Qu’est-ce-que ce thème peut vouloir représenter pour nous, francophones et francophiles du diocèse anglican d’Ottawa?

Pour commencer, nous « mettre en mouvement, sortir à la rencontre des autres et multiplier les occasions » de nous rassembler, c’est quelque chose que nous recherchons activement en tant que communauté croyante à St-Bernard.

St-Bernard, est une communauté anglicane francophone qui existe depuis plus de 40 ans dans le diocèse anglican d’Ottawa. C’est la seule communauté exclusivement francophone dans tout notre diocèse.

St-Bernard ouvre ses portes à toutes et à tous et continue d’accueillir de nouvelles paroissiennes et de nouveaux paroissiens. Cependant, comme dans plusieurs paroisses, la communauté vieillit et le nombre de bénévoles diminue. Nous souhaitons faire grandir la communauté et accueillir de nouvelles personnes pour renforcer la vie de St-Bernard. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous, à venir nous rencontrer et à découvrir tout ce que notre communauté a à offrir.

Voici quelques façons de participer activement à la vie de notre communauté :

• Choisir St-Bernard comme votre lieu de culte hebdomadaire : la messe dominicale a lieu à midi, à l’église Trinity, au 1230, rue Bank, à Ottawa. Nous serons heureux de vous y accueillir dans une ambiance conviviale et fraternelle. (Au fil des ans, la communauté a célébré dans différents lieux, et elle a trouvé, depuis plus d’un an, un foyer chaleureux à l’église Trinity.)
• Participer à la messe, à la prière du matin et aux autres activités, aussi souvent que possible. Même une ou deux fois par mois peuvent faire une grande différence : votre présence fait vivre la communauté et, en retour, la communauté vous nourrit et vous soutient dans votre cheminement de foi.
• Se rassembler, tous les jeudis matin, à 9 h, sur Zoom, avec des membres de la communauté pour un moment de prière et de partage.
• Contribuer financièrement à la communauté en faisant un don par courriel à donsstbernard@gmail.com ou sur la plateforme CanaDon en cliquant sur le lien qui se trouve au https://communautestbernard.ca/faites-un-don/ .

Et ce n’est pas tout! Au fil de la dernière année, la communauté de St-Bernard a partagé de très beaux moments de fraternité et de convivialité.

Chaque dernier dimanche du mois, Bible et Bouffe offre un temps privilégié pour se retrouver, échanger et tisser des liens autour d’un repas simple et chaleureux.

Au début de 2026, des rencontres sur la Bible ont été offertes par Pierre LaViolette de l’Université Saint-Paul.

Soirées cinéma

Notez aussi dès maintenant dans vos agendas les dates des soirées cinéma qui auront lieu les 20 et 27 mars, ainsi que les 10 et 17 avril. On se retrouvera à 19 h dans la salle Canterbury pour regarder des films réalisés par des cinéastes autochtones et produits par l’Office national du film du Canada, qui traitent de la réalité quotidienne des premiers peuples de ce territoire aujourd’hui appelé le Canada.

En plus du pur plaisir de regarder de très bons films, on aura l’occasion d’explorer les nombreuses questions entourant la vérité et la réconciliation dans ce pays.

On va accompagner notre séance de cinéma avec des pizzas et d’autres snacks légers. La soirée est gratuite, mais les dons sont les bienvenus.

• 20 mars – On va regarder un film classique d’Alanis Obomsawim, Mère de tant d’enfants. Marie-Alice Belle constate que ce film « est encore d’actualité dans la mesure où il parle entre autres des provisions de la “Loi sur les Indiens” qui forçaient les femmes à abandonner leur statut si elles se mariaient avec un non-autochtone. Or les questions de transmission du statut en cas de mariage “mixte” sont actuellement en débat au Sénat. »
• 27 mars – Un autre film à ne pas rater est Nous les enfants, On découvre les rêves et les espoirs d’un groupe de jeunes des Nations atikamekw, Eeyou-crie et innue, de leur point de vue.
• 10 avril – Chasseuse de sonTanya Tagaq, l’une des interprètes les plus innovatrices de notre époque, conduit l’auditoire à travers la douleur et le triomphe dans cette expérience musicale et cinématographique viscérale.
• 17 avril – Finalement, on va regarder Face-à-Face En 1985, la Nation haïda a changé le cours de l’histoire canadienne en se dressant sur la route de la destruction.

Le 2 avril, nous nous rassemblerons au sous-sol de l’église pour un repas « potluck » et pour la messe du Jeudi saint.

En tant que communauté, nous restons ouverts à de nouvelles idées, donc n’hésitez pas à communiquer avec nous. Aussi, si vous souhaitez du soutien pastoral ou des célébrations anglicanes en français, n’hésitez pas à communiquer avec le curé de la communauté de St-Bernard, le révérend kevinwflynn@gmail.com. Il nous fera plaisir de vous accueillir.

The post En ce Mois de la Francophonie, soutenir St-Bernard et sa mission auprès des francophones du diocèse appeared first on Perspective.

Less than a generation after Canadians celebrated the centennial of Confederation, members of Christ Church Cathedral approached their 150th anniversary. They sought a meaningful way to commemorate the building of Christ’s Church, Bytown in 1832, the first Anglican church to be built in the future capital some 35 years before Confederation.

The answer soon became apparent. The west window dating from 1872 was beginning to show its age. Its large surface was filled with clear glass laid out in diamond-panes, with a thin band of gold and blue outlining the tracery. After 110 years of weathering, the lead holding glass panes in place and the larger wooden frame were greatly in need of renewing.

It was decided to commission a new west window. Its design would be a visual summary of the history of the parish within the region. A great fundraising campaign was carried out, and a design commissioned from Christopher Wallis of London, Ontario. Other startling proposals including stark modern abstract designs were also considered, but Wallis was entrusted with the commission based on memorial windows he designed for Trinity Church, Cornwall and Saint Bartholomew’s, Ottawa. We see him here assembling the cartoon for this composition, to form the basis for selecting and cutting stained glass for the new west window. This commission was a big deal, and Christopher Wallis did not disappoint.

As traditional stained-glass iconography goes, Christopher Wallis was attempting nothing less than a summary of the history of the parish and its place in the City of Ottawa within the larger setting of the Ottawa Valley and global Anglicanism. To take on such a commission must have made him feel like Michelangelo when he set out to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  It would take Naomi Jackson Groves, niece of Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson, 60 pages to explain all of the details that Wallis incorporated in his composition. In a future issue of Perspective we will summarize some of the major details, but for now we must confine ourselves to just a few parts of the larger composition of Wallis’s masterpiece.

The larger composition shows a Celtic cross. The cross, of course, is emblematic of Christianity, symbolizing our Saviour’s sacrifice to redeem mankind. The Celtic cross recognizes the huge Anglo-Irish population that constituted much of the Anglican population of the larger Ottawa region in the nineteenth century. In the first census of Canada (1871) that asked people what they considered their ethnic origin (as opposed to their country of birth) to be, in the five counties around Ottawa 42,000 more people claimed to be of Irish origin than did in the cities of Montreal and Toronto combined. At the centre circle of the cross is Christ, the agnus dei, from whom the parish took its name. At the apex of the window Christ the King is shown sitting on a rainbow, while a satellite is shown orbiting the heavens.

The cross arms of the cross represent the Ottawa River, the major east/west route of transportation for both Indigenous inhabitants and early French explorers. The upright of the cross shows the Gatineau River flowing from the north, and the Rideau River flowing from the south, while the tall silhouettes of pine trees across the window signify the huge economic impact of the timber industry in the larger Ottawa Valley over the course of six generations.

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.  

The post Cathedral Deanery — Wallis sketching Christ Church Cathedral West Window Cartoon appeared first on Perspective.

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Le mercredi des Cendres, juste après avoir reçu le signe des cendres sur notre front, nous prions : « Accomplis en nous, ô Dieu, l’œuvre de ton salut. » Le salut est l’un des mots que les chrétiens entendent et utilisent fréquemment. Qu’entendons-nous par là ?

Pour beaucoup de gens, le salut semble signifier une sorte d’état futur où l’on est heureux, où l’on est au ciel, où l’on ne souffre plus. C’est là une description du salut en termes largement négatifs, qui met l’accent sur ce qu’il n’est pas plutôt que sur ce qu’il est. Entrer au ciel est une sorte d’assurance contre l’incendie, un sursis aux souffrances de l’enfer. Ainsi, de nombreux chrétiens se réfugient au ciel. Ils sont tellement préoccupés par le fait de s’éloigner de l’enfer qu’ils finissent par trébucher en arrière et tomber au ciel.

On pense que pour obtenir son billet pour le paradis, il faut croire en quelques définitions obligatoires, se comporter d’une certaine manière et suivre les règles qui nous sont imposées. Nous avons tendance à comprendre le péché essentiellement comme une désobéissance, une transgression d’un commandement. Comme nous risquons d’être punis pour cela, nous devons l’éviter et le regretter. On est loin de comprendre la repentance comme un mode de vie.

Le salut que proclame l’Évangile, pour lequel les martyrs sont morts et que l’Église enseigne depuis ses débuts, n’est pas un moyen d’atteindre une fin, une façon d’éviter la souffrance. C’est la fin elle-même. C’est la vérité de ce que nous sommes vraiment et de ce que nous pouvons devenir. Le salut est un trésor inestimable, une perle pour laquelle nous sommes prêts à tout abandonner. C’est un don de vie.

Le salut nous rend aujourd’hui la vision de Dieu, le don de la présence de Dieu, dont nous sommes censés jouir à chaque instant de notre existence. Le salut est simplement la participation à la vie de Dieu.

Le Carême peut nous aider à voir que le péché dont l’Esprit « convainc le monde » (Jean 16, 8-11) est bien plus que toute faute spécifique que nous avons commise ou que nous pourrions commettre, ou même que la somme totale de toutes ces fautes. Le péché est la condition humaine, l’état de séparation d’avec Dieu.

La repentance est une grâce de Dieu, un don du Saint-Esprit, quelque chose que nous ne pouvons pas « accomplir » par nous-mêmes. Pourtant, nous devons aussi faire notre part, nous devons y travailler, aussi dérisoires et insignifiants que nos efforts puissent nous paraître. Nous pratiquons une mort quotidienne, mourant à nous-mêmes afin de ressusciter avec le Christ pour une vie nouvelle. Nous ne pouvons pas le faire d’un seul coup. Mais nous devons pratiquer la mort et la résurrection à chaque instant de notre vie.

Lorsque la repentance devient pour nous une attitude spirituelle incessante, une façon de vivre avec Dieu, elle devient aussi notre façon de nous préparer à la mort. « Souviens-toi que tu es poussière et qu’à la poussière tu retourneras . » À ce moment inconnu et mystérieux où nous sommes appelés à franchir la frontière entre le temps et l’éternité, entre le ciel et la terre, et à rencontrer enfin le Christ, notre Dieu et notre Juge, que pouvons-nous faire d’autre que nous repentir ? Notre pratique quotidienne et patiente du repentir nous aura appris qu’en présence de l’amour infini de Dieu, nous n’avons rien d’autre à faire que de nous en remettre à sa miséricorde. Nous aurons appris que nous tous, saints et pécheurs, ne pouvons entrer au Paradis que comme le Bon Larron, par la miséricorde du Christ.

The post La repentance : le chemin du salut appeared first on Perspective.

I will give you rest: Come (Matthew 11:28-30)

The 2026 World Day of Prayer materials from Nigeria bring us a powerful invitation drawn from Matthew 11:28-30. At a time when people worldwide are carrying heavy burdens, our Nigerian sisters offer profound insights into finding rest in God. ​

Through their exploration of different kinds of burdens – shame, systemic oppression, religious persecution, poverty and despair – the writers help us understand both the weight of human suffering and the depths of divine rest.

Their work shows us that true rest isn›t just about physical relief, but about transformation through God›s grace and community support.

The Nigerian committee has woven together their cultural wisdom with the universal need for rest. Through symbols like the calabash bowl, which represents both daily sustenance and divine provision, they remind us how God meets us in our weariness.

https://worlddayofprayer.net/index.html

​The World Day of Prayer program is inspired by its motto Informed Prayer and Prayerful Action. Through informed prayer we seek out ways to act in solidarity with women and communities in need. When we prepare and celebrate World Day of Prayer, we do this as a community.

We pray and worship in community,
We continue our relationship in prayer and service throughout the year,
We work together as women of various races/ethnicities, cultures and traditions,
We become aware of the worldwide community of people,
We become enriched by the faith experience of other Christians,
We become aware of the burdens many people have to carry,
We are challenged to use our gifts and talents and use them in the service of society

(The Zambia Statement, 2007)

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As the Anglican Communion’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Jarvis works to create partnerships between churches and UN teams as they respond to conflict, climate change and forced movement of people. Jarvis has also facilitated church-led peacemaking in South Sudan and Mozambique. Throughout it all, she’s seen nothing that compares to the power of people coming back together after conflict, and ultimately, coming back to faith through Jesus.

This resource will be available for download or send a subscription request to receive it as a free daily email message throughout Lent.

https://alongsidehope.org/lent2026/

On March 7, the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer is also presenting this online Lenten lecture

The post Journey through Lent appeared first on Perspective.

All Saints’ associate incumbent the Rev. Chung Yan Lam and the pastoral care team conducted a survey of ASW parishioners asking how the church could best support them. Their thoughtful responses identified about 10 areas where additional support or conversation would be valuable.

To help bring these ideas to life, Donna Rourke was invited to facilitate a series of conversations and workshops. She brings both professional training and personal experience, holding diplomas in Gerontology and Palliative Care from Durham College and a certificate in Managing Conflict from Algonquin College. In an interview with Perspective, she shared that the topic is one of personal interest to her as well because she and her brothers are currently accompanying their mother as she navigates the complexities of the healthcare system. “Together, our goal is to help her age with grace—in the right place, which for her is the home of my youngest brother,” she said.

Rourke described the events that have taken place so far:

Exploring Ottawa housing options

The first interactive workshop, Housing Options in Ottawa, was based on a guide prepared by the Council on Aging’s Age-Friendly Housing Committee. The Council on Aging brings together older adults and community partners from across Ottawa to improve the wellbeing of seniors. The Age-Friendly Housing Committee, in particular, focuses on what are known as the four A’s of housing—ensuring that housing is affordable, accessible, appropriate, and available.

During the workshop, we invited participants to reflect on where and how they want to live as they age. “Aging in the right place” is not only central to personal wellbeing but also a cornerstone of an age-friendly community. We emphasized the importance of planning early—before a crisis forces a move—so that decisions can be made with peace of mind and a sense of empowerment. Ultimately, it is each individual’s decision where they want to call home.

Fostering connection and belonging

Our second event took a more social and experiential approach. Instead of a traditional workshop, it served as a model of the importance of connection and belonging—key elements of healthy aging. The goal was simple: to help participants feel less isolated and more engaged with their community.

Looking ahead: Resources to help you stay in your home

Our third session, Resources to Help You Stay in Your Home, was postponed due to an unexpected heating issue and subsequent flood at ASW but will be rescheduled soon. This workshop will explore a wide range of supports available to older adults who wish to remain at home.

Topics will include Ontario Health at Home, the Geriatric Assessment Outreach Day Hospital, safety and accessibility options, financial assistance programs, dementia-related supports, mental and emotional wellbeing, as well as food and transportation services. One parishioner will also share her family’s story about adapting their home to make it more accessible.

The goal of this session—and indeed the whole series—is to provide participants with knowledge, confidence, and encouragement to make informed decisions based on their own needs, preferences, and values.

Following the Rowe and Kahn model of Successful Aging, the Aging with Grace series invites participants to continue making positive lifestyle choices—embracing healthy eating, appropriate physical activity, active social engagement, mental stimulation, and the nurturing of spiritual life, however that looks for each individual.

Aging with Grace reflects the compassion and commitment that make All Saints’ Westboro a caring community. It is about learning, sharing, and walking together through the later seasons of life. While aging can bring challenges, it also opens opportunities for connection, reflection, growth—and, above all, grace.

The post Aging with Grace: Community conversations to support older adults through changes and choices appeared first on Perspective.

Janet Currie-Kelk, All Saints’ children and youth ministry leader, told Perspective that it was difficult to organize a traditional confirmation program that accommodated kids’ busy schedules of school and extra-curricular sports and activities. “It would be so much nicer to have a longer time frame for young people and have more flexibility,” she recalls wishing.

“The biggest thing about confirmation is that the young people feel supported by their community of faith, and [recognize] that this isn’t a graduation. This is a start of a new journey, in the sense that they’re taking their own responsibility for their own faith development.”

Currie-Kelk had been reading a lot about intergenerational ministry that suggests that keeping children and youth programming separate from the rest of the community “isn’t necessarily in the best interest of anyone’s faith development.” She and the clergy team asked, “How could we offer something to these young people that surrounds them in the community and provide them with the knowledge, the skills, and the experiences of living one’s faith?”

One of the ways of doing that is giving them a confirmation partner or mentor, which All Saints’ does.

And they found a program with the flexibility they were looking for — the passport idea — from an Episcopalian church in the U.S., which has been working with the concept for about 10 years and even offers customized adaptations for different denominations.

They consulted with parishioner Patricia Bays, who has had a long involvement in Christian education and is the author of This Anglican Church of Ours, who was impressed, and so they decided to adapt it for the local context in the diocese of Ottawa.

The passport concept allows a user to prepare for confirmation or simply engage in Christian education programming at any age at their own pace. And it takes confirmation beyond books into experiential learning with lots of room for questioning and reflecting.

There are three broad categories of learning — Foundation, Spiritual Practice and Community in Action. All Saints’ held its first foundational session in the fall — a group discussion of the question “Is doubt okay?”, which drew about 25 people and included parishioners who weren’t involved in confirmation but were just interested in the topic There are four more sessions:

• What do you believe?
• Scripture Mad Dash
• One Church, Many Expressions
• Circle of the Church Year

They intend to hold these core sessions each year, so anyone who wasn’t able to attend won’t have to wait too long for the next one.

The passport includes room for the participants and make notes and record their reflections.

The Spiritual Practice category includes three core requirements:

• Anglican traditions
• Holy Week – (participants must join for at least one day)
• Attending worship service at All Saints’ Westboro at least once a month.

Then participants can choose three of these:

• Prayer and practice
• Praying with Psalms
• Indigenous Spiritualities
• Bible Story-telling
• World Religions
• Labyrinth Spiritual Practice
• Forest Church
• Humanics Santuary and Sculpture Park
• Sacred space
• Lectio Divina
• Vespers
• Crafting circle

Community in Action — How can we love and serve our neighbour?

• Holy Troublemaking
• Suffering — Where is God?
• The Ministry of the Rest of Us
• All Saints’ Westboro Community Space Volunteer

Currie-Kelk says this is a draw for the youth. They talk about Jesus as the ultimate Holy Troublemaker or an activist for Black rights such as Viola Desmond. These issues “tend to also have a very large impact on their faith development. So, faith isn’t just Sunday morning, it’s living it. Whether that’s helping in a food bank, or going on a mission project, or volunteering within other community events.”

Once participants have completed all the requirements, they can be confirmed.

The program is just launching, but Currie-Kelk says that the response so far has been enthusiastic. “We printed 50 passports to start with and we gave them all away.”

All Saints’ is happy to share the templates and their experiences with other parishes that are interested. Incumbent Archdeacon Kathryn Otley has shared information about the program with other diocesan clergy.

Above— Pages from the passport with room for notes and personal reflections.

L— Janet Currie-Kelk is All Saints’ children and youth ministry leader.

The post All Saints’ Westboro tests out new passport-style resource for Christian education and confirmation appeared first on Perspective.

Snowstorms made it impossible for Watson to travel to Ottawa as planned, so St. Bart’s parishioners and others in attendance gathered in the church hall to listen online.

Watson’s morning session was on historical friendships that have advanced ecumenism.

He began by mentioning some famous friendships such as the ones between St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare; St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross; and Trappist priest Thomas Merton and social justice and anti-war activist Dorothy Day.

Watson then shared the inspiring story of how a friendship helped heal a deep schism between the Eastern and Western Churches (later known as the Orthodox and Catholic churches). A dispute led to the leaders of the two branches of the church excommunicating one another in 1054 and a “deep freeze” of alienation that lasted for 900 years.

A shift happened when Pope Paul VI was elected in 1963 in the midst of the Second Vatican Council (which included a goal of fostering greater Christian unity.)  In the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople was aware of the beginning of a “thaw” in Catholic attitudes towards other churches. He began a correspondence with Vatican leaders and eventually with Pope Paul himself.

In 1964, Pope Paul made a surprising pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He and Patriarch Athenagoras met, embraced and prayed together on the Mount of Olives in January 1964.

Later that year, Pope Paul returned a relic — the skull of St. Andrew — that had been in Rome to the Orthodox Church. (Andrew is the traditional patron of the Eastern Orthodox).

In December 1965, the Pope and Patriarch made an announcement that they were lifting and cancelling the excommunications imposed by their predecessors in 1054.

Patriarch Athenagoras commissioned this icon which depicts the embrace of the holy brothers — Andrew and Peter — as a gift for the Pope.

In 1975, Pope Paul met with Orthodox Archbishop Meliton. The pope knelt and kissed the Archbishop’s feet, in a gesture that was inspired by Christ washing the feet of his disciples.

Watson noted Jesus’s words to the apostle in John 15:14-15

“You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends.”

He concluded: “With friendship, ecumenism becomes something we long for and desire.”

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