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	<title>Perspective</title>
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		<title>Clergy news — June 2026</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/clergy-news-june-2026/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Perspective]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 19:16:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clergy News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181237</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Rev. Stephanie McWatt has been appointed Incumbent of the Parish of St. Andrew’s, Alliston in the Diocese of Toronto, effective July 1, 2026.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/clergy-news-june-2026/">Clergy news — June 2026</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody"><strong>The Rev. Stephanie McWatt</strong> has been appointed Incumbent of the Parish of St. Andrew’s, Alliston in the Diocese of Toronto, effective July 1, 2026.</span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/clergy-news-june-2026/">Clergy news — June 2026</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">181237</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Saint Bede&#8217;s, Nolan&#8217;s Corners — Lanark Deanery</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/saint-bedes-nolans-corners-lanark-deanery/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Glenn J Lockwood]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 16:15:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diocesan Archives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nolan's Corners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saint Bede's]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181341</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Love Me, Love Me There’s More Here Than You Think There Is!  Artist Mary Pratt was renowned for her paintings whose subject matter focused on women’s work. In an interview, when asked about one painting of empty eggshells, she responded enigmatically, “Love me!  Love Me! There’s more here than you think there is!” In other [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/saint-bedes-nolans-corners-lanark-deanery/">Saint Bede&#8217;s, Nolan&#8217;s Corners — Lanark Deanery</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Love Me, Love Me</h2>
<p>There’s More Here Than You Think There Is!  Artist Mary Pratt was renowned for her paintings whose subject matter focused on women’s work. In an interview, when asked about one painting of empty eggshells, she responded enigmatically, “Love me!  Love Me! There’s more here than you think there is!” In other words, look carefully.</p>
<p>We could say much the same about Saint Bede’s Church, Nolan’s Corners. It is shown here early in the 21st century, long after an addition was made a generation ago. At first glance, Saint Bede’s doesn’t seem to amount to much. It seems to be a very simple building. It certainly was small when built, being no larger than the red brick one room school nearby. Like it, it was built unassumingly of red brick. It was aligned with the forced road that ran past the front door, with no attempt at having its congregation face toward Jerusalem during their devotions.</p>
<p>There isn’t even any mystery as to the age of Saint Bede’s Church, as shown by the year 1886 on the date stone at the top of the narthex gable—a most unusual location, suggesting that it was altogether a last-minute notion to incorporate it. The side windows of Saint Bede’s Church did not have so much as a trace of stained glass in them when this photograph was taken, and the pews inside at that time were little more than benches with a back rail. Those who perceive that this is a very functional building indeed will not be surprised to see the very large, very practical burial ground extending out behind this small rural house of worship.</p>
<p>But once we understand the context in which Saint Bede’s was built, we see that something revolutionary was taking place with the building of this unpretentious house of worship. People from Nolan’s Corners went to Saint James’s Church, Franktown from the 1820s on. Saint James’s was a simple auditory box, with a Palladian window over the altar, and with a tower over the front door to proclaim that this was a church of the British establishment. When a church was built at nearby Smiths Falls in 1849, if larger, it too had the same temple form as the church at Franktown, albeit with pointed windows rather than round-headed ones, but still a tower over the entrance at the front to declare that it was a church of the British establishment.</p>
<p>Saint Bede’s was built 40 years after Saint John’s, Smiths Falls, and 60 years after Saint James’s, Franktown. It might as well have been 500 years. Unlike earlier churches, sharing a handful of traditional names—Christ Church, Saint James, Saint John and Saint Paul—Saint Bede’s stood out with the name of a major early English churchman. Whereas the earlier churches were built expensively in stone, Saint Bede’s was red brick in construction.</p>
<p>The towers signifying the British establishment had given way to a modest entrance porch, and the old temple form of earlier churches gave way here to steep gables and pointed windows proclaiming affinity with the mediaeval past. Where earlier churches featured a communion table on the same level as worshippers, there was a steep flight of steps up to the altar in Saint Bede’s, and the congregation looked up to a large chancel window high above the altar. The source for all this change was to be found in back issues of The Church Builder from 1866 to 1878 consulted by the local clergyman building Saint Bede’s.</p>
<p><em>The Diocesan Archives collects parish registers, vestry reports, service registers, minutes of groups and committees, financial documents, property records (including cemeteries and architectural plans), insurance policies, letters, pew bulletins, photographs and paintings, scrapbooks, parish newsletters and unusual documents. </em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/saint-bedes-nolans-corners-lanark-deanery/">Saint Bede&#8217;s, Nolan&#8217;s Corners — Lanark Deanery</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">181341</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>On activity and rest</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/on-activity-and-rest/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[The Rev. Canon Kevin Flynn]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 16:05:18 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clergy reflection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reflection]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181334</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>French translation I have been leading a group in the practice of Christian meditation for years. Like its sister practice of centering prayer, Christian meditation asks us to let go of images and thoughts about God and instead to give God our full attention in silence. People ask sometimes how one can justify this use [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/on-activity-and-rest/">On activity and rest</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/de-lactivite-et-du-repos/">French translation</a></p>
<p>I have been leading a group in the practice of Christian meditation for years. Like its sister practice of centering prayer, Christian meditation asks us to let go of images and thoughts about God and instead to give God our full attention in silence. People ask sometimes how one can justify this use or non-use of one’s time. With so many needs in the world, ought we not to be busy trying to meet them? A bumper sticker version of the question says humorously “Christ is coming again. Look busy!”</p>
<p>Our faith tradition proposes something quite different. The purpose of activity is rest. It’s hard to think of anything more counter-cultural, even in the Church, than this. Activity in any form that is not harmful is seen as self-justifying and true. Has there been any time when there was so much sheer activity as there is today, yet with so little real co-ordination and unity of purpose?</p>
<p>Mere activity – activity for the sake of activity – is simply diabolical – noise for the sake of noise, bustle for the sake of bustle. The Vulgate translation of Psalm 91:6 describes the devil as negotium perambulans in tenebris, “the business that prowls around in the shadows,” sheer mischief looking for a loophole by which it can make an entry. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote that “damnation is without direction or purpose. Why not? It has nothing to do, and all eternity to do it in.” George Macdonald, by contrast, described heaven as “the regions where there is only life and therefore all that is not music is silence.”</p>
<p>It’s a sad feature of our culture that so many of us have little opportunity for genuine interior repose and quiet, and we are reluctant to use it when it comes our way. Perhaps there is a fear that if we are deprived of the distractions, the noise, both literal and metaphorical, which is the condition of regular life, we might have to start paying attention to the disquieting suspicion that the very activity that so dominates life is largely pointless and self-frustrating. Noise can, in fact, make itself louder and louder in order to disguise its own futility.</p>
<p>The book of Genesis provides the pattern of rest. We are told that God blessed and hallowed the seventh day, because God rested from all the work of creation. There is a real sense, of course, in which God’s activity never ceases at all, since God’s creative act perpetually upholds and energizes the universe. Neither is the inner being of God dead or static. It is that unfathomable energy of life and love which is the Holy Trinity. But all this involves no change in God, no alteration or vacillation of actions. God is the unchanging ground of the changing universe. In God, rest and activity are reconciled.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the truth that the anthropomorphic language of Genesis expresses is that God does not, so to speak, turn away in relief from the created world. God contemplates it and rejoices in it. God is not like the wage-slave who tries to forget work during the weekend break. God is more like the hobbyist who makes things and then takes pleasure in using them, or like the painter who can enjoy looking at a picture she has made.</p>
<p>In the Genesis story, the story of the first creation, it was on the sixth day of the week that God made man in the divine image and gave him dominion over the lower creatures. In the Gospel story, the story of the new creation, humankind was remade by God on the sixth day of the week, the first Good Friday, when Christ, the perfect man, died on the cross. And Christ rested in the tomb on Holy Saturday – the Great Sabbath – in the enjoyment of the work of the new creation. He saw what he had made and behold, it was very good. The consummation of the new creation comes when Christ lies at rest in the tomb, happy in the fulfilment of his work and awaiting his resurrection.</p>
<p>In Christ we have entered into the rest of God (see Hebrews 4:1-11), a rest that is not stagnation, inertia, or boredom, but perfect and unruffled life. Our full possession of this rest awaits us after death, but its foretaste is given to us here. We have already been made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).</p>
<p>So, what about meditation and other contemplative practices? In contemplative prayer, we are not strictly speaking passive but receptive. We are receptive of God’s own self-contemplation, caught up into God’s own life and energized by God. Thus, contemplation is the source and foundation of all truly Christian activity. Many great contemplative saints, outside their times of prayer, have been veritable volcanoes of activity. But that activity has been unified, coherent, vital, and totally concentrated on one object, the fulfilment of God’s will.</p>
<p>Contemplation is, therefore, the source and the end of Christian action. It is the end because our final destiny is to contemplate God in heaven. It is the source, because Christian action is simply the overflow of contemplation.</p>
<p>In Christ we have entered into the rest of God (see Hebrews 4:1-11), a rest that is not stagnation, inertia, or boredom, but perfect and unruffled life. Our full possession of this rest awaits us after death, but its foretaste is given to us here. We have already been made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/on-activity-and-rest/">On activity and rest</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">181334</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>De l&#8217;activité et du repos</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/de-lactivite-et-du-repos/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Le révérend chanoine Kevin Flynn]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 16:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clergy reflection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reflection]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181337</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>English translation Depuis des années, j&#8217;anime un groupe de méditation chrétienne. Tout comme la prière centrée, qui lui est apparentée, la méditation chrétienne nous invite à laisser de côté les images et les pensées concernant Dieu pour lui accorder toute notre attention dans le silence. On me demande parfois comment on peut justifier cette façon [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/de-lactivite-et-du-repos/">De l&#8217;activité et du repos</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/on-activity-and-rest/">English translation</a></p>
<p>Depuis des années, j&#8217;anime un groupe de méditation chrétienne. Tout comme la prière centrée, qui lui est apparentée, la méditation chrétienne nous invite à laisser de côté les images et les pensées concernant Dieu pour lui accorder toute notre attention dans le silence. On me demande parfois comment on peut justifier cette façon d’utiliser – ou de ne pas utiliser – son temps. Avec tant de besoins dans le monde, ne devrions-nous pas nous affairer à y répondre ? Une version humoristique de cette question, sous forme d’autocollant, dit : « Le Christ revient. Fais semblant d’être occupé ! »</p>
<p>Notre tradition religieuse propose quelque chose de tout à fait différent. Le but de l’activité, c’est le repos. Difficile d’imaginer quelque chose de plus à contre-courant, même au sein de l’Église, que ça. Toute forme d’activité qui n’est pas nuisible est considérée comme justifiée en soi et authentique. Y a-t-il déjà eu une époque où il y avait autant d’activité pure et simple qu’aujourd’hui, mais avec si peu de coordination réelle et d’unité dans les objectifs ?</p>
<p>L&#8217;activité pure – l&#8217;activité pour l&#8217;activité – est tout simplement diabolique : du bruit pour le bruit, de l&#8217;agitation pour l&#8217;agitation. La traduction de la Vulgate du psaume 91,6 décrit le diable comme negotium perambulans in tenebris, « l&#8217;activité qui rôde dans l&#8217;ombre », une pure malice à la recherche d&#8217;une faille par laquelle elle pourrait s&#8217;introduire. Dorothy L. Sayers a écrit que « la damnation est sans direction ni but. Pourquoi pas ? Elle n’a rien à faire, et toute l’éternité pour le faire. » (Dante, Divine Comedy. Purgatory. Introduction, p. 61). George Macdonald, en revanche, a décrit le paradis comme « les régions où il n’y a que la vie et où, par conséquent, tout ce qui n’est pas musique est silence. »(« The Hands of the Father », Unspoken Sermons, First Series, 1867)</p>
<p>C’est une triste caractéristique de notre culture que tant d’entre nous aient si peu d’occasions de connaître un véritable repos intérieur et le calme, et soient réticents à en profiter quand ça se présente. Peut-être craignons-nous que, privés des distractions, du bruit, tant littéral que métaphorique, qui est la condition de la vie ordinaire, nous devions commencer à prêter attention au soupçon inquiétant que l’activité même qui domine tant la vie est en grande partie inutile et frustrante. Le bruit peut en effet s’amplifier de plus en plus pour masquer sa propre futilité.</p>
<p>Le livre de la Genèse nous donne le modèle du repos. On nous dit que Dieu a béni et sanctifié le septième jour, car Dieu s’est reposé de toute l’œuvre de la création. Bien sûr, dans un sens bien réel, l’activité de Dieu ne cesse jamais, puisque son acte créateur soutient et anime l’univers en permanence. L’être intérieur de Dieu n’est pas non plus inerte ou statique. C’est cette énergie insondable de vie et d’amour qui est la Sainte Trinité. Mais tout cela n’implique aucun changement en Dieu, aucune altération ni hésitation dans ses actions. Dieu est le fondement immuable de l’univers changeant. En Dieu, le repos et l’activité sont réconciliés.</p>
<p>Néanmoins, la vérité que le langage anthropomorphique de la Genèse exprime, c’est que Dieu ne se détourne pas, pour ainsi dire, du monde créé avec soulagement. Dieu le contemple et s’en réjouit. Dieu n’est pas comme l’esclave salarié qui essaie d’oublier le travail pendant le week-end. Dieu ressemble davantage à l’amateur qui fabrique des objets puis prend plaisir à les utiliser, ou au peintre qui peut apprécier de regarder un tableau qu’elle a réalisé.</p>
<p>Dans le récit de la Genèse, l’histoire de la première création, c’est le sixième jour de la semaine que Dieu a créé l’homme à son image et lui a donné la domination sur les créatures inférieures. Dans le récit de l’Évangile, l’histoire de la nouvelle création, l’humanité a été refaite par Dieu le sixième jour de la semaine, le premier Vendredi saint, lorsque le Christ, l’homme parfait, est mort sur la croix. Et le Christ s’est reposé dans le tombeau le Samedi Saint – le Grand Sabbat – en jouissant de l’œuvre de la nouvelle création. Il a vu ce qu’il avait fait et voici, cela était très bon. L’achèvement de la nouvelle création survient lorsque le Christ repose dans le tombeau, heureux de l’accomplissement de son œuvre et attendant sa résurrection.</p>
<p>En Christ, nous sommes entrés dans le repos de Dieu (voir Hébreux 4, 1-11), un repos qui n’est ni stagnation, ni inertie, ni ennui, mais une vie parfaite et sereine. La pleine possession de ce repos nous attend après la mort, mais on nous en donne un avant-goût ici-bas. Nous avons déjà été rendus « participants de la nature divine » (2 Pierre 1, 4). Notre vie est cachée avec le Christ en Dieu (Colossiens 3, 3).</p>
<p>Alors, qu’en est-il de la méditation et des autres pratiques contemplatives ? Dans la prière contemplative, on n’est pas à proprement parler passif mais réceptif. On est réceptif à la contemplation que Dieu fait de lui-même, transporté dans la vie même de Dieu et animé par Dieu. Ainsi, la contemplation est la source et le fondement de toute activité véritablement chrétienne. Beaucoup de grands saints contemplatifs, en dehors de leurs moments de prière, ont été de véritables volcans d’activité. Mais cette activité était unifiée, cohérente, vitale et totalement concentrée sur un seul objectif : l’accomplissement de la volonté de Dieu.</p>
<p>La contemplation est donc la source et la fin de l’action chrétienne. C’est la fin, car notre destin ultime est de contempler Dieu au ciel. C’est la source, car l’action chrétienne n’est que le débordement de la contemplation.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/de-lactivite-et-du-repos/">De l&#8217;activité et du repos</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">181337</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Remembering Leslie Worden: 1949 – 2026</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/remembering-leslie-worden-1949-2026/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Perspective]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leslie Worden]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181330</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Family, friends and colleagues throughout the diocese are mourning the loss of Leslie Worden, who passed away peacefully at home on April 25, 2026, at the age of 76. Leslie was the beloved wife of the late Ven. Gordon Worden, and loving mother of Rebecca Worden (Peter McCracken), Emily Worden-Kwok (Jeffrey Kwok), and Jessica Worden [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/remembering-leslie-worden-1949-2026/">Remembering Leslie Worden: 1949 – 2026</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Family, friends and colleagues throughout the diocese are mourning the loss of Leslie Worden, who passed away peacefully at home on April 25, 2026, at the age of 76.</p>
<p>Leslie was the beloved wife of the late Ven. Gordon Worden, and loving mother of Rebecca Worden (Peter McCracken), Emily Worden-Kwok (Jeffrey Kwok), and Jessica Worden (former spouse Eric-Vance Bolling). She was adored by her grandchildren Zachary, Kaella, Sarah, Liam, and Kyle.</p>
<p>She had an adventurous life traveling and living in many places while she was growing up because her father was in the military and as an adult with her husband, who was an Anglican priest.</p>
<p>She was a talented musican from a very young age, and she played the piano, autoharp, accordion, and sang. She was a member of several different music groups and choirs. According to her family, &#8220;For Leslie, there was never a moment that didn’t call for a familiar or improvised tune.&#8221;</p>
<p>Her friend, the Rev. Canon Rhondda MacKay offered the homily at her celebration of life service, and recalled that “for many years, in parishes up and down the valley, Leslie’s ministry had been in church schools with her trusty accordion—eye to eye with the children.”</p>
<p>Leslie studied computer technology at Western University in London, Ont. Her training served her well later in her role as information technologist at Ascension House and the Archives, and while she patiently and generously helped many people sort out computer problems.</p>
<p>She was a dedicated volunteer for many causes including the Girl Guides of Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Ottawa Anglican Cursillo Movement. She was co-coordinator for the Anglican Church Women with her friend Marni Crossley.</p>
<p>Canon Rhondda MacKay said, “Her creative energy flowed in caring for others — in her work, in the guiding movement, and her advocacy for women in the church and beyond; as a warden, member of the altar guild and more in this church; in sharing her technical skills wherever they were needed; recycling for a good cause, but most of all through music.</p>
<p>Canon MacKay said, “People have remarked to me how Leslie sparkled. Leslie’s light sparkled for us as humble and caring service in all sorts of ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>in her devotion to her beloved family</li>
<li>in the way she faced challenges with a positive spirit and hopefulness</li>
<li>in her openness to learning new things</li>
<li>in her gifts for and appreciation of music.</li>
</ul>
<p>Her faith was important to her. “Leslie was a light on a hill — a positive presence,” MacKay said. “She constantly shared her light. That is what we celebrate today and hold onto as a life lesson.”</p>
<p>The family welcomes memorial contributions to <a href="https://ottawa.anglican.ca/hcf">The Hearts of Compassion Fund</a> (that includes Belong Ottawa, Centre 105, Cornerstone Housing for Women, Ottawa Pastoral Counselling Centre, and the Refugee Ministry Office).</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/remembering-leslie-worden-1949-2026/">Remembering Leslie Worden: 1949 – 2026</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">181330</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>World Refugee Day: One family’s journey to Canada</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/world-refugee-day-one-familys-journey-to-canada/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Leigh Anne Williams]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:30:46 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Refugee Ministry Office]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World Refugee Day]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181321</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>June 20 has been designated as World Refugee Day by the United Nations to draw attention to the plight of refugees around the globe. It honours the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa (ADO) has a long [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/world-refugee-day-one-familys-journey-to-canada/">World Refugee Day: One family’s journey to Canada</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>June 20</strong> has been designated as World Refugee Day by the United Nations to draw attention to the plight of refugees around the globe. It honours the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.</p>
<p>The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa (ADO) has a long history of helping refugees from around the world and all faiths come to Canada. As a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) under the Canadian government’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program, the Refugee Ministry Office partners with constituent groups who want to sponsor refugees. Those constituent groups include Anglican parishes and groups of other faith-based or community-based groups and can include people seeking to sponsor their family members.</p>
<p>As we mark World Refugee Day in 2026, <em>Perspective </em>shares one family’s story.</p>
<p>Murtaza Ishraq was a well-known television broadcaster and commentator in Afghanistan. He was also a key spokesperson for a stability and convergence team in the 2019 presidential election. His wife, Masuma, was a law professor and writer on women’s rights.</p>
<p>So, when the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August of 2021, their lives changed overnight. Masuma had to leave the university and stay home, and they were immediately threatened. An American non-governmental organization (NGO) helped them escape to Pakistan.</p>
<p>That got them out of immediate danger, but their situation in Pakistan was not good. Overwhelmed with people coming across the border from Afghanistan, the Pakistani government was not issuing work permits or documents that would allow the refugees to stay in the country. That meant that the couple had to pay high-priced rent for a place to stay in Islamabad out of the money they brought with them with no way to earn money. The water was bad, and their baby couldn’t drink it, so they eventually moved to a smaller city where the rent was less expensive, but they were still stuck in a bad situation with nowhere to go and no way to make a living.</p>
<p>Fortunately, that’s where Patricia Wilson and the non-profit Ottawa Centre Refugee Action (OCRA), came in. OCRA was founded in 2015 to help bring Syrian refugees to Canada and had begun to focus on Afghan people. “I was reaching out to sponsorship agreement holders in Ontario, particularly in Ottawa in 2021 and 2022,” Wilson said. “We had been contacted by people trying to bring various Afghans out. Most of them had fled to Pakistan, and we were looking for help at the sponsorship agreement, holder level.</p>
<p>“I remember sitting here in the summer of 2022. I didn’t think anyone would get back to us,” Wilson said. And then she got a call from the Refugee Ministry Office, letting her know that the Diocese had accepted OCRA as a constituent group, allowing them to sponsor refugees.</p>
<p>Since then, ORCA has bought eight groups — 37 people, including sponsoring Murtaza and Masuma and their son, who arrived in 2023.</p>
<p>It’s not easy starting over in a new country, but Masuma told <em>Perspective</em> that  she is happy to be safe in Canada and to be able to work. Murtaza is working as an Uber Eats driver in afternoons and evenings, so that he can take an English course during the day. Masuma was working as an early childhood educator until their second child was born nine months ago. Later, she hopes to return to university and study Canadian law.</p>
<p>After sharing their story with <em>Perspective</em>, Masuma wrote to says she would “like to sincerely thank the Anglican Church for helping our family reach Canada and find a safe place to live. We will certainly never forget their kindness and support.”</p>
<p><em>Special thanks to the Refugee Ministry Office’s devoted case managers Reem Abu-Afieh and Ishita Ghose for all of the work they do to make stories like this happen.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/world-refugee-day-one-familys-journey-to-canada/">World Refugee Day: One family’s journey to Canada</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<title>St. James, Perth celebrates rectory renovation and fundraising goal achieved</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/st-james-perth-celebrates-rectory-renovation-and-fundraising-goal-achieved/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Leigh Anne Williams]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:17:38 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parish News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[St. James Perth]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181328</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>About a year ago in the summer of 2025, the parish of St. James in Perth had a big problem. The rectory, built in 1875 and one of only five in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa still in use by parish incumbents, was in need of major repair work. The kitchen needed to be insulated. [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/st-james-perth-celebrates-rectory-renovation-and-fundraising-goal-achieved/">St. James, Perth celebrates rectory renovation and fundraising goal achieved</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>About a year ago in the summer of 2025, the parish of St. James in Perth had a big problem. The rectory, built in 1875 and one of only five in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa still in use by parish incumbents, was in need of major repair work. The kitchen needed to be insulated. Splintering floor boards needed to be replaced, and there was an infestation of mice.</p>
<p>It all needed to be fixed before the newly hired incumbent, the Rev. Robert Camara, who was moving to Perth from Montreal with his partner in December, could live in the house.</p>
<p>The parish considered selling or demolishing the house, but it had a heritage designation, so that limited their choices. They decided to do the renovations, which were expected to cost $100,000.</p>
<p>Fortunately, parishioners Ray and Elaine Hook stepped up to the challenge of raising funds as a labour of love and a way of thanking the people in the parish who cared for them when Elaine was seriously injured in a car accident. They donated $10,000 to get the fund started and used $5,000 to match donations over $100.</p>
<p>Parishioner Christine Erdos is a designer who offered to redesign the kitchen as a donation to the church.</p>
<p>At first, the Hooks hoped to raise $25,000, but as Ray kept the congregation updated on their efforts, donations kept coming, and they set new targets of $50,000 amd then $75,000. Eventually, they had raised $102,500 through donations that mostly came from within the congregation. &#8220;Our donors collectively from the church family. have just amazed us with their generosity and their support,&#8221; said Ray, adding that they are working on creating plaque with all of the donor names (aside from those who want to remain anonymous) that will be placed on a wall in the rectory.</p>
<p>The Rev. Robert Camara added that he and his partner were very grateful for the beautiful renovation work that has made the rectory so much more comfortable and for the warm welcome from the parish.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/st-james-perth-celebrates-rectory-renovation-and-fundraising-goal-achieved/">St. James, Perth celebrates rectory renovation and fundraising goal achieved</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<title>University of Ottawa students love St. Albans’ meals on campus</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/university-of-ottawa-students-love-st-albans-meals-on-campus/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Leigh Anne Williams]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:15:24 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food insecurity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parish News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[St. Albans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[University of Ottawa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181313</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>As a chaplain at the University of Ottawa, the Rev. Michael Garner saw that many students were struggling financially and facing food insecurity. He and parishioners at St. Albans, where he is the incumbent priest, were inspired to create some pilot projects on campus serving meals to students over the last few years. They began [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/university-of-ottawa-students-love-st-albans-meals-on-campus/">University of Ottawa students love St. Albans’ meals on campus</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Noto Sans', sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';">As a chaplain at the University of Ottawa, the Rev. Michael Garner saw that many students were struggling financially and facing food insecurity.</span></p>
<p>He and parishioners at St. Albans, where he is the incumbent priest, were inspired to create some pilot projects on campus serving meals to students over the last few years. They began by serving meals at one of the student residences where students who didn’t have meal plans lived.</p>
<p>Throughout this past academic year, St. Albans teamed up with the student union, which has its own food insecurity initiative &#8220;Fed up.&#8221; They moved their program to a central hub area on the main campus and served three lunches and a dinner each semester. The meals were cooked by St. Albans’ parishioners with student volunteers on campus, and to encourage students to cook nutritious and low-cost meals for themselves, the team handed out recipes for the dishes they were serving.</p>
<figure id="attachment_181319" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-181319" style="width: 317px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="181319" data-permalink="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/university-of-ottawa-students-love-st-albans-meals-on-campus/11-st-albans-campus-fed-up/" data-orig-file="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/11.-St.-Albans-campus-fed-up-e1780376914687.jpg" data-orig-size="608,768" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-title="11. St. Albans &amp;#8211; campus fed up" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;uOttawa student leaders with a banner for their food security campaign. Photo: Contributed&lt;/p&gt;
" data-large-file="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/11.-St.-Albans-campus-fed-up-e1780376914687.jpg" class="wp-image-181319 size-medium" src="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/11.-St.-Albans-campus-fed-up-e1780376914687-317x400.jpg" alt="Two young women stand beside a vertical banner that says Fed Up." width="317" height="400" srcset="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/11.-St.-Albans-campus-fed-up-e1780376914687-317x400.jpg 317w, https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/11.-St.-Albans-campus-fed-up-e1780376914687.jpg 608w" sizes="(max-width: 317px) 100vw, 317px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-181319" class="wp-caption-text">uOttawa student leaders with a banner for their food security campaign. Photo: Contributed</figcaption></figure>
<p>Not surprisingly, the free meals have been a big hit with the students. Garner reports that they served a burrito dinner for their last meal of the semester in mid-April to 385 students. The students are grateful, and Garner says the volunteers often hear that the meal is the only one some students will eat that day.</p>
<p>Students have enjoyed the opportunities for social connections the meals create. Encouraged to sit down and eat and talk together, students offered feedback that the project has had a positive effect on their health. Aside from the food, they benefited from the social connections and a greater sense of belonging.</p>
<p>St. Albans volunteers also made efforts to take a break and sit down to eat and talk with students. Garner was pleased to hear that the students appreciated the opportunities to connect with the adults from the parish. Although, he expected that it would be most appealing to have student peers serving the food, feedback from the student union included comments that the students valued opportunities to have conversations with the adult volunteers from the parish. They appreciated having an adult ask how they were doing, how their day or semester was going, and the sense that these adults cared about them.</p>
<p>The St. Albans group has sought and welcomed partners from other parishes, denominations and faith groups to bolster their efforts in whatever capacity they can contribute. Even if a group can’t take on providing a whole meal, contributing to part of a meal is a valuable way to get involved and support the project. For example, Garner said, a number of United Churches got together and offered to donate dessert for the final meal of the term in April. Initially, they estimated they could provide about 150 servings. However, their bakers participated enthusiastically, and they ended up bringing more than 500 servings. “It was this overwhelming amount of food. That just created such joy&#8230;. It was great,” he recalled.</p>
<p>“My hope is next year to continue to cultivate relationships with churches and other groups who can provide supplemental things, like baking biscuits when we were doing soup and that sort of thing. I’m looking for all sorts of ways to lower the barrier to entry to churches and other groups,” he said, suggesting that sometimes people feel overwhelmed by a big problem like student food insecurity and feel that they can’t do anything. “I think the real power of this is that there are smaller ways to …come and be involved.”</p>
<p>Garner acknowledges that the meals can’t solve the problem of food insecurity on campus, but he was pleased to see that highlighting the problem and advocacy work seems to be spurring some action on the issue. The president of the university created an initiative to write an action plan for food security for the whole campus. Garner served on the committee with one of the deans in medicine and St. Albans was included as an external partner.</p>
<h2><strong>Pilot project aims to counter students&#8217; social isolation</strong></h2>
<p>The Rev. Michael Garner has seen that students at the University of Ottawa, like many people in the broader society, have more communication tools at their fingertips than humans have ever had, but many are socially isolated. He says that loneliness is sometimes described as an epidemic in our digitally connected society where people need more time and real connection with other people in person.</p>
<p>Garner has worked closely with the U of O Student Union on issues of food insecurity, and one day ran into Meredith Kerr, the executive director, in Costco. “What are we going to do about loneliness on campus?” she asked him.</p>
<p>He says his first thought was “I have no idea.” But it was immediately followed by, “I know exactly what we are going to do.” Peg Herbert, a parishioner at St. Albans had come to mind.</p>
<p>“She’s a remarkable woman,” he said. Among the many cool things she has done is starting an organization called Chosen Grandma, which pairs retired women who don’t have grandchildren, or don’t have grandchildren in the city, with single moms, single parent families, creating this connectedness. The idea has caught on and Chosen Grandma has been featured on the CBC news. Garner noted that Herbert is developing this charity even though there are additional legal challenges because there are minors involved, but the point is to give children a “chosen grandma.” He realized that Herbert had all that valuable experience creating connections in a safe way.</p>
<p>So, while standing there in Costco, he thought, “‘We’ll just take Peg’s idea and apply it on campus.’ And that’s what we’re doing,” he told <em>Perspective</em>.</p>
<p>Room Enough is a pilot project will match 10 students with 10 families or households in the next academic year. “It’s really about facilitating the need of students, the desire of these households to connect … and support each other and learn from each other,’ he said. The pilot for this academic year will be a test run to see how this works, see what doesn’t work. They will track participants’ feedback on their mental health, the connection between the students and their matched households. “If we have a positive outcome and we have some data, we’ll go to the university to look at scaling it up for more people to participate in the next year.</p>
<p>The diocesan Future Fund awarded the project a grant of $10,000, which Garner says will help hire a student to be a part-time co-ordinator for the program.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/university-of-ottawa-students-love-st-albans-meals-on-campus/">University of Ottawa students love St. Albans’ meals on campus</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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		<title>Alongside Hope’s Wild Ride to provide solar panels for hospital in the West Bank</title>
		<link>https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/alongside-hopes-wild-ride-to-provide-solar-panels-for-hospital-in-the-west-bank/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jacqueline Tingle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:12:09 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alongside Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[June 2026]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/?p=181364</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Alongside Hope&#8217;s Wild Ride is back in 2026. This year, we’re raising funds to provide solar panels at St. Luke’s Hospital in the West Bank, in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. The hospital serves a population of about 455,000 people, including 57 marginalized villages and four nearby refugee camps. But unreliable and costly [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/alongside-hopes-wild-ride-to-provide-solar-panels-for-hospital-in-the-west-bank/">Alongside Hope’s Wild Ride to provide solar panels for hospital in the West Bank</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Alongside Hope&#8217;s Wild Ride is back in 2026. This year, we’re raising funds to provide solar panels at St. Luke’s Hospital in the West Bank, in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. The hospital serves a population of about 455,000 people, including 57 marginalized villages and four nearby refugee camps. But unreliable and costly power sources make health care a challenge during the best of times, or a crisis during the worst of times. As a peer-to-peer fundraiser within the larger Light for St. Luke’s campaign, the Wild Ride is an opportunity to support the hospital in a hands-on way.</p>
<p>This year’s campaign — Watt’s Possible — builds on the spirit of the 2025 Wild Ride, which raised more than $60,000 to provide Solar Suitcases in health clinics in Mozambique and Madagascar. In 2026, we’re shifting the focus to St. Luke’s Hospital and its transition to a reliable source of energy – solar power. This will help ensure quality health care can continue despite frequent power outages and expensive diesel fuel.</p>
<p>Riaz Diab is a nurse in the emergency department at St. Luke’s Hospital. He describes the challenges of caring for patients during the power outages. “I remember one time I was working in the ER, we had multiple patients connected to monitors and other patients needed suturing. The electricity suddenly went out. We had to use flashlights and manual equipment.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Wild Ride fundraising goal is $60,000, enough to purchase and install 70 of the 407 solar panels that are part of this project. Each panel will cost roughly $865, which includes delivery, installation and training. <strong>Every gift will be matched by a generous donor, doubling the impact!</strong></p>
<p>As a supporter of Alongside Hope, you can contribute directly to the Light for St. Luke’s campaign, or you can take on a personal challenge as a part of the Wild Ride. Every participant chooses an activity that is meaningful to them and uses it to raise funds and awareness for the campaign. There’s no single way to participate. Some participants may take on physical challenges, while others may choose to be creative. The Wild Ride is designed to be a flexible way to fundraise that’s accessible to everyone. Activities could include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Walking or running challenges</li>
<li>Cycling or rollerblading</li>
<li>Swimming laps</li>
<li>Kayaking or canoeing</li>
<li>Dancing challenges</li>
<li>Reading goals</li>
<li>Baking or cooking projects</li>
<li>Knitting or crocheting</li>
<li>Fitness challenges</li>
<li>Hiking</li>
<li>Photography projects</li>
<li>Hosting a community event</li>
<li>Creating music or art</li>
</ul>
<p>By registering on <a href="https://alongsidehope.org/wild-ride">our Wild Ride page</a> on the secure Canada Helps platform, participants are encouraged to collect pledges from family, friends and their community members as they work towards their goal. Learn more about how to participate at our online info session on Thursday, June 4 at 1 p.m. ET.</p>
<p><a href="https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/_9f7cr5fQMui4-tPXOhiHA">Register for the Wild Ride info session</a></p>
<p>At its heart, the Wild Ride is about so much more than fundraising. It’s about people coming together to support a hospital that is providing care in incredibly difficult circumstances. Funds raised through supporters will help keep operating rooms functioning during power outages, reduce dependence on costly diesel generators, and most importantly, provide stability to a community that has felt unstable for years.</p>
<p>When the world is hurting it can be hard to know how to make a difference. But every act of compassion can bring hope. Join us this year in discovering Watt’s Possible by being a part of the Wild Ride.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca/alongside-hopes-wild-ride-to-provide-solar-panels-for-hospital-in-the-west-bank/">Alongside Hope’s Wild Ride to provide solar panels for hospital in the West Bank</a> appeared first on <a href="https://ottawa.anglicannews.ca">Perspective</a>.</p>
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