Announcements

‘Called to Life – Compelled to Love’ is the weaving together of the three objectives of a new Mission Action Plan (MAP) that was approved in January, the culmination of an eight-month discernment process.

Our mission action plan identifies the ways the people of our diocese are actively seeking of God and God’s mission for a church or diocese and sets priorities and
actions that reflect an intersection of our diocese’s spiritual yearnings, strengths, and challenges.

“Our MAP is a bold statement of what we want to become by the Grace of God over the next 3-5 years,” says Bishop Susan Bell. “It’s intended to be a living document – constantly in use and developing organically with the inevitable and much prayed-for developments in the life of the Church.” Hundreds of people from across the diocese contributed to the development of our mission action plan.

Mission Action Plan Prayer
Beloved God, we are your people called to walk a renewed path with Jesus.
Be with us, your whole church, as we seek to rekindle and enliven our faith.
Keep us firm in our commitment to reshape our culture and structures for mission and invigorate our social justice engagement, most especially the nurture and protection of your creation.
Let the whole world see us living and lifting up the fullness of your love.
Make new those things that have grown old; and bring wholeness to that which cries out for restoration.
All this we ask through the Spirit of the Living God and in the name of the Christ who came among us, is among us and will come among us. Amen.

Our Vision
Called to Life – Compelled to Love

Our Mission Statement
Ignited by the irresistible love of Jesus and renewed by the Holy Spirit, we partner with God to deepen faith, share stories and care for God’s world.

Objective and Strategies

1. Create and implement opportunities to ignite and strengthen faith
   Strategies:
   1. Nourish and support clergy, parishioners (current and de-churched) and staff in their longing to know Christ. Listen, learn and then act to understand what is required to provide nourishment and support.
   2. Share the Good News of Christ’s life changing love for all.
2. Reimagine diocesan culture and adapt our structures to enable ministry
   Strategies:
   1. Invite interested people to gather in incubator groups to pray, discern and propose innovative recommendations around common topics.
   2. Examine personnel, governance, financial and vocational policies and structures of the diocese with the intention of freeing us for God’s mission.
   3. Review internal and external communication practices and implement more effective communication strategies.
3. Prioritize Social Justice action with an emphasis on Environmental Justice
   The Gospel calls us to work to change unjust structures and help the marginalized and the poor. This includes all forms of injustice including climate crisis, racism, mental health discrimination, human rights, homelessness, human trafficking and poverty. Knowledge and skills will move us to impactful advocacy.
   Strategies:
   1. Deepen our understanding of local and global social justice needs.
   2. Provide response strategies, training and resources to enable parishes to take appropriate action on issues.
   3. Actively engage in reconciliation work in response to the TRC recommendations

Note:
Church on Sunday, May 15 will be a combined service starting at 10:00 am with the congregation invited to stay after to begin our Mission Action Plan. Please review the Adult Faith Formation tool sent earlier this week prior to attending the meeting next Sunday. We hope you can all attend.

The Primate’s World Relief & Development Fund (PWRDF) is allocating $360,000 to support humanitarian relief efforts in four parts of the world where needs are high, where looming conflict threatens to further displace people and where crisis is preventing families from staying healthy.

“We are taking the same amount from our PWRDF reserves to allocate $90,000 each to four humanitarian responses, each of them complex, each of them seeking justice, health and peace for communities so affected,” says Executive Director Will Postma. “We are doing so at a time when we are concerned for the people of Ukraine, the loss of peace and so many lives, but also recognize the many other humanitarian crises around the world that need financial support.”

The matched funds will be given to support ongoing relief and development projects in Myanmar, Iraq, Ethiopia and Syria.
Click on this link to read more: https://pwrdf.org/pwrdf-matches-donations-for-ukraine-with-four-other-humanitarian- responses/

Kay Langlois, passed away on April 12, 2022. Kay was a lifelong member of Christ Anglican Church and Church of the Transfiguration. She was involved with the ACW organizing many events within the church.

In keeping with Kay’s wishes, funeral arrangements have been entrusted to George Darte Funeral Home, 585 Carlton St. (cremation has taken place). Guests are welcome for visitation on Saturday, May 14th from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. with a Celebration of Life to follow in the ceremony room.

To The Rev. Dr. Wayne Fraser who is now officially an Honorary Assistant here at Church of the Transfiguration. We have already been blessed by your reflections, sermons, and worship leadership and we look forward to sharing in the ministry of God with you in the years ahead!

KATHLEEN HARMON
April 9, 1921- April 16, 2022

In the middle of her afternoon nap, Kay left 101 years behind her and went to join Ken (2006). Loving mother to Richard (the late Judy) and Dorothy (Donald) Brown. Grandmother to five, and Great-Grandmother to ten. Devoted Aunt to her nieces and nephews.

Born in Thunder Bay, Kay, Ken and their family lived throughout Ontario, settling in Burlington in 1957. Kay was one of the first volunteers at Joseph Brant Hospital. She was also President of the Altar Guild at St. Luke’s Anglican Church as well as a long time member of the ACW.

After Ken retired, they travelled frequently to South Carolina as well as visiting family in Eastern and Western Canada, Nevada, England, and Portugal.

Twelve years ago, Kay relocated to the Niagara Region to be near family, and was one of the first residents at Seasons Retirement Residence in Welland.

Kay’s family thanks the staff at Seasons for their loving compassionate care, and particularly to Shari from Sandra’s Home Health Care who came into Mom’s life at the exact right moment.

In keeping with Kay’s wishes, cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Life will be held at the Church of the Transfiguration, April 27th, 2022 beginning with visitation at 1p.m. followed by the service at 2p.m. Masks required. In lieu of flowers, donations to Kay’s favourite charity, Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund would be appreciated.

If you would like to make a donation to the Easter Flower Fund in memory of a loved one there will be a sign up sheet in the front entryway, email Lindsey in the office at transfigchurchoffice@gmail.com or you can call (905) 684-0722.

Envelopes will be available at the church, or please mail your donation in with a note indicating that the offering is for the Easter Flowers.

Palm Sunday & Easter Sunday Ensemble

No practice this Sunday. Please meet next Sunday, April 10th @ 9:45 a.m. for pre-service rehearsal. Lindsey encourages you to continue to work on your music at home.

Visit: www.TransfigurationMusic.ca and email Lindsey from the Website.

I am so excited and pleased to offer Resurrection Eggs to families of all ages this year for Lent and Holy Week. If you aren’t familiar with this concept, it is a dozen eggs, each filled with a small token that represents a portion of the Passion story. There will be laminated cards that guide you through each portion of the story. The eggs themselves are thoughtfully packaged and intended to be a faith formation tool that gets used in homes year after year. These will be offered at no cost to those who are interested.

If you would like to reserve a set of Resurrection Eggs for your family, please email me at transfigcyfm@gmail.com

Our goal for Coldest Night of the Year 2022 is $150,000. What’s so amazing about this? We’ve raised $140,000 again, in the middle of a Global Pandemic, with more Teams than ever before. We ranked 2nd across Canada for the most walk Teams. Way to go Niagara, we did this! We missed seeing many of your smiling faces in person, but we’re so happy to share the photos you sent in.

For those who were able to come out to our 1st ever ‘Chilli & Chocolate’, it was a treat to be able to come together. We’ll have to do that again. There is still a short amount of time to get the last of your donations in. The final day to submit funds is March 31st. Donate here: https://coldestnightoftheyear.org/location/stcatharines

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, donations to the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) have flooded in, with an overwhelming $266,500 being raised by Canadian Anglicans in just a few short weeks.

After an initial $50,000 grant to the ACT Alliance and its local partner, Hungarian Interchurch Aid, PWRDF has announced an additional $50,000 allocation to continue supporting Ukrainians as they make the long journey from their homes to the Hungarian border. An additional $50,000 has also been given to HelpAge International to support seniors trying to cross the border into Moldova.

Sheila and Lindsey are putting together an updated list of the Key Holders in our Parish. Here is what we would like you to do:

1. Email office with your first and last name.
2. How many keys do you have?
3. Do you have security code number?

Then we need you to come to the Church with your key(s) as we need to find out what doors your keys can access.

If you know anyone who has a key but does not have email can you please have them call the office please.
Thank you so much!

If you would like anything added to our weekly newsletter please get the information to me by Wednesday at noon. Also if you want that information added to the Sunday slides please indicate this as well.
Thanks so much everyone! Lindsey

Commissioning of Wardens & Parish Council Sunday, March 20, 2022 At the 10:30 am. Service

Ray Elder – Rector’s Warden
Barbara Sainty – People’s Warden
Kelly Twerdy – Treasurer and Deputy People’s Warden Beth Kerley – Lay Delegate to Synod
Byron Nicholson – Lay Delegate to Synod
Barbara Forder – Alternate Delegate to Synod
Karen Perry
Joanne Lynagh
Don Alsop
Carrie Adewumi
Katherine Kerley – Children Family Youth

Parish Council Meeting Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in the Fireside Room. All Members are asked to be present.

My husband, Gerald Flemming, and I form the music duo, Infinitely More. We’re a freelance ministry that provides musical leadership for many churches in the Diocese, including monthly leadership at Advent Cafe at St. George’s (St. Catharines). This Lent, we’ve partnered with the Anglican Diocese of Niagara to create a Lenten Musical Calendar! Each week, we’re creating a new video, inspired by that week’s Gospel. The video features a clergy member from the Diocese sharing a brief reflection, followed by a song performance from Infinitely More. Some churches are already taking advantage of this free resource, but we want to make sure that all parishes know how and when they can find the videos! We’ve created a Welcome video that explains how to find and use each week’s offering: https://youtu.be/WW3iMgrRkXs

Blessings, Allison www.InfinitelyMore.ca

The Contemplative Circle explores contemplative practices. Over four Thursday evenings (March 17, 24, 31 & April 7) we will focus on Centring Prayer. Over the four sessions we will learn the four guidelines for Centering Prayer, practice together via Zoom and discuss.

Each one-hour session begins at 7pm and will focus on a particular aspect of Centering Prayer. Attending all four sessions will provide the broadest introduction to the Centering Prayer. To register for one or more of the sessions, click here.

We will show my video on week 1 and Kevin’s on week two. You can see the videos here:
https://youtu.be/BugYdqLopzY
https://youtu.be/-nVd8xpwUqw

From the Greater St. Catharines Social Justice network.

(Pete is one of our Brood of Vipers & Prelude Trio Harmonica Player)

I am the one who always waits for you. Your car has a special sound that I have imprinted on my senses, I can recognize it among a thousand. Your steps have a magic timbre. Your voice is music to my ears. If I see your joy, it makes me happy! Your scent is the best, Your presence is what moves my senses. Your awakening wakes me up. I watch you sleep and for me you are my God, I am happy watching over your sleep. Your gaze is a ray of light. Your hands on me have the lightness of peace and the sublime display of infinite love. When you go out, I feel a huge emptiness in my heart. I wait for you again and again.

I am the one who will wait for you all my life today, tomorrow and always:
I am your dog

A big thank you Marilyn Trinder who is stepping down as Parish Historian.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank Marilyn Trinder for her many years of service as Church Historian. Marilyn has been a tremendous help to Corporation in providing details from the church history, helping interim and new rectors become acquainted with the parish and our members and reaching out to parish families for photos, contact information, etc. Marilyn, thank you again for all you have done for the parish and all you continue to do.

For May/June/July have arrived. If you pre-ordered from Erica your copy is on the table outside of the Church. Pick your copy up when able.