Congratulations and good wishes – Palliative Care Workshop – Invitation to discuss the Indian Act – Pain partage et prière, Hungry Minds, Reading Group, Lunch n’ chat, Social Service Society meeting – Come share your ideas for Journées de la culture over a glass of wine and a meal!

Dear Friend of the Cathedral

This week’s letter is mostly about people—getting together or creating events, and also some are achieving goals, receiving honours, or reaching out to others—appropriate topics for a letter being read by a community of people.

Celebrating people

Congratulations and best wishes to Jonathan, Natasha, Sam, Joseph, Adleisia, Patrick, Joel, Tania, Vivian, Bertrand – Here are the reasons why!

• Jonathan Stuchbery, talented guitarist and occasional member of the choir, will give his graduating recital titled Royal Winter Music in Pollack Hall, April 26 at 4 pm
• This Saturday between 10 and 5, Natasha Henderson will show some of her charming cat paintings at the Marché artisanal du Café Chato, 3939 rue Wellington in Verdun. Lots of cat artifacts and, at a guess, cats too!
• Also on Saturday, at 4:30 pm, Sam Keuchguerian and Joseph Hafner, well-known members of the parish will perform music for cello and piano as part of the Oasis concert series.
• On April 28 at 8 pm in the cathedral, my granddaughter Emma will be singing in a concert given by Adleisia, the women’s choir which rehearses in the Undercroft. They will be joined for this concert by Oriana, a Toronto women’s choir.
• More lovely music can be heard this weekend when Patrick’s sometimes-secular choir “Musica Orbium” will perform Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Saturday at 7, (the concert at 3 pm Sunday is now sold out) in l’Église Saint-Pierre-Apôtre. https://www.musicaorbium.org/current-season.html
• Patrick’s last Sunday at the Cathedral will be June 24. Because that’s a holiday weekend farewells will take place the previous weekend. On Saturday June 16 the Stravinsky Mass will be presented as a fund raising concert. On Sunday, June 17, people who have sung with the Cathedral choir in previous years are invited to join in singing Evensong. The Music Committee is hoping to have a choir of 100 people. There will of course be a party of the kind which the cathedral does so well! So please be sure to mark that weekend as red letter days in your calendars.
• Also looking ahead – to Monday, May 7th- make a note of Convocation at the Montreal Diocesan Theological College. Joel Amis and Tania Lesack will be among the graduates and the Most. Rev. Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, will give the address. 7pm, St. George’s Place du Canada. Congratulations, Joel and Tania!
• Last Sunday’s service of New Ministry included the installation of Vivian Lewin as a member of the Board of Diocesan College – an excellent choice.
• Meanwhile, next week will be an exciting one for Dean Bertrand who is briefly returning to Europe to organise his affairs and to be created an Honorary Canon of Nicosia Cathedral in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. While in his previous post, Bertrand was involved in building up the link between the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf and its London home at All Hallows, and attended their annual Synod.  He subsequently raised a significant amount of money for three projects in the diocese: the building of the Anglican Centre in Doha, the running costs of the Eye Clinic in Aden in the Yemen, and a new outreach Centre for St Christopher’s Cathedral, Bahrain. He became UK Commissary to the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, who is now seeking to maintain and strengthen the links by installing Bertrand as an Honorary Canon of Nicosia Cathedral. We shall in due course hope to hear about the work of the Diocese from either the Bishop or another representative of the Diocese at Christ Church Cathedral.  More information here about the work of the diocese.
• Finally, a correction and an apology. Bishop Mary will be leading the pilgrimage to the Holy Land in February, not Archdeacon Robert Camara. However, Robert is still the person to contact if you are interested

 Sharing ideas with people

The McGill Council on Palliative Care has invited Cathedral parishioners to attend a workshop about advanced care planning, on April 26 from 6 to 8 pm at the Mt Sinai Hospital on Cavendish Boulevard. The announcement shown gives more information. The McGill Council on Palliative Care regularly holds workshops for caregivers and training for those who wish to volunteer in palliative care (all at no cost). I’ll share information as I receive it.

The Social Justice Action Group (SJAG), partnering with The United Church of Canada’s Living into Right Relations Group, will be co-hosting a gathering in Fulford Hall on May 5 between 10am and 1:30 pm. Please bring something to share for lunch, beverages will be provided. The topic is The Indian Act: The promotion and protection of Native rights. Discussion will be led by Joe Deom, a civil engineer and a Mohawk member of the Bear Clan from Kahnawà:ke, who is a passionate defender of the preservation of Mohawk language and culture and the promotion and protection of Native rights. The Indian Act will probably be modified in the near future so it will be good for us to understand the issues involved. Speak to Jan Jorgensen if you want to know more about the event. (A biographical note about Joe Deom was attached to the email version of this letter.)

Weekend Retreat: “Be Still” May 4-6

We’re told that some places are still open for this introduction to prayer by Fr Timothy Gallagher. A chance to explore, and, for more experienced pray-ers, to refresh or deepen your practice.

Meetings/Gathering for Fellowship

• Pain, partage et prière : The French Bible study group will meet at 2:00pm in the Hollis Lounge this Sunday
• The Cathedral Reading Group will meet at 7:00 pm Sunday to discuss A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart.
• Hungry Minds, the group for young adults, meets every Wednesday at 6 pm in Fulford Hall
• Lunch n Chat May 1st potluck fellowship, noon till 2 pm in the Bishop Hollis Lounge (on the 2nd floor at 1444 Union Ave.). Everyone is welcome.
• Social Service Society will meet on Sunday May 6th, after the 10am service in Fulford Hall. Light refreshments will be served. Everyone welcome.

Brainstorming ideas for Journées de la culture 2018

There will be a supper meeting at Ann’s house for people who would like to participate in creating a programme for the end of September celebration of the city-wide journées de la culture at the Cathedral. The date for supper is to be decided. Please give your name to Ann if you’d like to be included in the brainstorming.

May the peace of the Lord touch all people.

Ann Elbourne

To receive this Newsletter earlier by email, and with it, additions like the Forum agenda, financial updates, minutes and reports, posters, photos, etc., simply send your coordinates to the Cathedral office…  the failsafe method is to email both Newsletter author and parish volunteer Ann Elbourne  and Parish Administrator Elizabeth Shama  .

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