Reflections
Dear Friends and Parishioners:
June and July might have been the beginning of summer, but there was no break in the rhythm here at St. John’s. June began with the Feast of Pentecost, the second most important festival in the Church calendar, which was followed by Trinity Sunday, and by Corpus Christi on Thursday June 15. Even if you didn’t make it to any of these Masses in person, you can still see what happened on our online Flickr site:
https://www.flickr.com/ photos/redroofmontreal/albums
which has a wonderful collection of pictures by Janet Best. And speaking of calendars and pictures, one of Janet’s photos of our Palm Sunday procession has been selected for The Canadian Church Calendar, 2018. Indeed it is even the front cover, with Carl Garner as Sub-Deacon. This is the official calendar of the Canadian Anglican and Lutheran churches. Congratulations Janet! We really are privileged to have such a wonderful photo archive of our life here at St. John’s. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!
On June 24, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, we had a visit from our Bishop who baptised Zoë Stonyk and confirmed her and Janet Best. It was also the official good-bye and commissioning of Fr. Alain Brosseau, our Associate Priest for the last two years, for his work as a military chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces. He is now stationed in Valcartier. This was a wonderful occasion which again underlined the ongoing life and vitality of our parish community. We also in June, said farewell to Tyson Rösberg, who has been our Student from 'Dio' (The Montreal Diocesan Theological College) for the past 2 years. Tyson will be at the American Cathedral in Paris for the next year.
Summer is, of course, festival season in Montreal and in this the year of Canada 150 and Montreal 375 perhaps even more so. On July 2, only 8 days after our Episcopal visit, we had a full house for our second annual Jazz Mass with Ranee Lee and Dawn Tyler Watson in collaboration with Prof. Norman Cornett. Federico Andreoni, our Director of Music, again showed the versatility of our choir and music program. While jazz might not be part of our regular repertoire, this is a wonderful occasion for us to connect with one of the largest festivals taking place in the city. At the same time, there was an art exhibition in the church with works by Martine Fourcand. Thank-you to the organizing committee for the Jazz Mass for all their many months of work and planning for this event, and to Sheila Garner for co-ordinating and creating all the refreshments we have at all our many fêtes.
We have now settled for a certain period of quietness and rest before we begin again with St. Michael and All Angels on September 27, and with Dedication Sunday on October 1. Canon William Holmes Davison became our third Rector in February of 1917, and this year we will have his son, Canon Peter Davison, as our guest preacher for Dedication Sunday. He will be here with members of his family and with his sister Dr. Barbara Birkett and hers. Please make plans to be with us on this special Sunday. There will be Evensong and Benediction afterwards at 5 PM.
Enjoy the remainder of the summer!
Keith +
