe is open for teen-agers to have a safe refugewhere wireless internet has re-placed local entertainment.However, what remains thesame is the church offeringoutreach to youth and helpingbuild relationships with eachother and with Christ.

Bishop Cyrus PitmanDiocese of Eastern

Newfoundland & Labrador

Lenten Quiet Day at the Parish of the Good Shepherd was held on March 7 with the theme, “TheExtraordinary Ordinary: Recognizing God in the Ordinary Spaces of Life.” A total of 116 personssigned up for the day-long discussion in “Ordinary Theology”, the theology of the average personbrought into play every day. Submitted by the Ven.Geoff Peddle.


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The Choir of the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in St. John’sis looking for gently used copies of Music Edition 1938 Blue HymnBooks, blue Anglican Chant psalters, and red Plainsong psalters.If you have any extra copies of these books, would you considerdonating them to the St. Michael and All Angels Choir? Theywould be greatly appreciated. Please contact Choir Director andOrganist, Jenny Vincent, via the church at (709) 722-4511

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When faced with the over-whelming problems in ourworld, we often respond withthe question:“What can oneperson do?”

Well there isquite a lot that oneperson can ac-complish. Imagineif every “one per-son” who askedthat question, actu-ally did “one thing”towards solving aproblem. Surelythat would make adifference.

The studentsof Queen’s Col-lege’s “Ethics andthe ContemporaryChurch” consid-ered such a sce-nario in the coursethis Winter semester and pre-sented their research during aone day information fair on 21March 2009 entitled “What CanOne Person Do?” The infor-mation fair focused on the eightUnited Nations Millennium De-velopment Goals, to which ourChurch, both nationally and in-ternationally, have committedthemselves. The students cre-ated information booths for eachof these goals:Goal 1: Eradicate extremepoverty and hunger;Goal 2: Achieve universalprimary education;Goal 3: Promote gender equalityand empower women;Goal 4: Reduce child mortality;Goal 5: Improve maternalhealth;Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS,malaria and other diseases;Goal 7: Ensure environmentalsustainability;

Goal 8: Develop a GlobalPartnership for Development.

At each of these booths theypresented facts and doable ac-tions that one could take to makethese goals a reality.

For example, to illustrate thegoal to eradicate extreme pov-erty, the students set up a dinnertable with fine china and crys-tal. On each plate was theamount of food that could bebought for $1, $2 or $3 in Gam-bia to feed a family of four. Thevisual image was startling.There was not enough on eitherplate to feed one person for aday, let alone a family of four.To highlight the goal of provid-ing universal primary education,another group handed out miniice cream cones. This was doneto show that providing this edu-cation would only cost one halfof what North Americans spenda year on ice-cream.

One suggested target thatmost people could reasonablymeet would be to donate just0.7% of your income towardsmeeting the millennium goals.That’s only fourteen cents for

every twenty dollars. A piggybank in the shape of 0.7 high-lighted that it was just loosechange and easily achievable.

Another startling visual im-age was the cross that was be-

ing made fromPopsicle sticks.One stick wasadded every threeseconds to repre-sent one real childwho died from pre-ventable diseasewhile the work-shop was happen-ing. That is twentychildren a minute,one thousand twohundred in an hour.These are pre-ventable deaths.

There is notspace here to high-light all of the in-formation that waspresented duringthe information fair,

but we have made a video thatis available on You Tube: http://w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=1oZ7M7vL7V8.

The information about the‘What Can One Person Do?’movement is available online anda bibliography can be sent to anyinterested person. The Collegenow has a collection of materialavailable and are willing to as-sist congregations and groups inholding their own informationsessions.

Why should we as Christianstake up this work? As one stu-dent’s poster stated, “Scriptureis overflowing with God callingus to feed the hungry, cloth thenaked, care for the sick, nurturethe children and be good stew-ards of creation.” For more in-formation contact The Rev’dDr. Joanne Mercer [email protected].

What can one person do?Queen’s College examines Millenium Development Goals

Article & Photos byThe Rev’d Dr. Joanne Mercer

Not much to eat: The Rev’d Neal Buffett (centre) listens toa presentation by Queen’s College students on the MilleniumDevelopment Goals.

Bishop Percy CoffinDiocese of

Western Newfoundland

Ascension - above& beyond

Probably the greatest chal-lenge in pastoral ministry is tohelp a parent come to terms withthe loss of a child. It doesn’tmatter if the child is an infant oran adult. It is a challenge be-cause we are all subject to thenatural order of things and these“untimely” deaths defy that pro-gression. We like the natural or-der: rivers become oceans, bulbsand seeds become blossoms, andthumb-sucking toddlers becomenurses or bankers or consultants.To find meaning we have tobroaden our scope to the orderthat is yet to be observed, to thetransformation yet to be experi-enced. I share with you a mor-sel from my scrapbook:

In the bottom of a pondlived some old grubs whocould not understand whynone of their group ever cameback after climbing up thestems of the water lilies to thesurface. They promised eachother that the next time onewas called to make the upwardclimb he would return and ex-plained what went on upthere. With this agreement onegrub was more eager then everto go above. Having arrivedon the lily pad he needed arest. In the warmth and lightof the sun he went through aglorious transformation whichmade him a dragonfly withbeautiful wings. While he wasmindful of his promise to hiscompanions below he couldnot descend. Experiencingflight for the first time he gazedat his friends when he realizedthat even if they could see himthey would not recognize thisradiant creature as one ofthem.

Our failure to see or com-municate with those after theirtransformation, which we calldeath, is no proof that they ceaseto exist. Surely the Lord, theGiver of life, has a creative des-

tiny for us beyond death.According to Luke (24:44-

53), Jesus is gone. Like a dreamhe is gone without leaving chil-dren, property, letters, or anyphysical evidence of having beenon this earth. Yet we have thispeculiar feeling that he was justhere. Now, like Elijah, he is takeninto heaven. The physics of thisare puzzling but we accept itemotionally because we knowthat much, at least, about loss.Loved ones die and we are awe-struck. We have a hard timeimagining that we will be reu-nited with them because first wehave to reconcile our feelings ofhopelessness with receiving aninheritance from our generousCreator.

This is precisely what theAscension points toward. TheAscension is beyond our com-prehension just as heaven itselfis beyond our comprehension.We know precious little aboutheaven but we have good rea-son to believe that or loved onesare there....generation upongeneration...somewhere that isneither old nor new becausefrom this world we cannotfathom its depths. All we knowis that Jesus has gone before usand we shall see him, “Not inthat poor lowly stable with theoxen standing by, we shall seehim but in heaven set at God’sright hand on high.”

The Ascension story, inGod’s order, is the ending of theChristmas story.

In peace,+Percy


Planned Giving in the Early ChurchActs 4. 32-37

“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimedprivate ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. Withgreat power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and greatgrace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them all, for as many as ownedlands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus,Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means, “son of encouragement”).He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

Reflections:What did the believers understand they were to do?What was their motivation for these behaviours?What would the Church be like if all believers lived up to this model?What would the world be like if all believers lived up to this model?

Once again, the AnglicanChurch of Canada is a partnerwith the international program,LEAVE A LEGACY™

What is LEAVE ALEGACY™? It is a nationalpublic awareness program de-signed to encourage people toleave a gift through their will orany other gift planning instrumentto a charity or non-profit organi-zation of their choice. LEAVEA LEGACY™ is a donor-ori-ented education campaign toraise awareness of the impor-tance of including a charitable giftin the estate planning process. Alegacy gift can benefit all not-for-profit groups large or small.Leaving a planned gift in yourwill is like sowing a seed. TheCanada-wide program involvesthe collaborative teamwork ofgoal driven volunteers and com-munities who all recognize thata seed sown today reaps a har-vest tomorrow.

A Vast Network of LocalInitiatives in your Commu-

nity. LEAVE A LEGACY™was first established in the UnitedStates by the Central Ohio Plan-ners, there are now over 120 lo-cal LEAVE A LEGACY™ pro-grams across North America.Currently there are 21 localLEAVE A LEGACY™ pro-grams across Canada operatingunder the guidance of theCAGP-ACPDP Roundtables.

A Rich History of Giving.Canada’s rich history of philan-thropy dates back to the earliestsettlers in Quebec City. In themid -1600s, the first shelters forwomen and children were estab-lished marking one of the firststeps towards charitable giving.Till this day Canada demon-strates a true philanthropic spiritin each of our communities ex-hibited through daily acts of kind-ness and compassion towardsthose in need.

A tax friendly legislation.The federal government encour-ages an increase of gifts to chari-ties from individuals and corpo-

Make a din the lives

rations. Statistics Canada reportsthat, in 2006, 25% of Canadiansfilling tax returns claimed acharitable donation. Theseclaims totalled $8.5 billion. Sig-nificant tax incentives make giftplanning even more attractive,particularly for those gifts left ina will.

Potential for Our Future.81% of Canadians contribute tocharitable organizations through-out their lifetime. However, re-search shows that only 7% con-tinue this support through a giftin their will or estate plan. Theintended result of LEAVE ALEGACY™ is to increase thenumber of planned gifts fromdonors to charitable organiza-tions. By making a charitable giftas part of an overall estate plan,individuals can continue to helporganizations that are making animportant difference in their com-munity. When we leave a gift,we ensure that help continues tobe there for those who need it.

Thoughts to ponderStewardship is the work of the whole people of God. Put more accurately,stewardship is the implementation of God’s plan; accomplished through ourhands, hearts and efforts, using the gifts God has given us. Certainly, a majorpart of stewardship involves finances, since money is the fuel which powersmany of our ministries. However, stewardship, when understood from theperspective of being all that we do with all that God gives us in thanksgivingfor his blessings and in obedience to God’s will for us, implicates a farbroader scope than simply finance.

Gail Ivany, a cradle Angli-can and long time member of St.Thomas’ Anglican Church, hadno hesitation about putting to-gether a planned gift for her par-ish.

“I was christened, con-firmed and married there and sowas my mother. I just love St.Thomas, I can’tsee past it. I evensit in my aunt’spew” (Years ago,pa r i sh ione r swould pay fortheir own pew.)

Gail chose alife insurancepolicy on the ad-vice of her finan-cial advisor. “Thechurch needsmoney to keep going especiallythese days when there are fewerpeople attending Church. Thereare no restrictions on the gift be-cause, “there are so many thingsthey need.”

The insurance policy workslike this: Ms Ivany purchased thepolicy and named St. Thomas asthe owner and beneficiary of theproceeds. Each year she paysthe premiums to the insurancecompany and receives a taxcreditable receipt for the sameamount from the parish. Uponher death, the value of the policywill be paid to the parish.

She said the policy was pur-chased in memory of Jim, her latehusband, who died in 1999 at theage of 50.

Gail is an avid gardener aswitnessed by a plaque in her liv-ing room: “You are nearer God’sheart in a garden than anywhereelse on earth.” She said her gar-den helped keep her sanity afterher husband died.

Rev John Paul Westin, rec-tor of St. Thomas, was obviously

pleased with thenews of thisplanned gift. In aletter to MsIvany, RevWeston said,“we are de-lighted that youhave has desig-nated St. Tho-mas as theowner and ben-eficiary of this

marvellous gift. Making aplanned gift of this nature speaksvolumes of your faith journeyand your spiritual decision to as-sist the parish in this manner.Thank you sincerely.”

The gift of life insurance canbe effective in providing a prac-tical and affordable way to makesizable charitable gifts to yourChurch. Not only will life insur-ance increase the size of yourgift, in most cases it will providesignificant tax benefits. Pleasecheck with your financial advi-sor who can assist you with yourcharitable plan. Or, you can con-tact Kevin Smith who will be onlytoo pleased to refer you to a fi-nancial advisor.

A Living Gift

Gail Ivany recently purchased a life insurance policy for herparish church of St. Thomas.

“I was christened,confirmed and marriedthere and so was mymother. I just love St.Thomas; I can’t seepast it. I even sit in myaunt’s pew”

Gail Ivany


ifferencethat follow Deciding how you want

your estate distributed is obvi-ously a big decision, but some-times the most difficult task inpreparing to write or update yourLast Will and Testament can benaming your executor. Choosingfamily members or friends maybe the right choice for you. Theperson may be honoured to benamed, but he/she may not havethe expertise required to admin-ister your estate. Trust compa-nies provide the services of acorporate executor or trustee.

If your estate is large andcomplex with substantial invest-ment holdings, active business in-terests or international holdingsit will require a team of profes-sionals which is what you getwith a corporate executor.

An executor may be re-quired to balance the interests ofdifferent beneficiaries, such asa second spouse and the childrenof an earlier marriage. An ex-ecutor needs to provide an im-partial and objective approach toresolving disputes over the man-agement or distribution of an es-tate.

If you wish to establish longterm trusts you may require pro-fessional management. Thereare several types of trusts which

Choosing yourExecutor

Janet Hewson - Trust OfficerBMO Harris Private Banking

can be set up through your Will,including a trust for your spouse,your children, a special needsperson or a charity. The corpo-rate executor will never get sick,become incapacitated, tire ofdoing the job, or die.

All executors have a rightto charge a fee for service.When you decide to name a cor-porate executor, you will meetwith a representative of the trustcompany and sign a fee agree-ment which is incorporated intoyour Will. Regardless of whomyou ask to be your executor youshould discuss fees and getsomething in writing if appropri-ate. You may choose to leave agift in lieu of a fee.

Knowing you have chosenthe right executor to carry outyour wishes will certainly giveyou peace of mind.

by Janet Hewson

What a Legacy!

I remember a long time agowhen I was living on what wascalled the army side in Gander.My mother made sure that I at-tended church every Sundayand the service I preferred wasthe early one probably becauseit was the shortest. There wasn’tan awful lot to do on Sundayevenings in those days so myfriends and I would sometimesattend the local Salvation Army.One evening the guest preacherwas a missionary who had beensent by the Army to the slumsof India. His stories about hiswork among the poor im-pressed me considerably. I feltthat this young missionary wasmaking a difference in the worldand that thought has stuck withme for a long time.

We had always read aboutmissionaries but I had never ex-perienced a personal encoun-ter with one. Now I’m sure thatthe Anglican Church had plentyof missionaries in those days butI had never met one. This wasbrand new to me.

We know these days of thework of the Primate’s Fund infar flung parts of the work. And,some of us have had the privi-

lege of hearing the stories ofJoanne Chaytor Simfukwe ofthe Parish of St. Paul’s in theGould’s who served as a vol-unteer in Tanzania for two years.I recommend that if you havenot heard Joanne speak of herexperiences you should get intouch with her.

One Saturday evening re-cently, a missionary from theEpiscopal Church in the USA,Frances Wilson, preached atSt. Mark’s Church on Logy BayRoad. Francis is the manager ofthe Holy Cross Anglican Schoolin San Pedro, Belize. Oncemore I was thoroughly im-pressed. This lady and her hus-band have served as volunteermissionaries in an area of thatCentral American countrywhere poverty and deplorableliving conditions are common.She talked about the school runby the Anglican mission whichserves over 500 children. Theschool and the huts where peo-ple live are situated essentiallyon a bog with poor sanitation,no running water and few medi-cal services.

This is the same locationwhere a delegation of CLB

leaders, youth members andvolunteers will be going later thisyear. The team will travel inconjunction with the SouthAmerican Missionary Society.Francis told us how importantthe visit by the CLB would befor the mission in Belize. Shealso said this would be a lifechanging experience for them.

What she didn’t belabourwas the fact that she and herhusband have been volunteer-ing as missionaries since theearly 2000’s. That means theyhave been paying out of theirown pocket to work there. Theytoo, I suggest, are making a dif-ference. Isn’t that remarkable!While I’m sure there are manyAnglicans doing similar serviceall over the world, this couple isa marvellous example of a tre-mendous legacy in the steward-ship of time, talent and treasure.

by Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith is a gift planningconsultant for the Anglican

Church of Canada.He can be contacted at:

(709) 739-5667or by email:

[email protected]

Miss Frances Wilson (left) ofHoly Cross School in Belizerecently visited Newfoundlandto share her missionaryexperiences with CLB members.

REPLY COUPONPlease send me:

A free brochure on writing a willA quote on a Gift Plus AnnuityInformation on other ways of givingI have already remembered my church in my will

Name___________________________________________

Address_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Mail to:Kevin Smith - Gift Planning Consultant

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St. John’s, NL A1B 2V4


Sabbatical Diary - part threeArticle & Photos by

The Rev’d Robin Barrett

Robin Barrett shares his sabbatical journey with Anglican Life

My third stop on my Sab-batical was in the Burgundy re-gion of France, a two hour traintrip south east of Paris to thecommunity of Taize. In 1940,Br. Roger founded an ecumeni-cal community of brothers here,when the people of the villageo f f e r e dhim land.

DuringW o r l dWar Two,B r o t h e rR o g e rh e l p e dmany Jewsescape thepersecu-tion of theN a z i st h r o u g hthe com-m u n i t y.What be-gan as as m a l lgroup ofpeople, is now world famousfor its simplistic worship, mainlythrough song and its outreach toyoung people. In the summer upto ten thousand youth andyoung adults descend on Taizeper week to live in communitythere. That involves worshipthree times a day, daily studieswith the brothers, plus dailychores. The week I was therein September saw about 600young people and 150 adults.

Initially, I found Taize diffi-cult because of the multiplicityof languages and culturespresent. Brother Wolfgangtaught us in English, French andGerman, while around us oth-

ers were translating into Polish,Spanish and Italian. I was theonly Canadian adult there andonly one of two from NorthAmerica. There were also threeAustralians, and five British, forwhom English was the primarylanguage. But once I overcamethese differences, the simplicityand the power of the three wor-

ship times each day, the call toworship by the bells, the 10 min-utes of silence in worship andthe way in which the young peo-ple give themselves totally intothe worship, gave me a power-ful sense of God’s presence.

From all three places, I re-ceived a renewed sense ofGod’s presence and my spiritu-ality. I came back changed inmany ways from living in com-munity with other Christians andsharing, however briefly, life withthem.

But I also took time for fun.And after my time in the Con-vent in Toronto, my daughterAmy joined me for a week’s

holiday. We visited Fort York,the Royal Ontario Museum, theOntario Science Centre, the To-ronto Zoo, the CN Tower, andshared a meal with friends I knewfrom my training days at TrinityCollege. Plus we indulged inAmy’s great passion, baseball,as we attended two Blue Jaysgames at the Rogers Centre,

and theJays wonb o t hg a m e s ,over theOrioles andthe Yan-kees. Andlast, wespent a fullday atCanada’sWo n d e r -land andtook everyride wecould in-cluding allthe rollercoasters ,

and I became a kid again andenjoyed the excitement andwonder of life with Amy for thattime. That was refreshmentenough for a Sabbatical.

Sharing in prayer at Taize.

This concludes Robin Barrett’sSabbatical Diary.

Anglican Life thanks Robin forsharing his experiences.

let us pray...The Rev. Everett Hobbs

“I have got to forgive them.I still forgive them,” Gee Walkersays, talking about the murder-ers of her 18-year-old sonAnthony.

The Rev’d Julie Nicholsondecided to resign her post as aparish priest because she wasunable to forgive the bomberwho killed her daughter Jenny inthe 2005 attack on the LondonUnderground. She felt unableto continue declaring Christ’s for-giveness and “leading people inwords of peace and reconcilia-tion and forgiveness when I feelvery far from that myself,” shesaid at the time.

Alexander Pope claimedthat to err is human, to forgivedivine. I once read a book calledIs Human Forgiveness Possi-ble? (John Patton). MichaelMcCullough has written To For-give is Human: How to putyour Past in the Past. Forgiv-ing does not come easy, espe-cially when we or someone closeto us have been badly damaged.In those cases, forgiveness is ahard-won process and even thenthere will be times when it is hardto hold on to. And some maynever be able to offer forgive-ness.

As Christians we believethat we should forgive and thatGod’s forgiveness is linked to ourown forgiving. But in difficult

situations, forgiving is more thanwanting or willing it. It is notsomething we can make our-selves do, no matter how muchwe want to do it. Maybe all wecan do is to make a commitmentto forgive and pray that it will ac-tually come about. John Pattonreflected that, “we are only ableto forgive when we discover thatwe aren’t in a position to forgive.

A remarkable book aboutforgiveness is Free of Charge:Giving and Forgiving in aCulture Stripped of Grace.The author, Miroslav Volf, writesas a theologian and from his ex-perience in war-torn Croatia dur-ing the ethnic cleansing. Thebook is about forgiveness, gen-erosity, reconciliation and non-violence. It also addresses theneed for reconciliation and for-giveness between groups as wellas between individuals. If youare unable to forgive, this deep,reflective and demanding bookcould be helpful.

He believes that when weare unable to forgive, God doesfor us what we can’t do our-selves. At the heart of giving andforgiving we discover the heartof God. Only with God can weembrace with grace both givingand forgiving. When we canforgive, we not only offer heal-ing to the other but we are alsohealed.

Forgiveness


PPPPPlease send this form to:lease send this form to:lease send this form to:lease send this form to:lease send this form to: The Circulation Manager, Anglican Journal, 80 Hayden Street,Toronto, Ontario,Canada, M4Y 3G2, attention Beverley Murphy, or send changes [email protected]. Please notify your parish of these changes. You mayalso send changes to Donald Young at the Anglican Life business office, 34 Fraser Road,Gander, NL A1V 2E8.

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ANGLICANLife

David Davis

our historyWilliam Stirling, PhysicianWilliam Stirling was the fa-

ther of Georgina Stirling, theNightingale of the North, cel-ebrated opera and concertsinger of the late nineteenth andearly twentieth century. He wasthe son of another William Stir-ling who was a physician in Har-bour Grace at least in the periodof the 1810’s. Stirling Sr marriedEmma Mayne of a prominentHarbour Grace family.

William Stirling Jr followedhis father’s course by attendingmedical school in Edinburgh,Scotland. In a time when physi-cians were often apprenticed toolder doctors and were trainedmuch as craftsmen, the univer-sity education of the youngerStirling would indicate that hisfather had connections with the

Edinburgh school and some fi-nancial security to send himthere. The son graduated in bothmedicine and surgery around1839. At that time surgery wasmostly the preserve of the bar-ber surgeons, who were notori-ous for the speed with whichthey worked. They had fewmeans of mitigating the pain ofsurgery so they had to finish theirwork before circulatory shockkilled their patient. In Newfound-land you needed all the skills youcould learn, there were no spe-cialists to refer their patient to.

William Stirling returned toNewfoundland to work with hisfather but seems to have movedto Twillingate when the physicianthere, Dr. R. Tremblet, died in1843. It was a tradition that there

was room for only one physicianin an area and so the doctor hadto cover not just the town ofTwillingate but most of NotreDame Bay.

Georgina Stirling was theyoungest of ten children born atTwillingate to William Stirling andhis wife Ann Peyton, daughterof John Peyton and granddaughter of another John Peyton,(see Jason Crummey, RiverThieves). We will look atGeorgina in the next article in thisseries.

The William Stirling of thisdocument, below, was the elderwho was a magistrate in Har-bour Grace, as well as a physi-cian. He had one particularly badexperience as a magistratewhich has become semi-legen-

dary in the Harbour Grace area.A certain person had been con-victed of killing his family andafter he had been executed byhanging his body was suspendedin the gibbet. The gibbet wasdesigned to frighten anyonepassing, as the body of the con-victed person might hang therefor some time in all weather, de-composing. Some people de-cided to play a joke on Magis-trate Stirling. They took downthe body and carried it to Stir-ling’s house, propped it againstthe front door, knocked on thedoor and ran away. When thehousemaid opened the door, thebadly deteriorated body fell inagainst her.

The document below iswhat we would call a doctor’s

note, in this case one to be sentto the people who paid his sal-ary, the Society for the Propa-gation of the Gospel in London.Readers of this column will re-member that the March columndescribed the exertions of theRev. John Burt in raising moneyfor the rebuilding of St Paul’schurch in England. His medicalweaknesses had made rest nec-essary. However, the part of hisduties which required him to goregularly to Carbonear was es-pecially taxing. The path toCarbonear at this time was veryprimitive and steep on both sidesof Saddle Hill and had to bescaled in all weathers, difficulteven if you had horse. Did Mr.Burt have one?

The DocumentThe usual warning applies to this text: the symbol (?) means

there were unreadable word(s) which defeated all the writer’s deci-phering skills.

I hereby Certify that I have attended the Rever-end J. Burt for fifteen years who was attacked on thefourth of January last with a Disease brought on byexcessive labour which almost terminated in Deathleaving him with a Constitution most (?) injuredattended with alarming Debility which to this Datehas been aggravated by his endeavours to performhis Ordinary Duties at Carbonear and that to en-able him to avail himself of the necessary means forthe reestablishment of his Health it is indispensablynecessary that he should suspend for a short timethis (?) function and by a change of Air and Sceneduring the Summer months, assist in the accomplish-ment of so desirable an object. Should such a coursebe impracticable it will be necessary for him to quitthis Country and (?) the consequences now impend-ing from the last and to avoid another attack whichis more than probable would terminate fatally.

W. StirlingHarbour Grace30th June 1835

The Mens’ Service Club of Christ Church in the Parish of Bay D’ Espoir have two groups of 10 menwho, among other service duties, provide a monthly brunch to their congregation. The men in thisphoto on the Sunday prior to St. Patrick’s Day prepared a delicious brunch of green eggs, ham,baked beans, toast and green fruit for the morning worshippers while giving them an opportunityfor fellowship in the Chuch Hall. From left to right: Norman Courtney, Don Manuel, Fred Strickland,Stewart Kendell, Albert Collins and Wayne Hallett. Submitted by Rosemary Durnford.


The Rev. Greg Mercer

Probably a better title for thismessage would be: To My Fel-low Clergy with Love.

As a young priest in Labra-dor in the mid-nineties, one of thethings that I looked forward towith great anticipation was thetime I spent with other clergy. Itprobably had a lot to do with thegeographical isolation. But nev-ertheless, I can truly say that Iloved being among other clergy.It was a delight, especially to lis-ten to those seasoned priestswho had so much to offer ayoung priest like myself.

Then as I got some experi-ence under my belt and a littlemore secure in my own right, thecompany of other clergy took ona different appreciation. If I saidthat “I hurt with them when theyhurt” it would be because I wasnow able to identify with them.In spite of the many joys andprivileges that go with being aclergy, I would have to say thatthey are the most underratedleaders in our society. The factis they have a tough job. Some-times it makes me wonder thatthey have any faith left to give.And so my sense of collegialitycame from identifying with theirindividual struggles in parish life.

The public has to understandthat clergy my age (and I haveonly been ordained 15 years)were trained as pastors andteachers; to be the country par-son. But today, with aging con-gregations, out migration, lowerbirthrate, and ever increasingdemands of all sorts on clergyand people to keep their churchopen, it has become a verystressful profession. Clergy areexpected to be everything fromstrategists, motivational speak-ers, visionaries, and computerexperts, to pioneers of the faithin new and exciting ways. Allthis in addition to the usual work

Straight Talk onClergy Collegiality

of 24-hour-pastor, Bible-studyLeader, Liturgist, Evangelist,Worship Leader, Parish Admin-istrator, and a gamete of otherroles and ministries. Oh, I al-most forgot the annual invitationto the local town banquet to saythe “grace” (Ha!).

This is coupled with theenormous pressure on our na-tional church and a number ofdioceses within the ACC that hasbeen terribly affected by theschism in our church. And forthose who have young familiesand personal problems, ALL ofthis can often play-out in theirpersonal lives, and the stress isoften more than they can han-dle. Hence, the high rate ofclergy burnout and stress leave.

This is not a complaint to thereading public, but if there is rea-son for clergy to come together,or stay apart, we have to under-stand the facts, as do the clergy.Sometimes with so much ontheir plates, another gathering ofthe clergy is the last thing theyneed. It can easily become justanother task. And yet, come to-gether they must.

One thing is for sure, youcannot mandate collegiality nomore than you can force com-munity. Our collegiality and ourunity are for one reason only. Itis “Through Christ, With Christand In Christ.” I dedicate thisarticle to every deacon, priestand bishop with great love andrespect. Let’s get together fora retreat.

On Saturday, 21 February2009, the C.L.B. Mission BelizeTeam had the opportunity tomeet with Francis Wilson, themanager of Holy Cross Angli-can School. In June of this year,our mission team consisting ofyouth mem-bers, adultleaders andclergy willtravel to Be-lize to buildan additionalclassroomonto thes c h o o l(which willhopefullyserve as am e d i c a lclinic) and torun a vaca-tion bibleschool forthe children.

M s .Francis metwith ourteam to helpus better un-d e r s t a n dwhat to expect on the missionand to answer any of our ques-tions about our stay in Belize.First, we received some back-ground history of Holy CrossAnglican School and how it cameto be by sharing her story withus. When Ms. Francis wasworking with the education sys-tem on the mainland of Belize,she and her husband would va-cation in the beautiful island townof San Pedro. While staying onthe island, they noticed that manyyoung children were not inschool. After some inquiries theydiscovered there was no roomfor these children in the schoolon the island. Recently the tour-

ism industry had exploded andmany families from the mainlandhad moved to the island to lookfor jobs. As a result, it had be-come impossible for the schoolto accommodate all of the chil-dren living in the area.

As a mother herself, Ms.Francis knew how vitally impor-tant it was for these kids to re-ceive a good education. Ms.

Francis and her husband decidedthat building a school for thesechildren to attend was a must.

After some looking aroundthey also discovered the areawhere the school was neededmost. In San Mateo, a small, hid-den away, poverty stricken com-munity, where most of these chil-dren lived. San Mateo is a com-munity built on a salt watermarsh, consisting of approxi-mately 170 small one hundredsquare foot homes built out ofscrap wood and building supplies.It’s very common for at least tenpeople to live in these smallhomes. When she explained thisto the team, I could not believe

that a few days prior I had askedmy parents if it would be possi-ble to expand my 11 by 11 footbedroom so I could have moreroom to store my belongings. Ihave over ten times the room ofa child living in San Mateo and Ifelt it wasn’t enough? This re-ally started putting my prioritiesinto perspective.

As Ms. Francis told usmore about thepeople of SanMateo, themore I thoughtabout simplethings I hadtaken forgranted. Whenmy family andI have built upgarbage overthe week, weput it out on thecurb to be col-lected anddon’t thinktwice about it.While in SanMateo, theyhave nowhereto put it besidesoutside theirhomes in themarsh. When Ihave to the use

the washroom, I have the luxuryof using a toilet. In San Mateo,the people have to use the marsh.Whenever I need running waterfor cooking or to wash up orbrush my teeth, all I have to dois turn a tap and clean water isavailable. But in San Mateo, thepeople use collected rainwater.

The existing school is a veryimportant part of the community.Students are given breakfast, asnack and lunch. They aretransported out for medical helpif needed and are given a chanceat an education. However, thepopulation is still increasing, thusthere is a need for Holy Crossto expand.

This is why the C.L.B. isembarking on a mission to buildon an additional classroom forthe school. We are actually hop-ing that the classroom we buildwill serve as a medical clinic asthe community is in need of one.Just recently a young girl diedfrom an infection due to a smallcut because her family just didn’thave access to simple medicalsupplies such as band aids,polysporin or hydrogen peroxideto clean and care for the cut. AllI have to do is look in the closestfor some polysporin and a bandaid and I have no worries of in-fection. While for this young girl,a small cut was a matter of lifeand death.

As Ms. Francis went on totalk about things we would be

CLB Mission to BelizeArticle by

Sgt. Kathleen MercerCLB Mission Team

Helping the children: CLB Colonel Albert Pelley distributes food to childrenfrom Holy Cross Anglican School last year. The CLB are heading to Belize inJune to help build a classroom and run a Vacation Bible School for theyoungsters. Photo: David Pilling

See CLB Changing Liveson page 11


Returning to God columnistThe Rev. Michael Li

columnist

Once we turned away fromGod. Now we need to return toGod. We need to change fromthe way of self-love, self-trust,self-assertion, and self-worshipto the way of the cross, the wayof self-denial and the way ofself-giving grounded in faith inGod. Indeed, there is joy inheaven over one sinner who re-pents (Luke 15:10).

While most Anglicans arethe once-born type of Christianswho cannot recall any momentof decision, some of us have ex-perienced a gradual change ofdirection in life. Changing of theheart may extend over a periodof time, days, months, or longer. The moment of decision fromunbelief to belief is the climax ofa period of preparation andsearching for the truth.

A few of us have experi-enced a sudden conversion. Itcan be a highly emotional expe-rience. Revivalist meetings tendto produce such experience forsome seekers of the faith. Somepreachers enjoy arousing great

Ronald Clarke

anxiety in their audience. Somepeople converted under such acircumstance may not remaincommitted to the Gospel whenthe highly-charged atmospherepasses away.

Others may experience con-version and reconversion. Thefirst experience is important intheir spiritual lives, while the sec-ond experience becomes neces-sary to meet the new need orcrisis. Some preachers considerthe first experience as accept-ing Jesus as a personal Saviour,while the second experience assurrendering all to Jesus.

Returning to God should bean ongoing process, even thoughthe first one marks an importantturning point of one’s spiritualjourney. The ongoing processshould result in growth towardspiritual maturity. We should loveGod more today than yesterday. We should serve God more to-day than yesterday.

Human beings are psycho-logically capable of experiencingconversion as a crisis. A con-

verted person is a new creaturein Jesus. Everyone may havedifferent religious experiences. What is important is not that weshould have passed through aparticular kind of experience, butthat whatever our own experi-ences, we should now be faith-ful followers of Jesus.

By nature, we are all self-ish. We have a long way to goyet. But we must not be too self-centred in our spiritual lives. Once we have returned to God,we should live our faith by reach-ing out to others in evangelism,in missions, and in social serv-ice. By the transforming powerof the Holy Spirit, we are free toserve God and our fellow humanbeings.

A Parableof Spring

Suppose an alien from somedistant planet landed somewherein unoccupied rural Newfound-land one early winter day lastyear. What did he discover?

It was a dark sullen sky, nodoubt. Also, sharp cold windgusts with bare trees pointingskeleton arms at the sky. Allaround, a carpet of dark brown,stinking dead leaves. And over-all, a heavy silence. The wholeearth, this alien would presume,was cold and definitely dead!

Overnight he slept fitfullyand then awakened to a blindingsnowstorm. The landscape wassoon blanketed with white snow.The place was now, not onlydead, but also buried. It was alldead here, so the alien returnedhome.

Next June, out of curiosity,he returned to this “dead” land,only to be amazed. There was ablue sky now with soft warmwinds. Green grass carpeted thelandscape, with thick leafy treesand splashes of glorious flowers.Birds and insects buzzed. The“dead” earth is now alive andsinging.

Therein lies a parable forus.

This past March, seventeenpeople died in a tragic helicoptercrash. Whole families were trau-matized. People province-wide,across Canada, and even world-wide, were devastated. Griefblanketed the land. A cruelshroud of death enwrapped usall. An emotional and spiritual

winter prevailed.So many loved ones were

lost!But were they really lost?

If we truly believe in God, in Je-sus Christ, can we say they werelost?

Something that is truly lostoften pains us because we haveabsolutely no idea where it is. Butif we believe in Jesus we knowfor sure where our loved onesare: “I go to prepare a place foryou” he stated. “I will come andtake you to myself.”

So, we know, for sure, thatour loved ones are not lost, butwith Jesus.

The sad part of losing some-thing is that, most likely, we willnever see it again. But we be-lievers know that we will see ourdeparted ones once more, be-cause Jesus’ promise was for usalso, “I will take you unto my-self.” We will all be together inGod’s eternal new kingdom andunited forever!

What’s that kingdom like?So glorious, Jesus said, that itexceeds our imagination.

What we discover when wereach Heaven will make whatthat returning alien saw seem likenothing! With Jesus Christ,“death is swallowed up in vic-tory!”

30 Roe Avenue, P.O. Box 348,Gander, NL A1V 1W7Telephone: (709) 651-4100Fax: (709) 256-2957email: [email protected]

leaving home during the mission,again I found myself thinking ofall the things I have taken forgranted. She told us we wouldnot need hair dryers, curling ironsor make-up. Some of the girlson the team were floored by this,especially by the part about nomake-up! However I quicklyrealized, as I’m sure others didas well, that this mission is somuch more important than ourappearance. We have the oppor-tunity to make a difference inchildrens lives and it shouldn’tmatter how straight or curly ourhair is while we are doing so.

One thing that really stoodout in the session for me was themotto Ms. Francis used at theschool. “Blessed are the flexible,for they shall not be bent out ofshape.” This motto makes a lotof sense, because if you arecompletely rigid and firm abouta something and that somethingdoesn’t turn out right, then mostpeople get completely stressedout (i.e. bent out of shape). Al-though Colonel Arns could seeC.L.B. protocol going right outthe window with this motto itseemed to be accepted by theteam, as Ms. Francis had us allchanting it out proudly by the endof the session. I could definitely

see myself using this motto ineveryday life. Taking my bed-room as an example, if I becomemore flexible with my bedroom,use the space wisely and begrateful for what space I have,there’s no way that I could bebent out of shape because of my“lack” of space.

I believe this session withMs. Francis opened up our eyesto the mission and gave us a greatdeal to think about with respectto our priorities. There will mostdefinitely be some more eyeopening when we arrive in SanMateo and it will hopefully be alife changing experience for mostof us.

CLB changing livesContinued from page 10

Fourteen young men and women were honoured recently to receive the laying on of hands fromBishop Percy Coffin. Bishop Coffin confirmed 9 boys and 5 girls during an evening service in Port auxBaques on March 15th, 2009. A special thank you to the dedicated Sunday School volunteers andtheir Superintendent who brought them to this point on their Christian journey. Pictured here aresome of the newly confirmed as they cut their cake during a reception in their honour, hosted by themembers of Vestry’s Worship Committee. Submitted by Kay Short.


development and stewardshipare promoting and enabling ahealthy, spiritual community offaith. All of us need to realize thatwhat we do today with our lives,how we allow God our Creator,through Jesus Christ, empow-ered by the Holy Spirit, shinethrough us, will give way to adeeper faith commitment, nur-turing and enabling the ministryof all the baptized. Taking Careof God’s Business here and nowwill ensure that future genera-

Recognizing the Gifttions know who Jesus is and theimportance of loving God andneighbour, through worship andservice. We have a responsibil-ity to let God’s love reflectthrough us so that others may seethe light of Christ and engage inthe ministry of the baptized. Wehave a responsibility of becom-ing better stewards of all thatGod has entrusted to us. Stew-ardship is recognizing the gift,unwrapping it, and using it.

TOP 10 THINGSYou Can Do Today To

LEAVE A LEGACY™1 Prepare a will2 Leave a gift3 Be Specific4 Consider assets5 Name an alternate beneficiary6 Existing life insurance7 New life insurance8 Memorial gifts9 Encourage others10 Ask your advisor

Continued from page 1

Godly Play© coming toMount Pearl parish

In September of 2009 theParish of the Good Shepherd inMount Pearl will become the firstparish in eastern Canada toadopt the Godly Play© seriesof children’s ministry.

Developed over the past 30years, the Godly Play programis directly inspired by theMontessori approach to educa-tion and believes that childrenlearn through all of their sensesand not only through sight ands o u n d .There is noclassroom;there is arich, interac-tive learningenvironmentdesigned toprovide boththe childrenand theirparents witha deep experience of God.

Designed for children 2 to12 years of age, the Godly Playapproach is now widely usedacross the US and the UK, and

in May five adults from the par-ish will travel to Nova Scotia fora 3-day workshop to becomeaccredited as leaders for the se-ries. Donna Ronan, Val Tilley,Barbara Boone, Kathy Peddleand Archdeacon Geoff Peddlewill then introduce the programat the parish and offer trainingand support to other interestedcongregations.

On the weekend of May 30there will be a 3-hour introduc-

tory session for parents andteachers at the Parish of theGood Shepherd (people fromoutside the parish are also wel-come) and on the weekend of

November 6-8 the parish will hosta 3-day accreditation workshopfor new teachers. Both sessionswill be led by Amy Crawfordwho is a nationally certifiedtrainer in the series.

For more information visitthe Godly Play website at http://www.godlyplay.org/ or contactArchdeacon Geoff Peddle [email protected] or bytelephone at 747-1022. Regis-tration for the fall program will

be limited sop a r e n t swishing toregister theirchildren atthe parishare encour-aged to con-tact theChurch Of-fice orArchdeacon

Geoff as soon as possible. Theparish is grateful to the Dioceseof Eastern Newfoundland andLabrador for financial assistanceto begin this program.

Article byThe Ven. Geoff Peddle

The Rev’d Karen Laldininducted in Curling

St. Mary’s Youth Band. The Rev’d Karen Laldin (far left) the new Rector ofSt. Mary the Virgin, Curling stands with members of the Youth Band: (left toright) Matthew Keating, Laura Allen, Courtney Pearce, April Piercey, EugeneTaylor, and Mr. Ted Wheeler (Youth Band director).

On Sunday March 15, 2009,the parishioners of Saint Marythe Virgin, Corner Brook, wel-comed our new rector Rev.Karen Laldin at the Celebrationof a New Ministry and Serviceof Induction during our regular10:30 am worship at which timeour Covenant in Ministry wassigned.

Our five member youthband, under the direction of Mr.

Ted Wheeler, led the congrega-tion in the singing of “Days ofElijah” and sang “Hosanna” asan anthem at which time sym-bols of ministry were broughtforward by members of the con-gregation. We concluded theworship with a lunch and fellow-ship.

Rev. Karen has been ablessing to us since her arrival inOctober 2008 and we pray shewill be as blessed by us as wehave been by her and her minis-try.

Article & Photo byAnne & Bernie Keeting

For the past year St. Mary’sAnglican Church Women(ACW) in Cow Head, have beencollecting pennies for PWRDF.The membership divided intotwo teams. The team thatbrought in the most pennieswould have dinner cooked forthem by the other team. With thisincentive in mind, all membersrose to the challenge and startedcollecting pennies from relatives,friends and even strangers.

On 9 March 2009 at ourregular monthly ACW meeting,the ladies arrived with buckets,bags and boxes of pennies. Theatmosphere was alive with joy,laughter and goodwill and onecould not help but think of thewords of Jesus in Acts 20:35, “itis more blessed to give than re-ceive.” We were certainlyblessed and one could almostexperience bliss in the moment.

The teams separated tocount the rolled pennies. Whenall the counting was finished, weended up with a total of $1050.50and what a pile it was!

One of ourmembers, KarenBennett, startedsinging a song shehad learned manyyears ago in Sun-day School:“Dropping, drop-ping, dropping,hear the penniesfall, everyone forJesus, he shallhave them all,”and before longeveryone hadjoined in the sing-ing.

As Christianswe are called tohelp others in needand through ours u p p o r t i n g

PWRDF, we are helping ourbrothers and sisters in our globalcommunity. Our goal this year isto double the amount raised lastyear for Daffodil Place, a can-cer centre being built for peoplewho have to travel to St John’sfor treatment.

Each time I drop a pennyinto my container I have for col-lecting, I am reminded of mygrandmother’s words, “everypenny counts,” and it was sureproven true this past year withthe thousands of pennies col-lected and the joy of sharing inthe fun of such an event.

Pennies from heaven

Article & Photo byNora Shears

Documents

Anglican Life May 2009