New Anti Black Racism Task Force Announcement

A Message from the Task Force:

"A motion on Dismantling Anti-Black Racism was passed at our November 15th Diocesan Synod. The motion instructs Diocesan Council to appoint a task force which will engage the Diocese in a formal process to address systemic anti-Black racism. The purpose of the task force will be to develop and implement an action plan to equip our members to be agents of positive change."

View this video with a reflection on racism by Bishop Mary.

Thanks be to God for this new day

"Une motion sur le démantèlement du racisme anti-noir a été adoptée lors de notre synode diocésain du 15 novembre. La motion charge le conseil diocésain de nommer un groupe de travail qui engagera le diocèse dans un processus formel pour traiter du racisme anti-noir systémique. L'objectif de ce groupe de travail sera de développer et de mettre en œuvre un plan d'action pour permettre à nos membres d'être des agents de changement positif".

Visionnez cette vidéo, dont le lien est ci-dessous, avec une réflexion sur le racisme par l'évêque Mary.

Merci à Dieu pour ce nouveau jour

December Issue of Anglican Montreal is hot off the presses!

View Highlights from Our Digital Synod 2020

Bishop's Charge 2020

Everything you need to know about Synod 2020

NEW! A Video Message from Bishop Mary about the Bishop's Action Appeal 2020

Dear Friend,   

The past few months have been difficult as we have all been affected, in one way or another, by this pandemic. I hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and that you might be in a position to give to this year’s Bishop’s Action Appeal. Your gift will help those whose needs have grown so much during this time.

Thanks to your generous response to last year’s appeal, there has been significant progress in the construction of St. Catherine Girls Secondary School in rural Tanzania, which will provide a safe environment for girls to receive an education. Thanks to you, we were also able to provide bursaries for our Lay Readers, who offer vital ministry throughout our Diocese.

Our local missions need your support

As you might know, the pandemic has adversely affected the financial situation of the diocese. Yet, we are committed to support our three much-loved local missions that lift up the most vulnerable in our midst. I invite you to help the Diocese fulfill our commitment to:

The Mile End Community Mission: For most of their members, the pandemic has added a tremendous financial strain to already limited budgets and has left many feeling even more vulnerable and isolated than they were before. To answer the need, the mission has been providing free hot take-out meals, a weekly food bank service and grocery delivery. 

Action Réfugiés Montréal: For some newcomers, huddling at home, not being able to work with children out of school, brought memories of their time in exile before coming to Canada. The situation has made it essential for staff at ARM to provide ongoing support to the people they serve.

Tyndale-St Georges Community Centre continues its commitment to the community of Little Burgundy. Focused on preventing isolation during the pandemic, the Centre is offering new outreach programs, including an online children’s library, remote family support and emergency food security.

 Helping disabled children overseas

This year we are also asking you to support a special appeal in conjunction with the Compass Rose Society: the Princess Basma Hospital in Jerusalem. A project of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, the Hospital provides rehabilitation and educational assistance for Palestinian children with disabilities. They are urgently appealing for our help to continue their vital work during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Unless you specify otherwise, half of your donation will go to Giving with Grace which funds projects at the national church level, including The Healing Fund, military chaplaincies, indigenous ministries and more. 

 With my thanks and every blessing,

The Rt. Rev. Mary Irwin-Gibson 

P.S. Please give as generously as you can. Gifts of $25 or more are eligible for a tax receipt, which will be issued in February 2021. 

A Tale of Two Church Signs - Blog by Neil Mancor

A Tale of Two Church Signs

I give you Exhibit A. The Church sign, long out use, I came across when I was visiting my friend at St John the Baptist, Pointe-Claire. My first thought was: they don’t make them like that anymore! It’s hard to believe our many parishes could once sustain such a complex liturgical calendar of three services per Sunday with other weekday services as announced. It’s even more amazing that anyone could be expected to interpret the sign and ever know what kind of service they were going to encounter! Holy Communion at 8, Choral Eucharist and sermon at 10, 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays; Matins and sermon 2nd and 4th. Evensong with sermon at 7:30pm. I guess they thought this would never change as the lettering was painted on the sign. Of course in those days everyone had curates so the preaching load could be shared. Note that they had Sunday School AND Nursery. But they had the people to run that kind of thing then. They probably had classes for every age. The Church was comprehensive in its coverage of every possible age group.

It might be hard for many of us to believe, but it was only fairly recently that weekly Holy Eucharist at the main service became the norm in Canada, and that even this was resisted well into the 70s. When I grew up during that era of liturgical experimentation, my church had a whole week cycle: 1st Sunday BCP Communion; 2nd Sunday Matins & Eucharist; 3rd Sunday Modern Rite Eucharist 4th Sunday Family Service; 5th Sunday Sung Matins. You never quite knew what you were going to get when you showed up. This was a compromise to ease us away from Sung Matins, but old Mr. Chutter at the church fought for Matins until the end. I started out as a choirboy and later became an organist and I always enjoyed Matins and Evensong because of all the music. Those were great times. But that was then.

This is now. I give you Exhibit B. I was walking Basco the Pug through my neighbourhood the other day and came across this Church sign. I have never seen a Church sign so of the moment. Closed during COVID-19 and like many of us surviving with online worship, this Church decided to create a sign that expresses their sense of mission in this moment right now. Someone in that Church was thinking clearly about the challenges faced by so many in the community right now and so expressed their desire to serve their community. They are not asking anything of anybody. Not expecting people to interpret what they were trying to say. Just offering help to the people around them.

Times have changed so dramatically and we need to read the signs of the times. Have a look at your church sign and all the ways you communicate, and ask yourselves what it says to the community in which you are placed. Think about the sense of mission it expresses, or do you still expect passersby to interpret Church language from another age? Because one thing I know is that it is worth making the effort to keep on reaching out beyond ourselves; to find ways to impact the communities in which we are placed. Not waiting for people to come to us we reach out to them. It’s what the Church is called to do: it is our passion and our hope. As Paul says in Galatians 6: let us not grow tired of doing good.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Incumbent of the parish of Christ Church, Beaurepaire.

The Bishop of Montreal invites applications for the position of Incumbent of the parish of Christ Church, Beaurepaire. This is a full time position.

Christ Church is a vibrant parish in Beaurepaire Village in the City of Beaconsfield about a half-hour West of Downtown Montreal. Founded in 1924 and drawing on people from different communities and neighbourhoods, the parish is searching for a priest who will help them to stretch and grow in their faith and in their community.

The bishop is looking to appoint a priest to serve the parish as it continues to grow in their sense of mission and purpose, a priest who will be an enabler to assist and encourage all members in their ministry, a priest who will share God’s welcome and be inclusive to all, a priest who is prayerful and Spirit led.

A copy of their Parish Profile is available here

A letter from the CCB Search Committee is available here

Interested applicants, with their bishop’s permission, may submit a cover letter including a CV to the bishop’s office by mail to:

The Rt. Rev. Mary Irwin-Gibson
1444 Union Avenue, Montreal, Qc H3A 2B8

Or by email to:
bishops.office@montreal.anglican.ca
514-843-6577

Closing date for applications: November 27, 2020.

The time is NOW for Youth Leaders to stick together!

Following a series of meetings with leaders of children, youth and family ministry in the west island this Fall, hearing so many inspiring stories of perseverance, grit and determination, I wanted to expand the conversation…

So, I invited the Youth Animator form the Anglican Church of Canada to join us!

As a result, youth leaders from across Canada are joining in for this unique opportunity to pray, wonder, listen, discern and reflect on youth ministry during a pandemic.

On Monday, October 26th from 7-8:30 pm

Contact me to register or simply click “going” on the Facebook event link

What is our Congregational Development Coordinator up to these days? Revive, Beyond the Plate & Pew & Beyond

Neil’s Latest Blog…

Resources … Resources … Resources …

When my children were young, one time we found a cocoon. It was so exciting so we watched and waited to see what butterfly emerged. We never did find out, but it was fun to wait and watch. In a way, COVID-19 has forced our churches into a kind of cocoon-like state. Many of our ministries have had to be placed on hold, and continued uncertainty about reopening and the course of the pandemic means we still do not exactly know when we will emerge into the world again. But that does not mean that this time needs to be wasted or seen as lost. Indeed it can be used as a creative opportunity to use the resources available to help our churches face the future and prepare to reopen.

As your congregational development coordinator, I have been actively working to bring together resources that you can use in your faith community in different ways

Here are a few…

Revive: The purpose of the Revive programme is to equip lay leaders to be spiritual leaders. Spread out over three short modules, it looks at prayer, scripture and calling. We currently have three groups meeting and are taking names for a Thursday evening group to start in November. I love, love, love participating in Revive groups and invite you to join. Why? Because at our core, we are spiritual communities centered on our Lord Jesus Christ. Revive helps us deepen that central relationship both individually in our lives and corporately as a people. It does so in a gentle and non-threatening way. This is a vital foundation for our faith communities. We can use all the techniques we want, have all the right social media or beautiful music and the latest resources. If we are not alive as spiritual communities willing to share life and faith and prayer and God and Jesus, then others will sense that. But if we are willing to allow Holy Spirit to breathe through us other will sense that and be drawn to Jesus Christ through us. This is what will encourage your church to flourish. If you are looking for a key resource for your community, begin with Revive.

Beyond the Plate: During the Spring I launched a series of interviews with key practitioners in the whole area of stewardship and fundraising. These are available for you to see and use and I am always here to consulted. This fall I am doing a monthly Zoom conversation on stewardship. In October I will be looking at different ways people can give to your church, to help parishes choose which platform is right for them. In November I will be looking at planned giving. There are many excellent resources available to us in this area, which we have brought together under the Beyond the Plate umbrella.  Even in this time of uncertainly and even fear for the future, there are important building blocks we can put into place to help churches flourish financially. If we ask people in a helpful way and provide opportunities for them to give, any church can encourage financial generosity. One of the core convictions is that financial support tends to follow ministry and mission. In the future, Churches that flourish financially will be those able link their invitation for support to ministry and mission that impacts the community in some way. Which leads me to…

 I am launching a new arena for resources and discussion called Pew and Beyond: Rediscovering Discipleship. In collaboration with my colleague the Rev Lisa Vaughn from the Diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI, Pew and Beyond will bring together resources from across Canada in the form of practitioners and programs to encourage us all to think more and get proactive in the whole area of discipleship and disciple-making; touching the lives of the people in our pews and reaching out to those who are not. In the future, flourishing churches will be those that have discipleship at their core and are willing to reach out beyond themselves. But that does not have to seem daunting. There are many small things we can do that can make a huge difference. So join the conversation: Pew and Beyond.

This is a difficult time for us all. But we do not need to be perplexed.  We can take action, small steps that set us in the direction of flourishing. And who know what that butterfly will look like, when we emerge into the sunlight again.