In Church Land, we tend to focus primarily on the first half of Jesus’ second Commandment: “Love your neighbour.” When our parishes collect donations for the food bank, sponsor refugee families, or support isolated seniors, we know that we are doing God’s work of loving our neighbours. There is a sense of confidence and rightness in outreach projects—we are fulfilling our mission as Christians—and everyone is eager to contribute. Even our smaller, rural parishes in this diocese are very generous to the community. Before it closed, St John’s Innisville always made sure to have a Mitten Tree at Christmas and extend the warmth of God’s love to their neighbours in need.

Yet what about the second half of Jesus’ second commandment: “Love your neighbour as yourselves?” After my sermon mishap, I realized that I do not always feel like God’s beloved child or even worthy of God’s love. That may sound funny, but take a moment and reflect on this: Do you feel God’s love and grace truly extends to you, personally?

This is more than important to our life as Christians than it may seem. When we do not feel love for ourselves, we can become brittle. If we cannot forgive ourselves for mistakes or imperfections, we struggle to forgive others for their own flaws. If we cannot accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves, we cannot extend God’s forgiveness to others. Sometimes in Church Land, this manifests as a strong emphasis on everything being precise and perfect, because we want to offer God our very best. Unfortunately, this can then create a culture where anything or anyone less than perfect is judged or corrected.

The good news is that God’s love is not judgmental or corrective but expansive and encouraging. When I got up to preach that sermon, I tried to focus on God’s love for me and allowed my imperfect words to be carried by God’s perfect grace. This shift in thinking is far more than just a silly self-help strategy; it strengthens our ability to be in community with one another. Feeling calm and comfortable in our own selves then allows us to be gracious and kind with those around us.

After all, there is more than one way to love our neighbours. It is not limited to outreach projects or food drives. It is also about treating one another with dignity, respect, and compassion each and every day–just like God treats every one of us, as God’s beloved children. As the legendary Drag Queen Rupaul says, “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an Amen?” Amen!

The Rev. Rosemary Parker is Incumbent of St. Aidan’s parish in Ottawa.

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The history of the Church of the Epiphany goes back some generations to 1898 when the potential for growth at Barry’s Bay on the Opeongo Road was first noted in the Diocese of Ottawa Synod Journal. It seemed to be an idea whose time had come, for the following year, Barry’s Bay was made an outstation in the Mission of Combermere. In 1901, Barry’s Bay was transferred to the Mission of Killaloe.

It is one thing to call a church into existence, but, to paraphrase Shakespeare, when you call it, will it come? In other words, will it be sustained? From 1907 to 1911, Barry’s Bay was not listed in the Synod Journal, but in that latter year an Anglican congregation began to be listed at Barry’s Bay, as part of the Parish of Combermere.

Part of the early difficulties of Anglicanism at Barry’s Bay was having no house of worship. In this regard there is an inconsistent narrative. On the one hand, the 1949 Synod Journal notes that Anglican services were held in the United Church in the village. On the other hand, another source indicates that prior to 1955, the United Church pulled out of the vicinity when most of the Madawaska valley was flooded in 1942.

What seems to have happened is that local Anglicans purchased the United Church property in 1955, and the main building we see here was constructed, complete with a very steeply pitched roof.  Its placement above a parish hall in the basement meant that parishioners had to climb at least twelve steps if they wished to attend church.

The challenges of life and ministry in the Barry’s Bay area were well summarized by the Rev. Stephen Kenward in the mid-1950s: “The district is one of hills, lakes, rivers and woods, country never intended for farming and, where it is done, farmers depend more on the woods than on farm produce. The tourist industry is the main support of the people of this whole area.”

“I have six congregations, plus Algonquin Park in the tourist season. Centreview and Bell’s Rapids services are held in their school houses,” Kenward stated. “(In addition to St. Paul’s at Combermere, the other churches are: Union Church, Barry’s Bay; Holy Trinity, Madawaska, and Saint Anthony’s in Whitney.”

The first services within the walls of the new Church of the Epiphany, Barry’s Bay, were held on Christmas Eve, 1957. Three years later, the Church of the Epiphany was dedicated by Bishop Ernest S. Reed of Ottawa on 6 July 1960. The sparse record fails to record when the new entryway covered with a veneer of stone and fronted by a striking yellow ochre door was built.

A house to serve as a new rectory was purchased in Barry’s Bay for the Parish of Combermere in 1998, and the old rectory was thereafter demolished.

If you would like to help preserve the records of the Diocese and its parishes, why not become a Friend of the Archives?  Your $20 membership brings you three issues of the lively, informative Newsletter, and you will receive a tax receipt for further donations above that amount.

The post Church of the Epiphany, Barry’s Bay — Deanery of the Northwest appeared first on Perspective.

Last year, one of the ways St. Stephen’s celebrated Black History Month was with an interactive African drumming event, which started with us joining together to share a meal of African and Caribbean foods.  We are a global community at St. Stephens, and the food that evening was prepared and presented by members of our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) parish members and beyond. The food we enjoyed included Sadza from Zimbabwe, Caribbean beef and chicken stews, jollof rice, fried plantain and, of course, several desserts.

After dinner, the tables were pushed back, and the floor was opened up to the drumming world of Sadio Sissoko. A multi-talented African musician originally from Senegal, Sadio has lived in Montreal for many years. Sadio brought at least 30 drums of different sizes with him and as he led the music, he encouraged us to either use the drums, slap our thighs or clap to the rhythms. By the end, there was a lot of dancing too. We had so much fun, we asked him to come back.

Do consider joining us at this year’s Drumming Extravaganza. Bring your loved ones for a special Valentine’s celebration. Celebrate love and heritage in a memorable way. It is a perfect way to honour Black History Month while enjoying delicious dishes from African and Caribbean traditions and an evening of beautiful music and rhythms.

Come for 5:30 pm on Feb. 14. Dinner will be at 6 pm, and the drumming will start at 7 pm.

Please call the church office at 613 828-2472 or email sscometochurch@gmail.com to reserve a spot as we would like to keep tabs on numbers coming so we can prepare enough food.

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Two Saturday events are planned. On Feb. 8, from 2 pm to 4 pm in our parish hall, we are hosting a fashion show with clothing from a variety of countries from around the world. A display of arts and crafts will also enhance our understanding of the diversity of black culture in countries of the Caribbean, North America, and Africa. On Feb 15 at 1 pm, Kathy Armstrong and Stacey Can-Tamakloe from Carleton University will lead a drumming workshop, which will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic of ‘Black Contributions to Peace’ from 3 pm to 4 pm in the parish hall.

At our 10 am Sunday worship, we will have special guest preachers throughout the month of February and an enhanced coffee hour following the service with finger foods from different African and Caribbean countries each week.

We hope you will be able to join us for worship or some of these special events! (2345 Alta Vista Dr.)

The post St. Thomas the Apostle marks Black History Month appeared first on Perspective.

English translation 

Le dogme suggère le « dogmatisme », une attitude d’esprit qui considère sa propre compréhension de la Tradition chrétienne comme la seule légitime et ne tolère aucune autre opinion. Il encourage l’illusion que nous pouvons contenir le Mystère et l’enfermer dans une formule qui définit à jamais sa nature, que nous possédons déjà la plénitude de la Vérité.

Nous ne pourrons jamais posséder la plénitude de la Vérité. Il ne peut y avoir de dernier mot sur Dieu. Nous ne pouvons pas comprendre Dieu définitivement, totalement, même au ciel. Saint Grégoire de Nysse (+394) a enseigné qu’au ciel, nous grandissons sans fin en Dieu, apprenant de plus en plus de choses sur Dieu, devenant de plus en plus semblables à Dieu. Cet apprentissage infini, sans fin, n’est pas seulement ce qu’est réellement le ciel, c’est aussi ce qu’est la vie de foi sur terre : une connaissance et une conscience de Dieu de plus en plus grandes à travers un amour de plus en plus grand.

Le Credo ne « contient » donc pas Dieu – il ne place aucune limite à l’intérieur de laquelle nous pouvons faire l’expérience de Dieu. Le Mystère de Dieu est plus grand que les formules qui tentent d’exprimer Dieu par des mots. Le Credo est une image inspirée – une image vraie – de la réalité inépuisable de Dieu et de ses relations avec le monde.

C’est peut-être pour cette raison que l’Église orientale, suivant l’ancien usage des Pères, appelle rarement les vérités contenues dans le Credo des « dogmes », mais les qualifie de « mystères ». Il ne s’agit pas de les expliquer ou de les définir trop rapidement, mais de les proclamer, d’y réfléchir et de s’en approcher avec émerveillement et crainte. Le Credo n’est pas une liste de « faits » sur Dieu, mais un acte d’adoration du mystère de l’amour de Dieu : une célébration de tout ce que Dieu a fait pour nous.

Le Credo, tout comme les sacrements (souvent appelés « les mystères »), les prières et l’ensemble de notre Tradition de foi, ne peut être appréhendé par notre esprit rationnel. On pourrait dire que les Credo sont des tentatives pour être le moins trompeur possible sur ce que l’on peut dire de Dieu. En d’autres termes, pour connaître et comprendre ce qui est vrai, il est nécessaire de renoncer à ce qui n’est pas vrai. Les mystères de la foi ne peuvent finalement pas être contenus par un effort cérébral. Ils ne peuvent qu’être accueillis au cœur de notre être, réjouis et embrassés.

Dans cette perspective, il est peut-être plus facile de comprendre la place du doute dans la vie chrétienne. Si nous pensons que la foi doit nous donner une certitude absolue et inébranlable de ce que nous professons croire, nous voyons le doute comme l’ennemi de la foi. Au mieux, c’est une épreuve ; au pire, un péché grave.

Cependant, le doute n’est pas toujours dangereux pour la foi. Le doute peut être une réaction nécessaire et naturelle de la raison humaine face à toute situation où elle n’a pas le dernier mot. Sans la capacité de la raison humaine à douter d’elle-même, à remettre en question et à repenser ses propres solutions et conclusions, aucun progrès ne serait possible dans aucun domaine de la connaissance ou de la science. Le doute est le signe que la connaissance que nous possédons ne peut jamais être absolue mais doit toujours rester incomplète.

Pourtant, comme tous les autres aspects de notre nature, notre raison – notre esprit pensant – peut vouloir trop en faire. Elle peut refuser d’accepter ses propres limites. Elle peut soulever des questions et exiger des réponses rationnelles dans des domaines où il n’y en a pas. La source de la plupart des controverses ou « hérésies » qui ont causé tant de dissensions dans l’Église primitive réside précisément dans le désir de certains théologiens chrétiens de se débarrasser de la nature paradoxale des vérités de la foi et de ne choisir qu’un seul côté du paradoxe.

Les ariens, par exemple, affirmaient que, puisque Dieu ne pouvait être sujet au changement, il lui aurait été impossible de prendre la nature humaine et que le Christ, qui était pleinement humain, n’aurait pas pu être pleinement Dieu. Les nestoriens insistaient sur le fait que Dieu ne pouvait pas naître d’une femme et que, par conséquent, Marie ne pouvait pas être la Theotokos, la porteuse de Dieu ou la mère de Dieu, et que l’humanité du Christ n’aurait pas pu être totalement réelle. Les manichéens pensaient que, puisque Dieu ne pouvait être tenu pour responsable de l’existence du mal dans le monde, il devait y avoir deux dieux : l’un responsable de Dieu, l’autre du mal.

Le Credo, en tant que partie de la grande Tradition de l’Église, a toujours souligné la nécessité de conserver les deux côtés de chaque paradoxe. Il a également insisté sur le fait que les mystères de la foi doivent nous apparaître comme des paradoxes, parce que notre esprit ne peut pas embrasser la totalité du Mystère vers lequel ils pointent. Ils ne présentent pas des vérités différentes et contradictoires, mais ne sont que des aperçus partiels de l’unique Vérité inconnaissable et inexprimable.

Bien que le Credo puisse être lu en privé, sa place la plus naturelle est donc dans l’acte principal du culte de l’Église, cette occasion où nous nous ouvrons et nous donnons au grand Mystère, reconnaissant que notre vie de foi sera toujours un voyage à l’intérieur du Mystère. Le Credo nous donne les grandes lignes de la grande histoire de ce voyage et nous donne une raison d’élever nos cœurs et de rendre grâce.

Le révérend chanoine Kevin Flynn est le pasteur de la paroisse St-Bernard-de-Clairvaux.

The post Le Credo de Nicée appeared first on Perspective.

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They began with the period 1929-1977—a time during which the first Black person, Blair Dixon, was ordained an Anglican priest in the Diocese (1966). In 2023, they focused on the first swath of time in the cycle, 1784-1832, when the first Black Anglicans are recorded being baptized and married in Anglican parishes here, some of them either arriving as enslaved persons or escaping the institution of slavery in the U.S. In 2024, the focus was on the next time period, 1833 to 1880, noting the under-reporting of the Black presence at a time when the memory of slavery was omnipresent, while the U.S. Civil War raged, and Reconstruction began.

This year, our focus is the period falling between 1881 and 1928. It started only 20 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was made in the U.S., and just when Reconstruction was effectively being shut down in the southern U.S. Of the five periods examined in our project, it is the most curious due to the lack of regional information and photographs and the surprising fact that during this time some Blacks began returning to the U.S.

The 81 Black inhabitants of the Diocese of Ottawa listed in the 1911 census (this number may also be under-reported)—like all Blacks in North America—were haunted by the legacy of slavery. They lived at a time when much of the population in eastern Ontario and western Quebec was migrating west to the opening prairie provinces.

Although slavery had been legislated out of existence, first in the British Empire and later in the United States, it left Blacks in an economically disadvantaged position in North America. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan from the 1860s on saw many former slave states enact laws that enforced segregation. Blacks were exploited at the lowest wages as a matter of course, and news of lynchings terrified them. Those migrating north to U.S. cities closer to Canada occupied the lowest rungs on the economic ladder.

Canada had long prided itself on being a haven for those escaping from slavery in the U.S. from the 1830s to the early 1860s. But, as James W. StG. Walker wrote in his book Racial Discrimination in Canada: The Black Experience, even as the Underground Railway was celebrated in touring productions of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery two-volume novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, which was published in 1852—visiting even the smallest hamlets in the region—it underlined the continuing low economic status of Blacks in North American society.

Prevailing race theory and the racist stereotyping of Blacks in print media, and notably in the 1916 silent film Birth of a Nation, reinforced negative stereotypes of Blacks. “The ideology of racism came from outside Canada, but it landed on fertile soil,” Walker wrote. The following excerpts from his book paint a vivid picture of the racism Blacks faced in Canada during this era:

“White Canadians could identify with the European rulers of overseas empires, finding in themselves the same virtues which led European civilization to dominate much of the globe…

“It was this intellectual environment that was met by the first large body of American Blacks to enter Canada since Confederation. Among the six hundred thousand Americans attracted by the Canadian immigration recruitment campaign were a few Blacks, but it was the deterioration of conditions for blacks in Oklahoma, following statehood in 1907, that produced a wider movement into Canada. Already experienced with farming techniques useful on the prairies, and encouraged by immigration literature, approximately thirteen hundred Blacks from Oklahoma settled in Alberta and Saskatchewan between 1910 and 1912…. Their numbers, and the fear that this was the first wave in a potential flood of black migrants, brought demands for special legislation to preserve the West for whites only….

“Public petitions and municipal resolutions from all three prairie provinces urged Ottawa to ban further Black immigrants and to segregate those already there….Newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal supported Western resolutions, citing the American example as “proof” that Blacks were inferior and disruptive, and similar sentiments were expressed in federal parliament.

“The Liberal government prepared an order-in-council in 1911 to prohibit Black immigration for one year, but it was never proclaimed. Fear that relations with the United States could be damaged, and that Black voters in Ontario and the Maritimes would be alienated apparently prevented such an overt restriction. Instead, less formal measures were adopted. Agents were sent into the South to discourage black migrants: medical, character, and financial examinations were rigorously applied at border points, with rewards for officials who disqualified Blacks; American railways were influenced to deny Blacks passage to Canada. Continued by the Conservatives after their 1911 election victory, this subtle campaign had stopped all black immigration by 1912 without the necessity of ever declaring a formal racist policy.

“Similar attitudes excluded Blacks from participation in mainstream activities all across Canada. This was demonstrated dramatically during the First World War. Anxious to do their part for nation and empire, young Black men volunteered for overseas service. Though no blanket restriction was imposed, individual commanding officers were entitled to refuse Black volunteers, and most did so….

“Blacks were concentrated in specialized corners of the inter-war economy, the men as waiters, janitors, barbers and labourers, and the women as domestic servants, laundresses, and waitresses. The elite among the men worked as railway waiters and porters. This range shrank as difficult economic circumstances displaced white workers, so that waiting jobs and other personal contact positions passed increasingly to whites. The Blacks’ near-monopoly of railway service was breached when the position of dining-car waiter became a white preserve, leaving blacks as sleeping-car porters with no opportunity for promotion to senior roles.

“The persistent notion that blacks belonged apart denied them admission to many recreational facilities, including dance halls, swimming pools, skating rinks, theatres, and hotels. Although there was no absolute barrier, for local practices varied considerably, the restrictions consistently reflected a belief that white superiority could be undermined by intimate contact. Attempts to entrench segregation through formal laws during the 1920s were unsuccessful, but discriminatory practices were upheld in the courts as legally acceptable. In 1919 the Quebec Appeal Court declared it legal for Loew’s Theatre in Montreal to continue its practice of restricting Blacks to balcony seats. Ontario courts in 1934 found it legal for a restaurant to deny service on grounds of race.”

Next year, we will focus on the most recent phase, the years 1978 to 2026, when the numbers of Black Anglicans increased exponentially and a number of Black clergy began serving parishes in the Diocese of Ottawa.  

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On a personal level, the partnership also opened the door to a strong friendship that has grown between Archbishop Hosam Naoum and Bishop Shane Parker over the years. At Christmas, that friendship brought another special visitor from East Jerusalem to Ottawa.

Tareq Qirreh is an 18-year-old student who came to the University of Toronto in the fall to begin a science degree as the first part of his plan to go to medical school, specializing in immunology or neuroscience.

Tareq was a student at St. George’s School (adjacent to the college) from kindergarten until he finished high school. In his last year, he was the Secretary General of the school’s model/simulation of the United Nations. When Archbishop Hosam learned that he had applied and been awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Toronto, so far away from his family, he asked Bishop Shane to offer support to him. The bishop met Tareq in Toronto in the fall and invited him to spend the Christmas holidays with his family in Ottawa.

Tareq graciously agreed to a conversation with Crosstalk to share a bit more about what life is like for Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem these days.

How is your family doing back home?

“They’re doing fine, but I miss them. Sometimes it’s really hard. When Iran was bombing East Jerusalem and all of these places, it really felt bad not to be there with my family.

Were you worried for them?

“Not really that worried because we are kind of accustomed to it, but when you are away you feel that you kind of left them and they are experiencing that.”

Do you have brothers or sisters?

I have one brother and two sisters. I am the second youngest. My younger sister is three years younger than me; she’s still in high school. My other sister, she’s studying law, and she’s two years older than me, and my brother is four years older than me.

How did you decide to apply to Canadian universities?

“I was looking for places that can give me a certain type of education in life sciences. … Israeli universities don’t have … immunology as an undergraduate program and not neuroscience. They have really general programs, and I wanted something to be more specific and more rigorous, and I only found that in North America.”

Is your scholarship for all four years of your degree?

Yes, but it only covers about 60% [of the very high tuition for international students].

What is it like to be a Palestinian Christian in East Jerusalem?

I have lots of bad experiences in terms of discrimination. It feels that you always have to prove yourself more than other people would prove themselves just for the same treatment, just because your identity is holding you back. Not only as a Palestinian, but also as a Christian. Lots of people in Canada don’t know that. Christianity is the prevalent religion here, but actually, we’re a small minority in Palestine.

Has discrimination increased since the war started?

Generally, on an average day you will not really encounter that much discrimination, but sometimes things just happen. [One day last year] I saw three policemen. I was going to take a governmental exam, something really significant in … our curriculum, if you fail it you have to repeat the whole year. They stopped me and they asked me, ‘Are you a terrorist? … Mukharrib it literally maybe translates to destroyer. …One of them pushed me to the ground. The other one told me to stand up and then pinned me to the wall and he raised his gun as to intimidate me….One of them cursed me in Arabic, he cursed all Arabs…. I told them I have a test. They held me for 30 minutes and then they let me go take the exam. I had only five minutes, I was running to the school….

After that, whenever I saw a policeman, I would just go the other way…. When I thought about it recently, I thought why is it that a Palestinian Christian has to worry more about the policemen rather than the contents of a hard exam?

“Even at the airport, if you’re a Palestinian. I don’t have, for example, an Israeli passport, despite being born in Israel technically. I have a Jordanian travel document, and I have an Israeli travel document. When you go to the airport, they just hold you for longer, and they do all of the scanning and all of the stuff that they would do for people who hide drugs and stuff like that.

So, you aren’t an Israeli citizen?

I am a permanent resident.

Even though you were born there?

“Yeah, and my parents were born there. My parents’ parents were born there. I know that, for example, my mother’s family, they live in the old city. They’ve always lived there.”

How are you finding your time in Canada so far?

“It’s really cool. People are so hospitable. My friends from back home, they kind of scared me. I took it with a grain of salt, but they told me when you study abroad you’re going to be discriminated against in some sense because you’re Palestinian. But I’ve never experienced that in Canada. Actually, when I first came here and I went to the University of Toronto Scarborough, it’s a big campus, so I was lost. I asked a guy [for directions]. He asked where I’m from. I told him. I was reluctant but I just said it anyway. Then I just saw a big smile on his face, and from that moment I just knew I was welcome in Canada.”

Aside from this trip to Ottawa, have you had a chance to see and do different things in Canada?

“I really studied extremely hard the first semester, but we went to downtown Toronto a lot, me and my friends, and just that I love how diverse it is. You can try any cuisine you want.”

Bishop Shane has established a fund to assist Tareq Qirreh. Please contact the Bishop’s Office if you wish to help out.

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The Rev. Julian Campbell has been appointed Rector of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Wichita, in the Diocese of Kansas, effective Jan. 13, 2025.

The Rev. Stephanie McWatt has been appointed full-time Assistant Curate at the Parish of St Helen’s Orleans for the term Nov. 27, 2024 to July 31, 2025.

Staff news

Amy Elliot has been hired as the administrative assistant for the diocesan Property and Asset Management department. She has a background in providing high-level administrative support and years of experience in the Ottawa non-profit community.

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