“The turnout, as always, was incredible.” commented Centre 105 executive director Taylor Seguin.  “The Cornwall community is always willing to step up and support the charities in our city.”  He mentioned in a post-event email that 167 meals were provided at the fundraising event which ran between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m.

He explained the funds raised will be used for general operations, noting, “Funding, especially government funding, is often tied to new or special projects.  At this time, most charities in this area are actually in need of funds for regular operations.”

Seguin added that fundraisers such as this are important for the organization as it increases public awareness of its work with city employees, local politicians as well as the general public.

Guests at the fundraiser were able to tour the centre, including its “food storage space, laundry room and newly built shower space.”  Seguin mentioned that Centre 105 provides essential services such as the use of laundry facilities, showers, referrals to agencies, a safe social space and hot meals.

“Thank you SO much to our amazing community for showing Centre 105 so much love and support.” said Seguin.  He said staff are anticipating the summer of 2025 will be a very busy one, but noted that the Centre 105 team feels they will be able to meet the challenges ahead because of the support provided by the local community.

The next fundraiser for Centre 105 will be the annual Fall Breakfast Fundraiser, scheduled for early September.  More information can be found on their social media pages or website located at www.centre105.ca.

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Since those early days of my episcopate, we have, as bishop, people and clergy, guided change to give new shape and direction to our Diocese—with clearly expressed priorities focused on helping our parish ministries and community ministries thrive. We have agreed to refresh and renew our priorities using a triennial cycle managed by Diocesan Council and to establish corresponding triennial budgets to achieve the results God has called us to seek.

In this, the second year of our 2024-2026 triennium, we will evaluate the work we are doing to achieve our current priorities and revise our approach as required. In the third year of this triennium, we will work collaboratively to frame our priorities and budget for the next triennium (2027-2029).

A key component our current priorities is to develop and deploy our central financial resources in order to leave more money in our parishes, while increasing practical supports from Ascension House for both arms of our diocesan church: our parish ministries and our community ministries.

Importantly, our current priorities also involve actively convening and collecting the wide range of talents and knowledge held by the clergy and people of our diocese into our Learning Commons. The Learning Commons will provide training, tools, and resources to develop the eight essential parts of a parish’s life and ministry: worship; spiritual growth; community; pastoral care; contextual mission; leadership & governance; financial stewardship & management; and property management & maintenance. Each part is important because all eight work together to help a parish thrive. At Synod in October, we will see how the Learning Commons has been substantially developed to serve us.

As I reflect back on the last five years of serving as your bishop, I do so with an abiding sense of thanksgiving. When I was preparing for my consecration, I made myself the wooden crozier I carry on all parish visits. I wrote earlier about how the parts of the crozier came from several different places.

The main staff was cut in 1978 on the Carp Ridge, between the villages of Dunrobin and Carp. My brother Barry and I were hired to build a cedar log cabin, and a number of young ironwood trees on the site had to be cleared—and one of them became my walking staff. Barry and I lived in tents at the cabin site for many weeks, and the staff remained with me as a memento of those days.

The crook is made from the limb of a cherry tree felled by a beaver near Sawmill Creek by Brookfield Road in Ottawa, a familiar place for my brothers and me. The sections of threaded steel tubing are from what my brothers and I call “the mall” (known to everyone else as the curb on garbage night).

I called the crozier “Brother Thankful” because the parts of it are strongly associated with my brothers, and because I feel profoundly thankful to God for calling me to a ministry which has allowed me to offer all that I am, and all that I have learned, to serving with each of you as we faithfully guide change and make our beloved Diocese thrive.

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This photograph of the Church of the Ascension dates from the second quarter of the 20th century. But Ascension’s history begins much earlier than that. It started out as a small brick church named Holy Trinity, Archville, built in 1877 near where the main cut of the Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa near the University of Ottawa turns southward to wend its way to Dow’s Lake and the navigable part of the Rideau River. Holy Trinity was unique among Anglican churches built in late Victorian Ottawa for featuring rounded arches, as opposed to pointed ones.

The first rector appointed to Holy Trinity, Archville, appropriately enough, was a well-rounded individual, the Reverend Thomas Dowell Phillipps. Note the 3 ps. He had trained for the Anglican ministry, but he also was a teacher of some repute as shown by his being the mathematical master at the Ottawa Collegiate Institute (Lisgar Collegiate). He had other talents.  So proficient was he at playing cricket that on his 80th birthday he made a century—which in the arcane lingo of that sport means he batted a hundred runs, no mean achievement.

The arrival of the Rev. Robert Jefferson as rector in 1916, came at a critical time. The growing congregation in a small church, lacked room to expand. They faced up to the challenge of building a larger house of worship amid wartime restrictions. This new much larger building was built within parish boundaries on a site overlooking the Rideau Canal in 1916. The bell for Ascension is said to have come from a locomotive on J.R. Booth’s Canada Atlantic Railway.

From this view we can see that the Gothic Revival design favoured by Anglicans had been pared down to a practical (as opposed to steeply pitched) roof that did not rise high above the perpendicular windows. The parish hall was located beneath the house of worship. We see the church here from the west, with its great west window already filled with stained glass.

The new name, Church of the Ascension, was chosen because there was another Holy Trinity church in the city. The more spacious new setting conformed with the policy of the Federal District Commission (forerunner of today’s NCC) of having appropriate private and cultural buildings prominently featured on the new parkways being built in Ottawa. The fencing and mowed turf along the canal spoke to this development. The willow tree and lilac bush in the foreground probably both had been planted by the FDC at the turn of the century. Even so, even in this view, there were railway tracks running along the side of the canal to link up with Union Station downtown. Beside the church, we see the rectory for the Church of the Ascension.

Bucolic setting aside, it would be a long painful slog for the parish to pay off the debt of building this church in wartime conditions. It was not until 9 May 1956, that the Church of the Ascension was consecrated by Bishop Ernest S. Reed.

If you would like to help the Archives 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.

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Churches in our diocese will celebrate Pentecost 50 days after our Easter Sunday celebrations, wearing red, to signify the tongues of fire that first rested on all the disciples on the first Pentecost. The Holy Spirit will help us as he reminds us the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus each Sunday in our churches, and we are sent out to love and serve the Lord. Even while the climate crisis rages, communities of faithful Christians can join their neighbours celebrating in the month of June with weddings, and barbeques, and canoe trips! Rejoice in the good weather, the gardens blooming, and the sun shining.

June 15, 2025 is Father’s Day. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in every Christian, offers gifts to children and fathers. Does your father demonstrate love and kindness, goodness and faithfulness? Rejoice in the power of the Spirit in your father’s life. Rejoice in the lives of those men who have been father-figures to you. Again, our churches might celebrate the men in our congregations who are fathers with a BBQ, and certainly in the prayers on Father’s Day.

The month of June is National Indigenous Month, when we celebrate the cultures, languages, knowledge, histories, and traditions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. June 21, 2025 is our National Indigenous Day of Prayer. Within the Collect for that day, we pray, that empowered by the Holy Spirit we may be strengthened and guided to walk toward justice and wholeness.

During June 23 to 29 the Anglican Church of Canada will join for General Synod, at RBC Place London in the Diocese of Huron, and elect a new Primate. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will empower those who vote to elect one of the candidates: National Indigenous Archbishop Christopher Harper, Bishop David Lehmann, Archbishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson, or Bishop Riscylla Shaw. May the grace and wisdom of the Holy Spirit guide the minds of those who vote.

The Holy Spirit dwells within us, guiding and teaching us; the Holy Spirit is a course of wisdom and revelation; the Holy Spirit is our comforter, and giver of good gifts. In our weakness, the Holy Spirit helps us. While the news around us is frightening, the Good News gives us hope. As we gather during the month of June, let us celebrate with trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit.

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Je me souviens que cet exercice m’a laissé perplexe et m’a étrangement stimulé. J’ai pris conscience du mystère de mon “je”, de l’unicité et de la singularité de mon moi. Personne d’autre ne pouvait être le “moi” que j’étais, et je ne pourrais jamais être le “moi” qu’ils étaient. Malgré toutes les façons dont j’ai essayé de répondre à la question – “Je suis le fils de mes parents”, “Je vis à tel ou tel endroit”, “Je suis un lycéen” ou même, plus pieusement, “Je suis l’enfant de Dieu” – le sentiment qu’il y a plus que ce que nous sommes à chaque instant, et que nous devons trouver cette pièce manquante, a subsisté.

Les grandes traditions spirituelles du monde insistent sur la nécessité de la découverte de soi. Par exemple, la première et pratiquement la seule consigne que le grand sage hindou du 20e siècle, Ramana Maharshi, donnait aux chercheurs était de se demander “Qui suis-je ?”. Ces traditions peuvent avoir des conceptions radicalement différentes du soi, mais elles s’accordent sur le fait que les êtres humains, tels qu’on les rencontre généralement dans cette vie, souffrent de perceptions déformées et d’auto-illusions qui obscurcissent notre véritable moi. En termes chrétiens, nous pouvons dire que nous sommes créés à l’image et à la ressemblance de Dieu, mais cette image est comme un miroir brisé qui renvoie un reflet défectueux.

Notre quête spirituelle n’a pas pour but de nous rendre plus sages, plus intéressants ou même plus “saints”, mais de nous rendre réels. Certaines personnes sont convaincues que la voie de la véritable connaissance de soi se trouve dans la psychothérapie et l’analyse. En ramenant à la conscience les souvenirs oubliés et surtout les blessures subies au début de leur vie, elles pourraient réparer les dégâts et devenir vraiment elles-mêmes. Cette voie peut être très utile aux personnes qui s’y engagent. Elle peut faire une énorme différence entre la santé mentale et la détresse émotionnelle.

La vérité de nous-mêmes est cependant cachée plus profondément que n’importe quelle pensée ou thérapie ne peut nous amener. C’est un mystère plus profond que les mots ne peuvent exprimer. La véritable connaissance de soi n’est pas un produit d’idées, mais une manière de prendre conscience de soi, d’être attentif à soi-même : non pas à ce que nous pensons être, ou espérons être, mais à ce que nous sommes vraiment. Il ne s’agit pas seulement de prendre conscience de sa propre personnalité ou de son ego, le plus souvent dans l’espoir de le corriger ou de l’améliorer. Ces dernières années, les chrétiens se sont de plus en plus familiarisés avec un sens plus large de la prise de conscience de soi.  De plus en plus de groupes se réunissent pour pratiquer des formes de méditation chrétienne qui mènent à la conscience de soi.

Cette pratique ne consiste pas du tout à être centré sur soi, à se concentrer exclusivement sur ce qui se passe à l’intérieur de soi. Elle vise plutôt la capacité d’être présent à ce qui est réel, à ce qui est maintenant. La tradition biblique indique clairement que nous ne pouvons pas trouver notre véritable “moi” – la vérité du cœur de notre être – à moins de le chercher dans la présence et la lumière de Dieu. Nous ne trouvons notre véritable moi que dans une relation avec Dieu, qui seul est le véritable but et le sens de toute existence. Lorsque le psalmiste demande : « Qu’est donc l’homme pour que tu penses à lui, l’être humain pour que tu t’en soucies ? » (Psaume 8, 5), il ne pose pas une question philosophique. Il réfléchit plutôt sur Dieu et exprime son admiration pour la gloire divine qui brille dans toute la création.

Les chrétiens partagent la perspective du psalmiste mais ajoutent une autre dimension étonnante à cet enseignement. Ils insistent non seulement sur l’autorévélation divine de Dieu par des maîtres et des prophètes inspirés, mais aussi sur le fait que “dans la plénitude des temps”, Dieu a pris notre chair et s’est fait l’un de nous. Le Christ, le Dieu incarné, la personne humaine parfaite, a fait sienne notre réalité la plus intime. De manière étonnante, cela signifie que le mystère de notre personne est devenu le mystère du Christ. C’est le don promis par le Christ comme fruit de l’amour : le don de Dieu “demeurant” en nous (Jean 14,23).

Cet immense mystère ne peut être approché que dans la foi. Nous ne pouvons pas en faire l’expérience par nous-mêmes. Nous ne pouvons que le chercher et prier pour l’entrevoir. Si nous en faisons l’expérience, ne serait-ce qu’un instant, nous commençons à pouvoir dire avec saint Paul : “Ce n’est pas moi, mais le Christ qui vit en moi” (Galates 2,20). Une fois que nous y avons goûté, nous ne pourrons jamais nous satisfaire d’un chemin de connaissance de soi qui n’aurait pas pour cœur et pour but final la recherche de Dieu qui habite au cœur de notre être et qui nous remplit de vie.

English translation

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Executive Archdeacon Linda Hill offered insight on the responsibilities of churchwardens, and roles of parish and congregational councils, central parish committees, annual vestry meetings and special vestry meetings. Paul Lex, director of human resources, presented information on employment contracts and ways to support the ministry of volunteers.

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The book was a labour of love for Frances Macdonnell, its general editor. Hewitt was her first organ teacher, she told Crosstalk, and she served as his assistant organist for the last few years of his working life at the Cathedral before she succeeded him as organist and music director at the Cathedral in 1980.

Born in England, Hewitt nurtured and influenced generations of young church musicians, singers and organists in Ottawa and beyond. He was one of the only four church musicians in Canada ever to be awarded an honorary Lambeth Doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Macdonnell said.

“Godfrey never published any of his music (except a couple of descants in various hymnbooks — one of them is in Common Praise.)  But during the last two years, I have led a group of musicians who had all been singers in Godfrey’s Cathedral Choir in earlier days to re-create this music and get it published,” she explained.

The new book, Sacred Choral Music of Godfrey Hewitt, includes all of Hewitt’s choral music for the Eucharist, Matins, and Evensong, his original Psalm chants, descants, and an Introit. “It also for the first time publishes his reharmonizations of hymn tunes,” she said.

“All his working life, Godfrey played his own reharmonizations of the final verses of hymns–but he never wrote them down. They are wonderful and should be more often played. Their movement and harmonic development always completely illustrate the mood and meaning of the words,” said Macdonnell, who re-created these reharmonizations from her own memories of Godfrey’s playing over many years.

The music was all engraved by Ross Jewell, a former Cathedral Choir member and retired electrical engineer, who took up music engraving as a retirement project.

The academic preface to the book, describing Hewitt’s life and work, was written by Dr. John Brough, a member of the Cathedral choir as a boy and young man, who now teaches music at Concordia University in Edmonton. His doctoral thesis was written on the history of church music at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa.

The publication of this book was made possible by the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Fund, established through the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) after Dr. Hewitt’s death in 2002, Macdonnell said. This fund helps to produce the highly trained organists the Canadian church needs for the future by providing:

• an annual scholarship of $6,000 for a graduate student in organ
• a bi-annual grand prize of $6,000 for the RCCO national organ-playing competition
• an annual grant of $3,000 to the RCCO’s Summer Academy for young organists
• an annual grant of $2,500 to various organ recital series in Ottawa and across Canada

All this is made possible by donations to the fund in Godfrey Hewitt’s memory and in aid of the training of young Canadian organists.  Donations to the fund are very welcome and eligible for charitable tax receipts.

To make a donation to the fund or to purchase a copy of the book ($30, plus $5 for postage), please contact Frances Macdonnell by email: fbmacdonnell@sympatico.ca or by mail at 303 – 3099 Carling Avenue Ottawa ON K2H 5A6.

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The supervised consumption site was one of 10 locations in Ontario closed because they were within 200 metres of a school or daycare. The health centre’s services are changing to become a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub, which still provides “basic needs services, including shower facilities, essential supplies, lunch every day, wellness activities and client engagement.” The government has promised that future phases will add direct connections to primary care, mental health support, treatment programs, permanent supportive housing linkages, and rapid referrals to withdrawal management and medical stabilization beds.

Cornerstone Housing for Women has two supportive housing residences in the neighbourhood on Booth and Eccles streets. Senior program manager Ashley Jordan told Crosstalk that Cornerstone and its residents see the effects of the CTS closure close-up in multiple ways.

For some of the residents, “it has been challenging adapting to not having those supports across the street,” she said. “They depended on the community there, so as a result, we are seeing that residents are spending more time isolated in their apartments. … It’s beneficial that they’re living with us because we do still have harm reduction supports here, and we have Naloxone available and so we are able to do increased checks on them to make sure that they are okay and well.”

The CTS closure has not reduced the number of drug users in the neighbourhood, Jordan explained. “They live here, so while they may have closed down the safe consumption site, that doesn’t mean that those people left.” In fact, she said, now that there is no supervised place to use, they are more visible. “We’ve definitely seen an increase in the public presence of people just in front of the building and in our parking lot and just in the community in general…. I’ve definitely seen people using on the streets, and we have witnessed overdoses in the community,” Jordan said.

Drug use is not permitted on Cornerstone’s property, and that means there are increased duties for staff as they to try to monitor the area outside their buildings and sometime rush out to administer Naloxone to people who have overdosed.

“We will do what we can to support people and support the community, but we are definitely concerned … because the opioid epidemic is not going away anytime soon,” she said. “Unfortunately, the reality is that people will die as a result of the closure of safe consumption sites.”
Another safety concern is that there’s been an increase in materials such as needles found on the ground and in public spaces, Jordan said. She noted, however, that there is a needle exchange box at Cornerstone’s Booth street residence that anyone can access. It is maintained in partnership with the City.

Belong Ottawa’s locations have seen big increases in demand for their day program services since the CTS closure.

The Bronson Centre, where St. Luke’s Table relocated after a 2022 fire at St. Luke’s church, reports a significant surge in service users. Breakfast numbers have doubled, and there has been a notable increase in the demand for lunch services. The use of cots and respite spaces has also risen substantially. When cots are unavailable, service users are resorting to sleeping on the floor. Many of the new participants are individuals previously unknown to the service system, indicating a shift in the population accessing support.

Similarly, Centre 454 has seen a substantial increase in the number of new service users. They report that staff have had to acclimatize these new individuals to the centre’s expectations and guidelines, including the maintenance of a substance-free environment on the property.

Monica Patten, chair of the Community Ministries Committee for the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, says the closure of the CTS at Somerset increases pressure at Belong Ottawa and Cornerstone. In terms of staffing, she said, “We’ve never fully recovered from COVID…Staff are stressed and overstretched. It’s hard to fill positions on an ongoing basis because this is hard work…and when a service that is really helpful gets shut down, our work gets harder. And I think that that’s part of what we’re facing in our community in general and in community ministries, as well as other frontline organizations.”

Patten acknowledged that the CTS did pose concerns for people around it. “It wasn’t a panacea, but it was work that broke a little bit of the tension that’s out there, made it possible for people to consume safely.” She added that she feels that many people in the community, even Anglicans here in the diocese, don’t know the depth of what is happening in community ministries. “They know that we provide meals, but it’s so much more,” she said. People “go for lunch, sure, but that lunch is only part of how they are healed and loved and supported.

“At the centre of the story is compassion,” Patten said. “These are not just social service ministries. These are ministries that save lives. They save lives through their compassion, through offering nutrition, through offering safe places.”

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Centre 105 expanded its service from serving breakfast and providing for other basic needs such as showers and laundry from three to four days a week in 2024 and now serves about 450 meals per week. “The demand on our services continues to grow,” said executive director Taylor Seguin. “Simply put, the demand for our services (free meals, social space, laundry, showers), is outpacing our ability to bring in adequate revenue.” Centre 105 had a 2024 deficit of just over $127,000.

Economic pressures have reduced donations, Seguin told Crosstalk. “Although the Cornwall community is incredibly generous and supports Centre 105 financially, 2024 was a challenging year to raise funds, including via individual donors. Many of our existing donors have let us know that life has become exponentially more expensive in the past year, which is unfortunately affecting the amount that they are able to contribute to charities/non-profits…. In some cases, donors were forced to stop donating altogether, especially seniors on a fixed income. A significant portion of our donors are seniors.”

Seguin added that he and the Centre 105 team are making every effort to keep costs down. “I always assure our existing donors, as well as potential donors, that Centre 105 has always been a very “lean machine,” meaning that we have very little overhead costs,” he said of the operation which is based in the parish hall of Trinity Anglican Church. “We rely heavily on the work of our large volunteer team, which allows us to operate with a very small staff team of 3 full timers and 1 part timer. Although we do purchase some food, a large amount of our food is received through donation partnerships with local grocery stores and restaurants.”

The Rev. Canon Peter John Hobbs, director general of the Anglican Community Ministries, said that since Centre 105 opened in 2019 there has been a constant increase in the call for its services. “More and more people are going to Centre 105. And in a sense that demand has outpaced the fundraising that we’ve done,” he said.

“It’s great and amazing that that we have such incredible support from individuals and households in that area and across the Seaway,” but Hobbs added, “we need to diversify our revenue streams beyond an over-reliance on individual donations.” He was quick to gratefully acknowledge that Centre 105 has also been supported by the United Way and a number of service clubs, businesses, community and family foundations. The United Way has provided funding to Centre 105 but recently announced changes to the way it will provide funding, moving away from granting funds for operating expenses.

It is important to note that Centre 105 has been able to apply for and has received small grants of $8,000 to $10,000 from the City of Cornwall annually, but it does not receive core funding as Belong Ottawa and Cornerstone Housing for Women do from the City of Ottawa. There is some hope, however, that the municipal government might consider providing more funding. Bishop Shane Parker, Hobbs and Maria Crosby, the chair of 105’s management board and Seguin met with the mayor of Cornwall and the top municipal administrator. “It was very encouraging,” said Hobbs. “There’s nothing certain yet, but [there was] just an openness to have a conversation about a partnership agreement that hopefully would result in some funding from the City of Cornwall to Centre 105.”

Even with core funding from the City of Ottawa, 2024 was a challenging year for Belong Ottawa, which is an amalgamation of three former day programs — Centre 454, St. Luke’s Table and The Well—and still operates in all three locations in downtown Ottawa. Its operating deficit was $622,000 at the end of 2024, but using its reserve funds reduced the deficit to $102,500.

Belong Ottawa faces similar increasing demands for its services — meals, facilities for people who are homeless or precariously housed to shower and wash their clothes, help navigating government social and health systems, and important social connection and support from staff and other participants in the programs. The number of people coming through its doors and accessing food and services increased by 30 percent between 2023 and 2024, and that growth has continued into 2025. Belong Ottawa now serves about 500 people a day and has extended its hours of service.

Hobbs says the deficit was a result of a confluence of factors. That 30 percent increase in service impacted finances in a number of ways including increasing costs for food, utilities and staffing. He added that there was also an important recognition that Belong Ottawa was previously not creating budgets that accurately reflected the actual costs of the delivery of services.

Shauna-marie Young, who was hired as the new executive director of Belong Ottawa in October 2024, told Crosstalk that she and director of operations Michael Howard did a deep analysis of the finances and true cost of running Belong Ottawa. Presenting those new figures to the City of Ottawa resulted in receiving $900,000 more than in the previous year. She added that four previous contracts with the City of Ottawa have now been amalgamated into one contract, which will make it much easier to control, track and report. Young said that analysis of staff scheduling has led to changes and a more efficient system that avoids costly overlap.

The financial review also showed that a reduced apportionment grant and a drop in donations from the Today for Tomorrow fundraising campaign, which is transitioning to new initiatives, also contributed to the shortfall. Since Young’s onboarding, intentional and focused appeals, fundraising activities, contribution and grant seeking, and donor management are all high priorities for action.

“We receive generous funding from the parishes through the apportionment grant, and of course from individuals and corporations, so there’s a lot of revenue streams,” said Young. “Even though it’s been very generous, it hasn’t met the escalating costs and needs of the community ministry.” She added that Belong Ottawa will shift the focus of its appeals to the community from in-kind donations such as winter clothing to requests for financial donations, which are much more efficiently managed and benefit participants in the programs more effectively.

On that note, Young was excited to report that preparations are underway for a new flagship fundraiser for Belong Ottawa.

On Oct. 4, Belong Ottawa is encouraging parishes, community groups and all friends of Belong Ottawa to join the Ride for Refuge, an in-person bike/walk event, which will raise funds to support Belong Ottawa’s work to compassionately care for vulnerable people in our midst. For more information go to rideforrefuge.org/home

Click any of the links below to donate:

Anglican Community Ministries 

Belong Ottawa

Centre 105

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