For Lent this year, SJAG (the Cathedral’s Social Justice Action Group) proposes we select one of the 94 recommendations put forward by the Truth & Reconciliation Commission in their final report in 2015. They have winnowed these down to 10 possibilities… and invite you to vote on Sunday or to take part in...
This week we will focus on three very important topics: Lent, Reconciliation and the Cathedral’s participation in Nuit blanche on February 27. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday next week, February 10th. There will be three Eucharists, each including the imposition of ashes emphasizing the words spoken by the priest “Dust...
As we get ready for Candlemas and pancakes, we pack away our Alleluias until Easter and, our Christmas decorations until next year. Maybe your collection of ornaments, like mine, includes some that have been broken and mended more than once. They still have sentimental value. But sometimes the thing is really beyond...
Have you taken down your Christmas decorations? According to ancient tradition next week – the feast of Candlemas – is the time to do it. As the medieval carol says: Make we myrth For Crystes byrth, And sing we yole tyl Candelmes Or as Robert Herrick wrote in the 17th...
There was no newsletter last week so a rather belated wish for a happy New Year! Probably by now most of you will know that Rhonda’s husband, Thomas, is leaving Montreal for an interesting new job in Ottawa, and of course Rhonda and Gilbert are moving too. Rhonda’s ministry has...
January is named for the Roman two-faced god Janus who looked both back and ahead. As a spiritual practice this week, consider simply allowing yourself to be fully in the present moment. That is the first of the “Spiritually Literate New Years Resolutions” offered by Frederic and Mary Brussat on...
Blessing the home on or near the feast of Epiphany (January 6th) is a tradition that dates from the middle ages. Using chalk, we mark our doorways with the inscription 20+C+M+B+16, calling to mind the magi, traditionally named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, who journeyed far from their homes to Bethlehem...
I completely understand the innkeeper who answered the knock on his door to find two strangers, complete with donkey and a child about to be born. I understand his frustration, his exhaustion, his feeling of having nothing more to give. His not wanting to linger at the threshold explaining. He’s...
This Cathedral is proud to support Action Réfugiés Montréal, and is actively preparing to sponsor a refugee family here in Montreal. This Creche is an outward symbol of our commitment. The creche figures were made in the early 1940s by mothers and children whose fathers were leaving...
Woo hoo! God is good! These exclamations echoed round the cathedral office when Paul and the wardens received the latest pledging update from our treasurer, Jane. There are more pledges to come, but so far 37 people have pledged a total of $91,472, an impressive average of $2,472 per annual...
Forget “Merry Christmas” – a more appropriate holiday greeting is “Be not afraid” (perhaps the response could be “Thank you. Nor you”) Not only would this better capture the tone of the Christmas story, echoing the angel’s greetings to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, it would better address the emotional...
December 10 was International Human Rights Day and the world’s biggest grassroots event for human rights, Write for Rights organised by Amnesty International. The Cathedral’s Amnesty Action Amnistie will meet in the Chapter House after the 10 am service on Sunday when you are invited to join in writing letters or signing...