Graduation at St. Hilda’s

It's graduation time in Belize!

The Principal of St. Hilda's Anglican School, Ms. Jane Martinez, recently sent a few photos from year-end activities, and a video of students singing during a worship service in the school's chapel for the Standard 6 (grade 8) graduates. Watch it below.

St. Hilda’s, an elementary school in the rural village of Georgeville, educates approximately 200 children between kindergarten and grade 8. Christ Church Cathedral has had a special relationship with the staff and students for many years. Cathedral teams have travelled to Belize five times: in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2018. Over 60 Cathedral members ranging in age from 15 to 79 have gone on a mission trip to Belize, and hundreds of people in Fredericton have supported the work through organizational support, donations and prayers. As part of the Cathedral's ongoing financial commitment to St. Hilda's, we send funds each year to contribute to ongoing needs for the students and teachers.

These Standard 6 (grade 8) students have completed their final year of public education in Belize.

In addition to providing support for the elementary school, the Cathedral provides scholarships for selected St. Hilda's graduates. In Belize, the average child leaves the education system after Standard 6 (equivalent to Canadian grade 8), when they are approximately 13 years old. High tuition costs prevent many children from attending high school, because unemployment in the country is high, there are many large single-parent families, and almost half of Belizeans live below the poverty line. In 2010, Cathedral mission team members established a high school scholarship program which has allowed St. Hilda’s students to apply for a scholarship to continue their education past grade 8. Some of the graduates supported by the Cathedral have gone on to post-secondary education. Currently, four students attending high school benefit from Cathedral scholarships.

Please pray for the students and teachers at St. Hilda's elementary school, our high school scholarship students, and their families. Contributions towards the Belize mission are welcome and appreciated. You may give and receive a charitable tax receipt by making an online donation or submitting a donation marked 'Belize' through the Cathedral office or offering plate.

Your support makes a big difference in the lives of these children!

News from St. Hilda’s Anglican School

We hold our friends in Belize in our hearts, praying for the students and teachers at St. Hilda's Anglican School, as well as the scholarship students who have moved on to High School. Ms. Jane Ramirez, Principal at St. Hilda's, recently sent us this note about activities at the school.


Greetings Kelley,

I pray that this email reaches you in good health. It has been some time since we communicated so I just wanted to send a greeting and give you some updates about what is happening at St. Hilda's Anglican School.

We are now back fully face to face for four days each week. It has been a challenge especially since Covid19 is still among us. We have had a few teachers and students who became sick. Thankfully, no one has gotten extremely ill. We have protocols in place to help prevent the spread of the virus.

We are looking forward to the new school year. It is my prayer that our preschool will open in September. We already have 18 students waiting. We are on the finishing touches and are grateful for your continued prayers and support. We have had some difficult days but God has been faithful. He has been good. We are nearing the time of our graduation which will be held on June 22nd. Our school year is almost over! Yeah! I am really looking forward to some vacation time in July.

Please greet our Friends of St. Hilda's. Sending our love and appreciation. I will be forwarding the reports for the scholarship recipients as soon as I receive them.

I pray the best for you all and look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings,

Jane

Episcopal Church of Roatan / Nelson and Kara Ministry (May 2022 Update)


New update May 2022

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3-5, NIV)

We give all glory and honour to the Lord for your partnering with us. Without your support and especially your prayers, our ministry would never have been possible.  We give our heartfelt special thanks to all of you for your sacrificial giving.

We know it has been a long time since we last visited you as a family and personally shared with you about our incredible ministry in Roatan. It has not been easy for us or for you either.

However, we continue in Roatan doing the ministry to which God has called us and that has been possible thanks to your prayers and the financial support that you have given us personally and as churches.

We have wanted to visit you personally and it has not been possible due to the governments’ COVID -related travel restrictions.

We are excited to share with you that next year, in 2023, we will be visiting you in your parishes and sharing our experiences with you.

We know that time passes quickly and we will share the dates with you as soon as we have them.

We thank God for your partnership in our ministry, especially in prayer.

Financial Support Appeal

On the financial side, we continue to be very positive and to pray and praise God with faith and thanksgiving. We also ask you to continue to pray about our finances, that for the next year and in coming years our support will stabilize and be sufficient to cover our needs. 

At the moment our balance is very low; in fact, we have a deficit of CAD 7249.00. Therefore, please consider sending a special offering in order to balance our finances for our expenses and the ministry in Roatan.

To donate now, please click on the following link (or copy and paste it into your browser):

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/13778

Or you can visit the Diocese of Fredericton’s website (www.anglican.nb.ca) then go to “Donate” for various ways to give online. Be sure to select “Honduras Mission Fund”.

Cheques should be made payable to “The Diocesan Synod of Fredericton” and sent to: Anglican Diocesan Synod of Fredericton, 

168 Church Street Room 20, Fredericton, N.B. E3B 4C9

Phone: (506) 459-1801

All cheques should have “Honduras Mission” noted on the reference line.

We greatly appreciate your prayer and financial support to date and trust that you will continue to support us.

We want to share with you our prayer needs, and at the same time you can share your needs with us so we can pray for you, as the Word says to pray for each other.

Please continue to pray for:

1.   For our family: Nelson, Kara and Kelly as we continue serving the Lord in Roatán, and Stephen in Winnipeg. 

2.   Continued and stable financial support for the next years as we continue to serve the Lord in Roatán, Honduras. At the moment our balance is very low, so we have a deficit of CAD 7249.00. 

3.   Our congregations: St. Peter by the Sea in Brick Bay, and Emmanuel in Coxen Hole, that we can continue growing, worshiping, and focusing on Jesus Christ. 

4.   Please pray for the Rev. Robert Browning and for his ministry to English-speakers in Eastern Roatán.

5.   Evangelism and practical outreach in the local communities.

6.  For leadership for the Church in Roatán that embraces the challenges as we serve in the Kingdom of God.  

7. The Episcopal Church in Honduras and our Bishop Lloyd Allen, who continues leading our Diocese.

8. For Carmen, Arlin, Charon, Ingris and Alexy, that they continue in University here in Roatan.

Thank you to all who have faithfully prayed and faithfully given to support this incredible work of ministering to the people in our congregations.

Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Your prayers and continued support enable us to continue touching people’s lives with Jesus’ love.

Empowering the Church

Learning, Growing and Serving

Nelson and Kara Mejia

Bishop McAllister College: Rector’s Newsletter – May 2022

Rector’s Newsletter – May 2022

Dear Friends

Greetings from all of us Bishop McAllister College and Anglican Seminary! When we received news that all schools would fully reopen in January 2022, we were excited, but decided that the best approach was cautious optimism. I’m happy to report that as we are well into 2nd term, things are completely back to normal.  Students of all classes are back! Yay!

Reporting Day

Early January was a busy time, trying to organise the school, call teachers back (some hadn’t taught in two years) and prepare them for what was to come. Workshops were quickly organised as brief refresher courses but also to prepare teachers that there would be a great need for remedial work, and potential discipline issues they might face amongst their students, and how they might address them. We were told to expect a dropout rate of up to 30% due to teen pregnancies, early marriage, work, low morale and loss of interest in pursuing education. The good news is that things went quite smoothly in those early weeks. At Bishop McAllister we experienced a 20% dropout rate, but in some areas it has been as high 50%, all this is pretty much a rural issue where children face greater hardships and challenges. Government officials in those areas were told to go out in their areas and push children back into school. (In other words force parents who have liked having their children dig in the gardens or engage in other petty income generating tasks, to send their children back to school). We continued to experience a few students dropping out, up until the end of first term. As much as we tried to encourage them, they couldn’t either cope with being back in the restrictive environment of a school, or rekindle their interest in getting an education.

Teachers Workshop

First term went very well and we closed smoothly after 14 weeks. The length of the school term has been increased from 12 weeks to 14 weeks, to allow extra time for catching up on missed work. Students were fairly cooperative in those early weeks with wearing masks and following SOP’s.

Student Assembly & Vaccination Clinic

Of course, things have relaxed now in second term, pretty much reflecting society. We have lost the battle when it comes to enforcing mask wearing etc., apart from when someone needs to access the offices. The good news though was that all the older students (18 and above) were fully vaccinated in the first term, and we have been told a campaign will be launched sometime this month for all the other students.

This term has already been busy with the election of student leaders and sports days, so I feel confident enough now to say we are truly back to normal.

Prefectorial Campaigns & Swearing In

We have accomplished some good work on various projects across the campus. School entrance and compound has been completely transformed.

The new Administration Building Annex is now fully complete apart from landscaping (next rainy season). It consists of five sections, (L -R) Rector’s office, Receptionist, Board Room, and Accounts Offices. For the first time in our history this building is equipped with toilet facilities. We are really stepping into the modern world now.

As much as we would have loved us to make further progress on the music department it wasn’t possible. I was reminded of some forgotten areas (out of sight out of mind) where work had begun but then focus shifted to the library project in 2016. All this time the girls in the Seminary (primary section) have been living in the dust of an unfinished dormitory. So, we returned to that project to improve their living conditions. We plastered the walls inside and out, finished the veranda and floors. We also embarked on building them stairs to their main compound, so hopefully they will soon no longer have to use the goat path they made for themselves, winding up the side of the hill.

We also made some progress on one of their classroom blocks that was unfinished reaching the roofing stage on two additional classrooms, staffroom and computer room. Slowly, slowly we continue take steps forward.

Hopefully we will be in a position to resume work on the music department, where are all three main building are ready for roofing.

It is hard to believe how many years have passed, and how quickly they passed. I have now entered my 25thyear here at Bishop McAllister College. It has been a rich and rewarding ministry, that I’m so very thankful to have been called to be a part of it. God’s grace has been with us through out and I’m so grateful for that, and for how He has worked through all of you to make this ministry possible. The school has truly blossomed and it wouldn’t have been possible without your financial support and countless prayers. But most importantly I thank you for your support of the student sponsorship program, so many young lives have been changed and opportunities given as a result. I know the past couple of years may have been discouraging, with the closures, and students abandoning their studies, as well the tough conditions many of you also faced. Thank you so much for sticking with us, and continuing with your support of this important program.

Lastly thank you so much for your support of myself. You have been with me throughout, and I can’t thank you enough. Pray for me as I take these next few months and think about my future.

I pray that God will continue to bless you and keep you, now and always!

“To God be the Glory!”

God Bless!

Paul

Honouring the Queen with a Jubilee Tea

On Saturday, 04 June, 2022, the Cathedral Branch of the Mothers’ Union (with the support of the ACW and other Fredericton MU branches) hosted “The Queen’s Jubilee Tea” to commemorate the 70th year since Her Majesty’s accession to the throne.

The Cathedral looked beautiful with the red, white and blue bunting combined with the Pentecost decorations!

Approximately 60 people attended and greatly enjoyed the abundant sandwiches and sweets. We listened to British music and sang “God Save the Queen” while sipping tea, sampling the Jubilee cake, and enjoying the fellowship of those who were in attendance.

It was a wonderful celebration that was held in conjunction with similar events hosted by MU Branches around the globe.

Many thanks for the financial donations, to those who provided the fancy sandwiches and sweets, and to those who volunteered their time to make tea, decorate and serve at this event.

-- Susan Watson, Co-Branch Leader, Mothers' Union - Cathedral Branch

The Queen’s Jubilee Tea

Hospital Visitors

Cathedral hospital visitors are eager to see patients at hospitals but no longer have access to patient information. If you or a member of your family is admitted and would welcome a visit, it’s necessary for us to know about the admission and the unit/room location of the patient.

If you have a planned admission or unexpectedly find yourself or a loved one in the hospital, please contact the Cathedral Office or the Dean with the unit and room number of the patient. Hospital visitors can no longer access private records from hospital records and patient listings are no longer provided.

Protocols at hospitals and care facilities have changed frequently during the pandemic, and we are still following the various safety procedures at each facility.

Communion at home or in hospital is available.

If you would like a home or hospital visit for yourself or a family member, please contact the Dean or the Cathedral Office.

Dean Geoffrey Hall: (506) 450-7761
Cathedral Office: (506) 450-8500

Messages from around the world

A postcard from Christ Church Cathedral is part of an exhibition hanging in St. Saviour's Anglican Church in Rīga, Latvia.

Each May, a country-wide event called Baznīcu nākts (Night of Churches) is held throughout Latvia. The festival lasts well into the night, with churches hosting concerts, lectures, discussions and prayer, and the public is invited to visit multiple churches to learn about cultural and spiritual values.

Typically, St. Saviour's -- the only Anglican Church in Latvia -- displays an exhibition of art created by members of its congregation. For 2022, Churchwarden Joseph Horgan had a different suggestion.

“One idea I had for this year would be a wall/display of postcards from many different churches throughout the Anglican world,” wrote Horgan. “That way, we would be able to represent not only ourselves on this special occasion, but our entire denomination and your church as well!”

In April, he reached out to Anglican dioceses across the globe, and was met with an overwhelming response from people eager to participate.

Congregations were asked to send or email a postcard with a photo of their church, and a message for the St. Saviour's parish or for Latvia in general.

The volume of mail and email increased throughout May, and by Baznīcu nākts, postcards had been received from over 250 churches in 36 countries. Cards were displayed in several areas of St. Saviour's, on walls and in a large display with cards hanging from strings so visitors could read both sides. A digital map was also created, which shows the location of each participating church.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we cannot thank you enough for supporting our Baznīcu nakts (Night of Churches) event by sending us cards for our special display,” wrote Horgan in a message to participating churches. “Throughout Saturday evening, more than 500 people visited [St. Saviour's] and were able to enjoy your cards and learn about your special churches.”

Horgan also mentioned that the event was held one day after the completion of a large ceiling renovation project, so the congregation was thrilled to welcome visitors to see the improvements and access the entire church. Our Cathedral Verger, Jason Parsons, visited St. Saviour's in 2018 and wrote about his experience in the NB Anglican newspaper. Shortly after his visit, the church began its ceiling renovation campaign.

Church leaders at St. Saviour’s were touched by the outpouring support for the postcard project, and have decided that the display will remain as a permanent exhibition, and they will continue to add any further postcards that are received.

Horgan says, “If you are ever able to make it out to Rīga one day, then perhaps you can find your card on our wall! Thanks again for your friendship and cooperation in making this idea a reality.”

Postcard display at St. Saviour’s Anglican Church in Rīga, Latvia

Queen’s Jubilee Tea

Mothers’ Union is pleased to invite the congregation to The Queen’s Jubilee Tea, to be held inside the Cathedral on Saturday, 04 June from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Tea, cold drinks, sweets and sandwiches will be served in honour of the Platinum Jubilee of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. Everyone is welcome to dress in their “Royal Best“ including hats and fascinators!

Free admission. Donations given through Cathedral envelopes or online giving will receive a tax receipt (please note 'Mothers' Union Tea' in the message field).

Medical Leave

Our Parish Nurse is on extended medical leave. Please keep Sarah her in your thoughts and prayers.

If you have a Health Ministry need at this time, please contact the Cathedral Office by email or phone (506) 450-8500 or Dean Geoffrey Hall by email or phone (506) 450-7761, and we can connect you with a member of the Health Ministry or Pastoral Care teams.

Art and friendship, one stitch at a time

The Cathedral Quilters meet in the lounge of Cathedral Hall on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to quilt by hand beautiful quilts ranging in size from baby to queen.

Recently, the group of four women have been working on a large mermaid quilt, to be given to two young sisters. They also gifted a lap quilt to Cathedral Sexton Ashley Swim. Ashley, his wife Lana, and their daughter Piper will soon welcome a new baby girl into their home.

In 2021, the Quilters finished a sampler quilt made of spring-hued fabrics of purples and yellows, a lap quilt made in a cat's cradle pattern in turquoise batik and navy background, and a compass rose quilt that had been started by former quilter and Cathedral member Judy Colson and finished by the Quilters after her passing.

Funds raised through quilting services is primarily used to support girls who attend Bishop McAllister College in Uganda.

The Quilters are very skilled and willing to share their knowledge. If you would like to know more about the group or request their handiwork on a project, please contact the Cathedral Office or speak with quilter Jennifer Griffiths.