The Church of St. Barnabas has always been grateful for your prayers, support, and friendship, and we continue to appreciate them now more than ever.

Over the past year, we have prayerfully considered the necessity of replacing the floors of the church, the sacristy, and the church hall. The Vestry has approved this project for 2026-27, and a committee has been formed to oversee the various steps involved, led by an experienced architect, John Donkin, who has strong ties to our parish.

On Saturday, June 27, at 4 p.m., we will be hosting a fundraising concert featuring the London Trio Plus. This event is more than just a concert; it is greater than just about floors that are beautiful and functional; warm and inviting evoking a sense of peace and reverence to all. It is about a community within Centretown and beyond.

While St. Barnabas continues to be a home of Anglo-Catholicism it also serves as a welcoming space for numerous initiatives within our city, These include: St. Luke’s Table every Saturday, Music and Beyond Concerts during the summer, and STEM camps in the summer months July to August (Monday to Friday), STEM Camp is a not for profit organization founded in 2013, offering up fun and educational summer camp experiences for kids 4-13 all across Canada, including Ottawa.

Music, voice and organ lessons provided by three experienced and talented teachers who help nurture future musicians and host Royal Canadian College of Organists Ottawa Centre, exams and seminars.

Once a month, we open our doors to the city with a Community Tea fully funded by St. Barnabas. This is a drop-in tea with finger foods and door prizes for anyone living in Centretown and beyond—whether they are homeless, have a home, live alone, or with family.

The Sons of Scotland Band also holds their rehearsals here every Monday. We actively contribute to and participate in the Centretown Foodbank and Centretown Churches Social Action Committee, and provide a place of worship and community for university students away from home.

We are a member of Multifaith Housing and recently participated in the Annual Tulipathon Walk, and our church raised over $2000.

Furthermore, the Old Roman Catholic Rite Church meets at St. Barnabas every month. We continue to be a place where people can turn to in great times of prayer, need and celebration.

This project has an impact on the City of Ottawa and beyond. If every member of the above-mentioned groups, along with anyone reading this article, were to contribute $10 dollars towards this initiative, we could raise a significant amount. Remember, a friend in need is a friend indeed.

With your support, we can ensure that St. Barnabas continues to be a welcoming home for many, transcending the Christian faith. Together, we can extend our hands in unity and demonstrate the love of Christ through this concert, as we work to gift St. Barnabas with new floors.

We are excited that the London Trio Plus group was available to provide this concert, which marks one of the first of many fundraising endeavors to come. The dynamic London Trio Plus (LTP) Ensemble is a gospel and harmonic vocal group based in Ottawa. The group is made up of three London sisters—Vanessa, Valerie, and Celeste. The “Plus” in their name signifies a larger flexible group beyond the initial trio, which includes additional family members and friends as vocalists and band members.

Under the expert direction of Valerie London, the group has thrilled audiences for over 20 years, with harmonious and uplifting music – sharing their talents through concerts and other community initiatives. The group continues to delight audiences throughout Canada and the Caribbean, with voices in perfect harmony. This talented group has produced concerts, written and arranged several pieces, organized festivals and mentored young performers. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to listen to this enthusiastic group of musicians.

Date and Time

Saturday, June 27 at 4 p.m.

Tickets

$40 per person

$70 for a couple, with a freewill offering for children 12 and under.

Here is the link to purchase tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/fundraising-concert-by-london-trio-plus .

Target

Our goal is to raise $10,000.

Parking:

Due to road construction, there is very little on-street parking in the immediate area of our church.

PAID parking is available at 381 Kent Street (Medical Building) for $5 for an unlimited time. This parking lot can be accessed from Gilmour Street off Kent Street.

I deeply value your support and prayers for the successful launch of the Floor Fundraising Activities.

God speed to you all as you make your way to the concert, on Saturday, June 27 at 4 p.m.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Canon George Kwari

The post St. Barnabas hosts a musical fundraising concert featuring the London Trio Plus appeared first on Perspective.

The choir of Pembroke students is led by renowned organist, conductor and broadcaster Anna Lapwood, who is just finishing her tenure as director of music at Pembroke and has been appointed as the organist at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She serves as the Artist in Association with the BBC singers.

Their concert at St. Barnabas included Vigilate by 16^th century composer William Byrd but most of the pieces they sang were from contemporary composers, including Lapwood’s own composition Arise, Shine, which she said reflects on Jesus as the light of the world.

They also performed her arrangements of pop songs — Bob Dylan’s “Make you feel my love,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Lapwood said the master of Pembroke had asked her to do an arrangement of “Hallelujah,” one of his favourite songs, and they added it to their program for their Canadian tour because Cohen was Canadian.

The concert also included Eleanor Daley’s “Grandmother Moon” with lyrics by Mi’kmaq poet, Mary Louise Martin, which Lapwood said the choir has sung and loved for years and had special meaning for them as they visited Canada.

The Canadian tour included stops in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto. Lapwood said she and the choir were enjoying their trip and were particularly gratified by the warm audiences who had given them standing ovations at every concert. Ottawa was the first stop where they were being accommodated in home stays. Parishioners at St. Barnabas were hosting the choir members in their homes, and Lapwood thanked them during the concert for making them feel that they were with family.

The choristers were looking forward to the adventure of white-water rafting on the Ottawa River during their visit to the city.

Lapwood is a passionate advocate for music education, diversity and equal opportunities in music. The choir travels to Zambia every three years, and Lapwood has visited to teach music programs every year since she went as an undergraduate student in 2017.

Even though, Lapwood is just 30 years old, she was told during her musical education to “play like a man.”  In an interview with Perspective after the choir arrived in Ottawa, she said such bias continues to exist. “A lot of people have also said, ‘Stop banging on about it, it doesn’t happen anymore, that was 10 years ago, it’s not relevant anymore.’ Actually, one of my students told me as recently as maybe four months ago that they have been told exactly the same thing, and it just is there in historically gendered spaces,” she said. “I think the ease with which people can slip into gendered language, which is implying that one gender is better than the other is slightly scary, and so what I’m trying to do is just be the opposite of that and try and tell everyone that they’re welcome and valid and that gender doesn’t mean anything in terms of musical ability. It’s just it’s complete nonsense. And I guess because I’m quite vocal about it, female organists tend to come and want to work with me because I talk about it quite a lot. And I’m lucky that we have two amazing female organ scholars. I’ve also had two brilliant male organ scholars. I think it’s just trying to make sure everyone feels welcome and included.”

Lapwood tells her students to be and play like themselves. The concert performance at St. Barnabas attests to the stellar success of that approach. As the crowd stood and applauded until Lapwood offered them an encore of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” arranged by one of the young choristers, she was alight with pride in their achievements.

They returned to St. Barnabas the following day to sing at the Sunday evensong service. The choir donated 25 percent of the price of their sold-out tickets to the parish.

The post St. Barnabas hosts star U.K. conductor and choir appeared first on Perspective.

The Rev. Canon George Kwari has been appointed Incumbent of the Parish of St. Barnabas Ottawa, effective May 5, 2025.

The Rev. Canon Ken Davis will retire on July 1, 2025, after four decades of devoted and fruitful priestly ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada.

The post Clergy news — April 2025 appeared first on Perspective.