Welcome to a new series of videos featuring Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson from the Anglican Diocese of Montreal. This is the 2nd episode in the series titled "Moments with Bishop Mary"
Hope Humility and Reflections on Racism.
Our Bishop addresses and acknowledges the sin of racism and invites you to do the same.
As Christians we live Christ’s word in the world and that is our ministry. In Education for Ministry or EfM, we develop listening skills, we wrestle with scripture that doesn’t make any sense to us today, and texts that benefit from being situated in their historical contexts. We learn that scripture that speaks to us in different ways depending on what we are currently experiencing. We read interlude books together by contemporary authors from Julia Gatta’s Life in Christ, Practicing Christian Spirituality to Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, The Classic Exploration of Christian Community, to pick just two. We take real world events and experiences and look at them through the eyes of tradition and culture and personal beliefs, comparing and contrasting God’s view versus the Worlds’ view. Most of the people we meet aren’t practicing Christians, yet they are God’s people and we serve them in any way we can.
Because of COVID-19, our courses will likely start online in September, so it is recommended that any new students have a computer that would allow them to use Zoom or an equivalent tool. We’ll meet in person once we are allowed to, so for those in the Montreal area there is a course on the McGill Campus at Montreal Diocesan Theological College, for the Lower Laurentians there is a course in Lachute, and for the Eastern Townships, there is a course at Grace Church in Sutton. Participants enroll one year at a time for this four-year program. It starts with the Hebrew Bible, then the New Testament, followed by church history, liturgy and theology, and ending with contemporary works. Tuition is $350 per year (a lower rate than normal since we are a sponsoring Diocese of the program).
Please contact Nancy Greene-Gregoire (514-862-5367 or ngreene@acm.org) for Lachute or Montreal, and Tim Smart (revtimsmart@gmail.com) for Sutton. We’d like to have all new registrations in by July 15, but later registrations can often be accommodated.
On Friday, June 12th we are hosting the final in a series of webinars on Engaging with Children and Youth Online. This week our speaker is The Rev. Dr. Hilary Bogert-Winkler.
Dr. Hilary Bogert-Winkler is the Director of Pastoral Studies at Montreal Diocesan Theological College. Prior to her arrival in Montreal, Hilary served as diocesan youth missioner for the Diocese of Western Massachusetts while she completed her PhD at the University of Connecticut. For the past decade, Hilary’s ministry has focused on faith formation with young people ages 11-18 in both parish and camp settings. Connecting her work in academia and in the parish is her passion for theological education and her belief that learning about our faith should not be confined to the classroom or the Sunday School room, but should be part of our daily life as Christians.
To register email Lee-Ann lmatthews@montreal.anglican.ca or click going on the Facebook event
Diocese of Montreal - Guaranteed Basic Income – how can you help?
Bishop Mary along with the House of Bishops sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister, and to The Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance. Together they are asking for a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) to be instituted in our country as a more efficient and equitable way to make sure that everyone has a minimum of support for living.
The letter is here https://www.anglican.ca/news/a-public-letter-on-guaranteed-basic-income/30026458/
Bishop Mary nominated Nancy Greene- Gregoire and Rev. Deacon Peter Huish to represent our Diocese in cross-Canada GBI discussions to be involved in taking the next steps of developing well-informed advocacy within the church. Nancy Greene-Gregoire (ngreene@acm.org) is a lay person and our EFM co-ordinator. She volunteers for and is on the board of the Mile End Mission. The Rev. Deacon Peter Huish (huish.peter@gmail.com) is a vocational deacon, and a member of Christ Church Cathedral. He has worked as a prison chaplain and currently is part of an organization called Communitas, which advocates for and supports prisoners in their reintegration into society.
You are invited to add your voice to those of the House of Bishops and those of the ELCIC (Lutheran) Bishops and to share this with all who may wish to support this cause, even outside the Anglican community. The more people who send in letters, the better.
We made a short film highlighting Theology in the Laurentians featuring The Rev. Professor Patricia Kirkpatrick. Thanks to the Laurentian Regional Ministry, Montreal Dio and McGill school of Religious Studies for making this project come to life…
Blog by the Rev. Dr. Neil Mancor , June 2nd 2020
As if 2020 couldn’t get any stranger – and we are only half-way through. There is a palpable sense of outrage at witnessing a historic Church and a Bible being used for a political stunt in ways antithetical to their true purpose and meaning. Then a rare but powerful rebuke from a Bishop to a President and the words ring out all over the world: I am outraged.
Rarely do words like “blasphemous” and “abomination” ring as true as they do right now. One of the reasons we read the Scriptures is because they are God’s living word to us. As Anglicans, we do not pretend to understand every word of the Bible or how it all applies to us and our lives. Indeed we struggle together to make meaning of the sacred text. We do not hold fast onto literalistic readings that turn theological story into established fact. But we do love the Scriptures. We read them with devotion at every service. We preach them with passion and (hopefully) intelligence at every service. We study and seek to draw out their meaning. But we do not misuse them.
Over the weeks of the pandemic I have been blessed to be involved in regular Bible studies throughout the week. It has been a joy to gather with other believers to open God’s Word and find nourishment for the journey. For me, the Scriptures are an essential part of my life of prayer, for it is in the Scriptures that God is revealed to us through Jesus Christ. Pressing into this God helps make sense of my life and this world and this time we are in. There is a purity and beauty about the Scriptures. Psalm 19 says The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. The Scriptures are magnificent, pure and righteous. They are a source of all that is good and right.
Which is why it was such a gut wrenching thing to see a Bible being waved around as a political stunt. Truly an abomination. All the more because that same holy text boldly declares that all humankind is created in the image and likeness of God and an African American man was murdered. His name is George Floyd. He was created in God’s image and the texts we call sacred demand justice.
We are switching gears and returning back to our book / bible study. Join us on Monday for Chapter 6 "Gospel Stories" with Caroline Filler and Lee-Ann Matthews
Monday June 1st 6-7:30 (join HERE)
“The gospel means that every small story is part of a sweeping story, every ordinary life part of an extraordinary movement. God is busy making all things new, and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus has opened that work to everyone who wants in on it. The church is not a group of people who believe all the same things; the church is a group of people caught up in the same story, with Jesus at the center."
-Rachel Held Evans Chapter 6, Gospel Stories
Supper Club Calendar:
Mon. June 1st 6-7:30 pm Inspired by Rachel Held Evans -Chapter 6: Gospel Stories
Mon. June 8th 6-7:30pm Inspired by Rachel Held Evans -Chapter 7: Fish Stories
Mon. June 16th 6-7:30 Inspired by Rachel Held Evans - Chapter 8: Church Stories
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Fax: (514) 843 6344
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The Synod Office is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk), at a place called Tio’tia:ke (Montreal), a meeting place for many First Nations, including the Haudenosaunee (Six Nation Confederacy), Anishinabeg and Algonquin peoples.
We recognize and respect the Kanien’keha:ka as the traditional stewards of the land and waters of Tio’tia:ke.
Our acknowledgement stands as a promise to continue the ongoing work of recognition and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
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©2024 Synod of the Diocese of Montreal & Lord Bishop of Montreal
