Author: admin

Questions about Sheila’s Sabbatical Answered Here

admin Announcements

Last Sunday I announced that I will be taking a sabbatical this year. Sabbaticals are about rest and renewal, the word comes from the Hebrew word Sabbath, the seventh day of creation when God rested. If God needs a rest now and again so too then do ministers. It’s right in the Bible!

Why?
After at least 7 years of ministry and at least 2 years in a parish, Priest’s in our Diocese are eligible to take a 2 month sabbatical. A sabbatical is a paid leave from ministry to spend time in prayerful reflection, deep rest and further their theological education through reading or taking courses. In 2017 I had been given the Bishop’s permission to take a sabbatical however health problems arose a few months before and I needed to take a few months of sick leave and so decided to defer my sabbatical, so 8 years later I’m finally taking it!

When?
The Bishop has given her assent to my sabbatical which will be for the months of May and June. Then I will be on vacation for the first 3 weeks of July. I will be taking the remainder of my vacation time in September.

What?
During my sabbatical I am looking to go on a silent retreat, and I am looking at studying Indigenous Spirituality, seeing how it can impact and enhance my own spiritual practises, seeing where our understanding of God can be broadened by seeing God through a new lens. I am also planning to spend some time resting from the work I do in ministry to recharge my batteries as it were.

How?
This sabbatical is only possible for me because of the willingness of colleagues to help cover
services, the organizational abilities of Lindsey as Parish Administrator and the support of the
corporation, parish council and all of you. For all of this I am deeply grateful. There is a grant
available from the Diocese to help cover the cost of Sunday coverage, so the financial responsibilities from the parish are negligible.

Sunday Coverage
Sundays we will have a number of clergy taking services including our own Donald Brown and Wayne
Fraser as well as Archdeacon Bill Mous and Rev. Krista Hilton, the Chaplain at Brock University. As we get closer to May I will be giving you a full schedule as to who hill be celebrating and when.

I hope this helps to answer some questions but if you have others please feel free to contact me.
Yours in Christ,
Sheila

Bottle Drive Fundraiser

admin Announcements

As an extension to our bottle drive, we would like everyone to bring in their empty bottles for 2 weeks after Easter. Please save your bottles between now and Easter and bring them to the church the week of April 20 to May 4.

If you would like to continue to contribute to the bottle drive, you can return your empties to the beer store and donate your funds in the bottle drive collection box in the Narthex.
Thank you from Kari V

A Message From Alice

admin Announcements

Just want to let everyone know that I will be making mincemeat tarts for the Christmas season (first date for delivery will be 8th December). Cost will be $2.00 each or $20.00 per dozen. Please place the order in the butter tarts section of the order form and rather than raisin, pecan or plain write in mince.
Many thanks, Alice Murray

Statistics for November:
7 orders, 3 dozen butter tarts, One of each flavour, 4 Carrot Cakes (favourite this
month), 0 Streusel Bars, 1 Blueberry Lemon Loaf, $135.00 raised this month! Total raised $735.00! Thank you again to Alice for sharing your talents with us

A Message from Dorothy Brown

admin Announcements

Socks 1413775 scaled.

A Sock For Socks!

A few years ago, we filled a giant Santa sock full of socks for the folks at the Breakfast Programme. Once again, the big red stocking will be hung in the lobby during the 4 Sundays in Advent. Cold, wet feet are a reality for folks who spend their days on the street, with little access to laundry. Fresh socks not only feel good, but prevent conditions such as Trench Foot, and frostbite.

Office Of The Bishop Of Niagara – Anglican Church of Canada

admin Announcements


Dear friends:

Warm Advent greetings to you as we embark on this beautiful season of light. As we do, we seek wisdom and strength from the sage words of the prophets who speak into our present moment. Now, as a diocese, we are also looking back – albeit with slightly different intentions – as we mark the sesquicentennial of our diocese. In 1875, with Canada still in its infancy, our diocese was formed by an act of the Ontario Legislative Assembly. Bishop Thomas Brock Fuller, godson of Sir Isaac Brock, The Hero of Upper Canada, served as our first diocesan bishop.

Our humble origins stand as a wonderful reminder of God’s provision over time and space. Some 150 years later, we are over 80 parishes strong and are continuing to express the Christian faith in a mature and robust way. We give thanks to God with grateful hearts for the vision and faith of our forebears, and all the ways their light continues to sustain a faithful church up and down the diocese.

But this is not only an historical commitment, it’s one that’s rooted in our complex times too. This is a hard time in our world – as if the last few years haven’t been hard enough – with the pandemic – with the fast pace of discontinuous change in our culture – now we are enduring wars and political unpredictability – and the cost of living crisis. It’s hard to know where to look for encouragement. It’s also hard to know where to put our time, our energy, and our resources so that they somehow work against all the darkness. Enter the season of Advent, which invites us to redirect our focus from darkness to light. The fact is, to have faith in Christ is to embrace the light and to act as an antidote to the dehumanization and the polarization of our culture. If we keep our eyes on Christ and study how to live as Christians and let what we discover frame our worldview and our actions, we will have done something important to push back the darkness in our own lives, but also in this world. This focus on the light is an act of resistance to which the Church is well accustomed.

Each year at this time we welcome again the Christ who will lead us forward. In each parish and mission in our beloved diocese are leaders who have been formed and supported to give us hope and help us to have faith in the future. 150 years is a long obedience in the same direction. It is a commitment to being the light – to saying words of mercy and performing acts of love in Christ’s name. And we want to continue to be those beacons of hope in Niagara.

So, in thanksgiving to God for150 years of ministry, and in honour of all those leaders who have gone before us and who have created a legacy of witness and care for the widow and the orphan, we are establishing a new 150th Anniversary Curacy Fund: a fund that will assist young, newly ordained clergy so that they can work alongside seasoned priests and have a focused time of apprenticeship. This is a vision that is practical and invests back into the communities where we all live, benefiting the whole Church, and even enabling the possibility for some parishes to afford a curacy placement. In keeping with the 150th anniversary of this diocese, we hope to build an initial endowed fund of $1.5 million dollars and then slowly build it up over the years ahead. With the gains on investments, the bishop can then place new priests to serve in diverse ministry settings across our diocese. And this will only pay a greater dividend, by helping to ensure the formation of inspiring and talented clergy for long into the future. In thanksgiving for 150 years of being light-bearers in our world, I ask you to consider, as an Advent devotion, a gift to our anniversary fund. All gifts are welcome; you might consider, in keeping with the number 150, a one-time gift of 150 or 1500 dollars, or perhaps a monthly gift throughout our anniversary year of the same. Regardless of the size of your thank offering, it will be such a valuable contribution to this legacy fund. You can make a donation through our diocesan website, or through Canada Helps.

Already we have received a legacy gift of a quarter of a million dollars to support this ministry. If your heart is moved to do the same, please speak with your priest or call our diocesan office and ask to speak with The Reverend Canon Dr. Drew MacDonald, our stewardship and campaign advisor. Together, let us be the light of Christ for generations to come through our collective thanksgiving and through our everyday witness to the Gospel. Every blessing to you and yours this Advent,
The Right Reverend Dr. Susan J. A. Bell Bishop of Niagara

Birthdays And Anniversaries For December

admin Announcements

Birthdays And Anniversaries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Moments In Our Parish Family For December

Birthdays

2nd Justine Cotton
3rd John Green
4th Chizaram Ashmole
6th Joy Liu
6th Joan Strachan
10th Bill Muirhead
16th Carol Rudel
17th Olivia Sissmore Green
20th Carol Harrod
30th Craig Slack

Anniversaries

8th Dorothy & Joe Edwards
17th Sue & Doug Sider (25th anniversary)
21st Lindsey & Kari Vanderzee-Mills

If we are missing you, please email the office so we can update our files.