Author Archive: Geoffrey Hall

Bishop and Chapter News – Jun 2016

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Bishop and Chapter met this past Monday with nine of 13 members present. Minutes of the May meeting were adopted.

Business Arising

• Employment – letters being finalized for Director of Music and Parish Nurse. Sexton permanent full-time position currently being advertised with applications closing 04 July
• Hall Front Steps – No update on repair
• Chapter vacancy – (Christian Formation) still in process.
• Piano – option of some funds from a recent bequest proposed

From the Dean

• Daily Offices – Reading of Morning Prayer (8:45 a.m.) and Evening Prayer (4:45 p.m.) at the Cathedral Monday to Friday began 20 June with the assistance of 14 volunteer leaders. Scheduling by way of VolunteerSpot
• Home Communions – 6 lay administrators received initiation
• Cathedral Piano – purchase will be negotiated this week
• Pastoral – Farraline Place and Windsor Court communions. Visits to hospitals, home visits and home communions.
• Vacation – 08 – 21 August 2016

Items for Decision

• Bishop’s Permission for Lay Administration of the Chalice: Lois Baker, Jim Clowater, Isabel Cutler, Gwen Davies, Tom Fetter, Sally Grace, Bonnie Greenwood, Victoria Hachey, Kelley Hall, Gayle Hanson, Dalton London, John Macaulay, Sarah Petite, Keith Radford, Geoffrey Richard, Catherine Schmidt, Doreen Smith, Kathleen Snow, Chris Stevenson, Barbara Toole, James Waugh, Henry (Hank) Williams.
• Bishop’s Permission for Lay Administration of Home Communions: Lois Baker, Isabel Cutler, Dalton London, John Macaulay, Harry Palmer, Kathleen Snow

Items for Discussion

• Member Visitation – Jamie Yeamans presented a draft report outlining results of the questionnaire, conclusions and recommendations. Consensus is that it was welcome and worthwhile, and should be done more often. Summary to web site this month.

Reports

• Treasurer – reported that our income and expenditures to the end of May of 2016 compare favourably to 2015 – offerings are up 3.6% over the same period a year ago, and normal expenditures are down 7.5%, in large part due to a staffing vacancy. She also stated that two reviews are underway: one dealing with insurance and the other dealing with the security and recording of weekly offerings and other cash receipts – from their receipt to deposit in the bank.
• Mission / Outreach – all signs point to an early arrival of an archdeaconry-sponsored refugee family.
• Communications – reported that they will be purchasing various Cathedral-related mementoes and gifts items (eg note cards, post cards, photos, puzzles, coffee mugs, etc) for resale in the Cathedral during tourist season and on into the fall.
• Health and Pastoral Care – Chris Stevenson has agreed to assume the chair of the Health Ministry Team

Next meetings

22 August (if necessary)
19 September
17 October

GMH

Sexton Required

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Sexton at Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton NB
Permanent full-time position, 40 hours per week
Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications

 Definition:  This is custodial work in the cleaning and care of Christ Church Cathedral and the Memorial Hall.  Work involves maintaining assigned premises in a clean and orderly condition with the goal of institutional health and safety.  Minor repairs as required.  Duties include sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and scrubbing floors, waxing and polishing floors and furniture, cleaning washrooms, cleaning windows, lights, walls and maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen.  Work also involves shoveling snow, removing ice from entrances at both facilities, mowing lawns, routine preventative maintenance, maintaining fire safety equipment and generally assuring access and security of both facilities.  Duties also include setting up/taking down for special functions held at the Church and at the Hall as required.  The successful candidate will report to the Dean of Fredericton with performance assessed on an ongoing basis.  Other related responsibilities may be assigned as necessary.

Qualifications:  Completion of Grade 12 and a minimum of three years’ experience in custodial and maintenance work; or equivalent combination of training and experience.  Strong interpersonal skills, good communications skills and a comprehensive knowledge of the Diocese of Fredericton and Cathedral policies specific to the job function are required.

To Apply:  A completed application, including resume and covering letter may be sent by email or surface mail.  Application deadline is 04 July 2016

Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.  A criminal reference check consistent with the Safe Church Policy of the Diocese of Fredericton will be required.

 Sexton Search Committee
Christ Church Cathedral
168 Church Street
Fredericton NB  E3B 4C9
(506) 450-8500
christchurchcathedral.com
search [@] christchurchcathedral.com

The diocese, demystifed

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You’re invited to the open house on Saturday

Sandra Craft had a mission when she became part of Diocesan Council: take some of the mystery out of diocesan affairs. The best way she could think of was to hold an open house.

Sandra is the vice-chair of Diocesan Council, which will host an open house on Saturday, June 18, from 2-4 p.m. Visitors are welcome to tour Christ Church Cathedral, visit the synod office and Bishop’s Court, and take in mission and ministry displays …

Read “the diocese, demystified”

Let Your Life Speak

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Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

By Parker J. Palmer
Jossey-Bass / 2000 / 117 pages

Parker Palmer is an author, educator, and activist who writes about teaching, life in community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He is the founder and senior partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal, based in Seattle, USA. couragerenewal.org.  Palmer is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

This book is constructed around a searching question:  “Is the life I am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?”  With this, Parker Palmer begins a thoughtful meditation on finding one’s true calling.  Let Your Life Speak is a candid reflection on how to find truth and fulfillment while living authentically amid the complexities of the 21st century.  No matter how lofty a person’s intentions may be, Palmer argues that vocation comes from listening to and accepting the “true self,” with its limits as well as its potentials.

Every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.

Palmer’s career trajectory has taken him from earning a Ph.D. in sociology; to serving as community organizer in Washington, D.C.; to living in Pendle Hill, a Quaker commune, for a decade; to his present-day work as a writer, consultant, and traveling teacher. He shares that he has been able to refine his understanding of life-choices by various experiences such as quitting seminary, getting fired from a job, and dealing with a bout of severe depression.  Telling stories from his own life and the lives of others, he shares insights gained from seasons of darkness as well as times of personal fulfillment and joy.

Writing with compelling vulnerability, Palmer helps illuminate positive pathways for those seeking to find their true calling; their vocation.  Parker Palmer’s writing is like a walk through a sunny forest glade – fresh, lucid and live-giving.  He gives the reader valuable insights for the journey forward. Let Your Life Speak will be of interest to those with serious questions about their future direction. “Vocation is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received.”

Selected quotes from Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak:

“If we lived close to nature in an agricultural society, the seasons as metaphor and fact would continually frame our lives. But the master metaphor of our era does not come from agriculture – it comes from manufacturing. We do not believe that we ‘grow’ our lives – we believe that we ‘make’ them. Just listen to how we use the word in everyday speech: we make time, make friends, make meaning, make money, make a living, make love.”

“Every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”

 “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”

“Each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up.”

 “Self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”

“But if I am to let my life speak things I want to hear, things I would gladly tell others, I must also let it speak things I do not want to hear and would never tell anyone else! My life is not only about my strengths and virtues; it is also about my liabilities and my limits, my trespasses and my shadow. An inevitable though often ignored dimension of the quest for ‘wholeness’ is that we must embrace what we dislike or find shameful about ourselves as well as what we are confident and proud of.”

“Our strongest gifts are usually those we are barely aware of possessing. They are a part of our God-given nature, with us from the moment we drew first breath, and we are no more conscious of having them than we are of breathing.”

Gregg Finley

Home Sweet Home

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Spin the globe. Halfway around the world sits a refugee family dreaming of a better, safer life.

Spin the globe again. People from 11 parishes in the archdeaconry of Fredericton are collecting furniture and housewares to fill that family’s apartment here.

At this point, neither knows anything specific about the other, nor do they know when they will finally meet and start working together on the transition to a new life in Canada.

HELPING HANDS - Wendy Smith (at right), a parishioner from St. Margaret's Anglican, delivers household goods donated by the congregation for the Syrian refugee family who will be sponsored by the archdeaconry. St. Margaret's is kindly covering all items in the bathroom and personal supplies categories of a long list of furniture and supplies. Ann Deveau (at left) from the cathedral will put the items into storage until the family arrives in Fredericton. The timing is unknown because the archdeaconry is on a waiting list to choose a family.

HELPING HANDS – Wendy Smith (at right), a parishioner from St. Margaret’s Anglican, delivers household goods donated by the congregation for the Syrian refugee family who will be sponsored by the archdeaconry. St. Margaret’s is kindly covering all items in the bathroom and personal supplies categories of a long list of furniture and supplies. Ann Deveau (at left) from the cathedral will put the items into storage until the family arrives in Fredericton. The timing is unknown because the archdeaconry is on a waiting list to choose a family.

Having met its self-imposed national target of 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February, the federal government has slowed its processing of refugee applicants. This is frustrating for potential sponsors. Patience and prayer will be needed in the coming months until a match is made.

While waiting for the bureaucracy to grind its wheels, committee members are raising funds (as of May 1st, donations now stand at $20,030.83), researching apartment prices, finding Arabic interpreters, looking for a doctor and dentist, learning which foods will be needed in a Syrian pantry, getting cross-cultural training, and so on.

Parishioners have asked how they can help the family. Some donations have already arrived and are being stored in the basement of Cathedral Memorial Hall, such as area rugs, desk, bed, floor lamp, coffee table, toaster oven, coffee maker, bedding, sets of cutlery and dishes, coat hangers, and much more.

One parish offered to supply everything needed to outfit a bathroom as well as all the personal supplies.

As the exact composition of the family is unknown, some questions cannot be answered now. Will we need bunk beds? A crib? Dolls and art supplies for wee ones?

Curtains or blinds will be needed, but what size will the windows be in the apartment to be rented later? Some items will just have to wait!

However, here is a list of things most likely required. If you can donate any of these items (clean, in good condition and in working order, please), e-mail Doug Milander and Ann Deveau <amdrm at nbnet.nb.ca> or call (506) 455-3299.

Drop-off and/or pick-up dates can be arranged later this spring. Your support is greatly appreciated.

macpherson

Don MacPherson helps move articles for short term storage

As of 10 June …

LIVING ROOM – modern TV (not the heavy, old, tube-type)

BEDROOMS – mattress and boxspring for a single bed, mattress and boxspring for a 54-inch bed,  3 waste baskets

DINING/KITCHEN – 4 kitchen chairs, hand mixer, muffin tin

MISCELLANEOUS – chair for computer desk, radio, alarm clock, wall clock, paper/pens/pencils, 3 umbrellas, combs and brushes

HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES – broom and dustpan, sponge mop, bucket, laundry detergent, cleaning rags, cleanser, toilet paper, paper napkins, recycling bin, freezer bags, garbage bags

 

 

Ann Deveau

What’s new with Belize? – June 2016

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Visit the Cathedral Missions site

Belize occupies not only a chunk of land in Central America, but also a special spot in the hearts of dozens of people from the cathedral who took part in mission trips there in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2013.

“Our work as a church is to reach out and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ,” says Beverly Morell who led the four mission teams. “Belize is a wonderful example of one important way we do just that!”

Although a cathedral team has not gone south recently —  largely due to the falling Canadian dollar which made the trip much too expensive — connections between the cathedral and a tiny Anglican parish in Belize continue.

Education is so important for these young people as is a well-equipped school …

For example, approximately $2,000 is sent annually to help St. Hilda’s Anglican School. It’s an elementary school (pop. 200) in a poor area in western Belize where three of the teams volunteered. The funds pay for school supplies as well as badly needed repairs such as fixing broken toilets and gaping holes in classroom ceilings.

Earth Day posters in Belize

Earth Day posters in Belize

The money for school supplies, including books, printer ink cartridges, paper and coloured pencils, is appreciated by the teachers. For example, it meant that the children had plentiful materials to work with when creating the Earth Day posters pictured here.

Another aspect of the relationship is assistance for higher education. In Belize free education stops at Grade 8. Many families live below the poverty line and cannot afford to send their children to high school. Former missioners and other donors have helped put several St. Hilda’s graduates through high school: Ashley Jones, Amieka Myers, Anfernee Vasquez, Jamal Whitty and Tianney Lamb.

Also thanks to donors from the cathedral family, three students from St. Hilda’s are currently attending high school: Aaliyah Augustine, Paul Jones and Anique Hernandez.  Paul explains why the financial support and encouragement mean so much to him: “I come from a poor family, but I want to show other children like me that it doesn’t matter where you came from, you can still achieve the goal you set your mind on.”

1606_belize1

Earth Day 2016 at St. Hilda’s

Originally, it cost $700 CDN per year per student, but the decline of our dollar means that it now costs $1,000 CDN annually per student. Although the existing students will be supported until graduation, unfortunately a high school scholarship cannot be offered to a St. Hilda’s graduate in 2016.

A couple years ago other donors at the cathedral kindly pooled resources to send two of the high school graduates to college. Although Anfernee Vasquez dropped out after a year, Amieka Myers intends to graduate with an associate in education certificate in 2017.

“Education is so important for these young people as is a well-equipped school,” says Brad McKnight, treasurer of the cathedral’s Missions Committee. “Our committee is considering a fund-raiser in late fall or early winter to make sure the financial support remains solid well into the future. Stay tuned for news about specific plans and for opportunities to volunteer.”

By Ann Deveau

Read the June 2016 letter from Principal Jane Martinez

Bishop and Chapter News – May 2016

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Members of Bishop and Chapter met this past Monday evening, 30 May, with 12 of 13 members present. A short faith conversation on Luke 7:11-17 was led by the Dean. Minutes from the 25 April meeting were presented and adopted.

Business Arising
• Cathedral steeple – has been repaired at a cost of about $13,000. Insurance has covered with a $1000 deductable
• Organ maintenance – scheduled for mid-June at a cost of about $2900. Dr. Pond has graciously agreed to facilitate the service and maintenance visit
• Chapter membership – one vacancy remains: chair of Christian Formation
• Member Visitation – wrapped up. Surveys being accepted until the end of May. Debrief is scheduled for visitors on Sunday, 05 June 2016 at 1:00 p.m. at the Hall.
• Cathedral piano – several options are being considered following notice of the wishes of the owner to sell

From the Dean
• usual ministerial and pastoral activities including care facility, hospital and home visits
• status of Music Director (David Drinkell has committed to be present on 17 July at the latest) and Parish Nurse (Kathleen Snow has agreed to begin 01 September). The position of sexton now needs to be advertised and a full-time hire expedited. Thanks to David Garland for his interim duties
• note regarding up-coming events in June

Items for Decision
• Staff and employment – Director of Music and Parish Nurse position descriptions and letters of offer of employment are all but complete, will be finalized soon. Sexton position description, advertising and letter of offer of employment ASAP
• Memorial Hall Steps Repair – scope of work and quotes for repair to the Hall steps and resulting water leaks into the electrical room) will be acquired. This was another of the critical items that would have been addressed by the originally proposed Hall Renovation Project and should be addressed as soon as possible
• Anglican Foundation of Canada – it was agreed that Christ Church Cathedral should maintain an annual membership and that the recent request for fees should be met.

Reports
• Communications Committee is planning a Cathedral photo directory for the fall of 2016
• Worship Committee will facilitate establishing public morning and evening offices (Morning Prayer 8:45 a.m. and Evening Prayer 4:45 p.m.) daily. Volunteers are being sought.

Discussion
• Administration and Finance Committee – draft terms of reference were discussed. Our Treasurer is seeking assistance in completing as smooth a transition as possible. Several administrative issues require consideration and the Dean has expressed the urgency of having this committee functional

Up-coming
• Choral Evensong, 05 June 2016 at 4:00 p.m.
• Confirmation, 19 June 2016 at 4:00 p.m.
• Ordination 26 June at 4:00 p.m.

Next Meeting
Monday, 20 June 2016

GMH

Divine Renovation

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Divine Renovation: From a Maintenance to a Missional Parish
By James Mallon
Novalis Publishing/2014/286 pages

Fr. James Mallon is pastor and priest at the Roman Catholic Saint Benedict Parish in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He speaks frequently on the topic of church renewal and has hosted internationally acclaimed DVD series on Catholicism and Dogmatic Theology. St. Benedict is an amalgamation of three former parishes and under Fr. Mallon’s care has achieved remarkable success in becoming a Christian community focussed on mission outside of its doors as opposed to an inward- looking maintenance ministry. In this book, the author offers practical guidance and a step by step blueprint on that process.

Its time to start making disciples. The future of the Church depends on it.

The Church today is faced often with the overwhelming task of maintaining property. While our buildings are an enormous gift from our past, they can also become one of our greatest burdens if we are not successful at becoming the missional church we are called to be. Jesus does not call us to be caretakers but, rather to serve him by serving the world and making disciples. “Its time to start making disciples,” says Fr. Mallon. “The future of the Church depends on it.”

Chapter two focusses on a grounding of the theory to be presented from Roman Catholic specific papal encyclicals and denominational specific documents. That goal completed, Divine Renovation progresses towards an insightful read for the Christian of any denomination. It is particularly applicable for any denomination that recognizes sacramental dimensions of the faith. “The sacraments are our greatest pastoral opportunity” and, perhaps one of the reasons I find it easy to recommend this book is that I agree wholeheartedly with most, if not all, of the author’s fundamental beginning points as well as the conclusions. Changing the “culture” of the Christian Community is necessarily at the heart of a transformation from maintenance to mission. It is that change of culture that consumes the majority of this text.

The practical road map leading to the transformation of church culture is divided into several sections. These might be alternatively titled: “Fr. Mallon’s marks of a healthy church.”

  • Giving Priority to the Weekend
  • Hospitality
  • Uplifting Music
  • Homilies
  • Meaningful Community
  • Clear Expectations
  • Strength-based Ministry

Inspiring, practical, challenging and a bracing call are among the terms others have used to describe an insightful book. A good read for anyone who cares about how to do Church in our current context. Fr. Mallon addresses the clergy of the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton during the clergy conference in August of 2016.

Geoffrey Hall

Celebration of Discipline

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Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
By Richard J. Foster
Harper Books / 1998 / 228 pages / Revised Edition

We read in the New Testament about the “Gifts of the Spirit” and the “Fruit of the Spirit.”

But, what do people mean when they use the term, “the Spiritual Disciplines?”  What is a ‘spiritual discipline’ and how does the practice of these disciplines affect a person’s maturity in the Faith, as well as the corporate expression of that maturity in a local church community?

Richard Foster explores this important terrain in his book, Celebration of Discipline.  Originally published in 1978, this volume has been republished several times, in revised and expanded form.  Considered to be one of the best modern handbooks to focused, faithful Christian living, Celebration of Discipline explores the essential spiritual practices used today, and down through the ages.

Richard J. Foster is the author of several bestselling books, including Celebration of Discipline, Streams of Living Water, Life with God, Freedom of Simplicity and Prayer. He is the founder of the American intrachurch movement, Renovaré, an organization committed to the renewal of the Church in our day.

Foster divides the spiritual disciplines into three categories and explains how each of these expressions of the Spirit contribute to the symmetry and fullness of a person’s life-journey. The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study, offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service, help prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration, bring us nearer to one another and to God.

“Like a child exploring the attic of an old house on a rainy day, discovering a trunk full of treasure and then calling all his brothers and sisters to share the find, Richard J. Foster has ‘found’ the spiritual disciplines that the modern world stored away and forgot, and has excitedly called us to celebrate them.  For they are, as he shows us, the instruments of joy, the way into mature Christian spirituality and abundant life.” ~ Eugene H. Peterson.

Selected quotes from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline:

“God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.”

“Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don’t.”

“Silence is one of the deepest Disciplines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.”

“Of all spiritual disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.”

“To pray is to change. All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives.”

“The purpose of meditation is to enable us to hear God more clearly. Meditation is listening, sensing, heeding the life and light of Christ. This comes right to the heart of our faith. The life that pleases God is not a set of religious duties; it is to hear His voice and obey His word. Meditation opens the door to this way of living.

“Fasting must forever centre on God. More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.

“Disciplines are not the answer; they only lead us to the Answer. We must clearly understand this limitation of the Disciplines if we are to avoid bondage.”

Gregg Finley

Called to Mission – Matt Allen

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Matt Allen has been a regular member of our congregation this past year and is preparing to serve God in a mission abroad with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. He is self-financing his salary for this mission and the Missions Committee would like to share his request for support.

“I am coming on staff with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Over the past year I have been working with Inter-Varsity in Fredericton. But now I am feeling like God is calling me to an International placement with Inter-Varsity. I am looking at a placement in either Martinique or France to work with the local student groups and see how they can grow and make a larger impact on their campuses and in their countries. Right now both of those locations have less than five staff working there.

So I want to partner with them and see how we can grow. Right now I am fundraising for my salary and my budget costs. I am looking to fund-raise $40,000. Would you be willing to support me either financially or through prayer. If you would like to join my newsletter email me at <mallen at ivcf.ca> and if you would like to financially support me you can at ivcf.ca/donate/mallen” – Matt Allen

ivcf

View this post on the Missions Committee site

Brad McKnight