“It wasn’t something that I had given any thought at all to,” she says.

But when she discovered she’d been nominated for one of five open spots on the committee, which meets between sessions of the full council to continue its work, a seed of excitement was planted.

“I thought it would be quite an opportunity. There are many things that I felt I could take to the table, and some ways that I thought I could be of help,” she says. “I had no attachment to the outcome. If it didn’t happen, it was absolutely okay.”

Later that week, when her name was the first read out, it took her a moment to realize she’d really been elected.

“It’s absolutely an honour and a privilege, because when you see the folks in the room and know that they’re representatives from 165 countries across the world, it’s quite the feeling,” she says.

Canon Gittens is one of the Anglican Church of Canada’s three delegates to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), along with Bishop Riscylla Shaw and the Rev. Marnie Peterson, a priest in the Diocese of New Westminster. The ACC, which meets every three years, is one of the Anglican Communion’s four “instruments of Communion.” It includes clergy, bishops and laity from across the Communion who consult on matters related to mission, advocacy and Christian unity.

It’s also the only instrument of Communion that includes lay people. The other three instruments are the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference (a once-a-decade gathering of all Anglican bishops) and the Primates’ Meeting (a regular gathering of presiding bishops from each national or regional church).

Canon Gittens’ qualifications to serve on the standing committee are too many to name. Her involvement in parish, diocesan, national and international church ministry spans decades, alongside her work in healthcare administration. A member of St. Paul the Apostle, Rexdale, she has served with the diocesan Anglican Church Women, the Postulancy Committee, the Cast the Net steering committee, Diocesan Council and as a clergy coach. She is a founding member of Black Anglicans of Canada, chair of the national church’s Partners in Mission Coordinating Committee and a member of the Communion-wide advisory group for the United Society Partners in the Gospel.

“There’s a whole lot that I can pull from the skill sets, things that I have learned, things that I have lived,” she says. “I’m happy to use whatever skills, whatever tools I can use to help in the discussions.”

The ACC met this year from June 27 to July 5, dubbed ACC-19 – the 19^th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Much of the conversation was focused on the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, a theological document that considers what it means to be the Anglican Communion today. The proposals lay out a framework for how Anglican churches can deepen their unity, with some specific suggestions for changes to the definition of the Communion and its structures.

After considerable discussion, ACC-19’s members affirmed the need for “relationships and trust to grow” amid these conversations and called for further dialogue across the Communion over the next three years.

“The overwhelming thought was that it needed more time for reflection and discussion. We will continue the discussion and the dialogue and report back to ACC-20,” says Canon Gittens.

She says that while divisions within the Anglican Communion were top of mind, delegates expressed their desire and hope that unity would continue despite different views on doctrine.

“People were truly listening and trying to understand where the differences of opinion came from. They listened and they responded very respectfully,” she says.

The analogy of family arose often around the table, she continued. “There are many different family members. There’s some that we disagree with and there’s some that do not attend family gatherings, but at the end of the day, we’re still part of the family.”

As her work on the ACC’s standing committee begins, Canon Gittens says she would like to be able to raise the profile of the work of the Anglican Communion and its commissions within the Diocese of Toronto.

“As much as we can share a lot, we can also learn from the others,” she says. “There is unbelievable work being done by the networks and commissions that many folks are not aware of. Those are ways for parishes and groups in our diocese to reach out, to connect and work together, because so much work is already happening.”

As Anglicans around the world continue to consider what it means to be bound together in a global communion amid division, Canon Gittens says she hopes those conversations continue closer to home, as well.

“The Communion might never be the unified group that it may have been at some time. But acknowledging that and working together, learning from each other, listening to each other, respecting each other, moving forward together – this is a time like no other time.”

The post A seat at the Communion table appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Instructions for the End of the World collects sermons preached by the Rev. Canon Maggie Helwig to the community of St. Stephen in-the-Fields, Toronto, over the course of five years, from March 2020 to November 2025. The events of the pandemic and the years that followed – the churchyard encampment and the repeated attempts to remove it, worsening income inequality, the rise of nationalism and a turn to fascism – are the backdrop for these texts, but the focus is the gospel.

What I found were sermons fresh and ancient, new and deeply timeless. Canon Helwig’s exegetical style is at once intellectual and deeply poetic, considering the nuances of New Testament Greek, the possibilities of literary imagery, and the realities of particular historical contexts. She hints at the personalities of the gospel writers, considers the specific ways parables are introduced, and challenges simplistic interpretations. Her sermons bring a fresh perspective to familiar stories, often offering nuance I hadn’t considered before.

Canon Helwig’s literary prowess is evident, but her sermons are not literary exercises. She speaks to her congregation in moments of real calamity and uncertainty, both on its doorstep and in the broader world. As I read, I heard most clearly a priest faithfully caring for her flock, speaking words of comfort, providing consolation and encouragement. And now she writes these words to all of us, finding our footing in a world that seems more chaotic every day.

Rooted in the Revised Common Lectionary, the three-year cycle of scriptural readings used in many Christian churches, this collection positions us alongside biblical figures grappling with their own turbulent times. Like us, these people exist in a messy, complicated world full of messy, complicated humans whom we are called to love, just as God loves us and we must love ourselves. We see here the theology from which Encampment, Canon Helwig’s award-winning book, grew – a theology that compels love of neighbour and action in the face of injustice. Canon Helwig calls us to consider the ways we can love and serve our neighbours in any context. (And there is no one who is not included among our neighbours.) She exhorts us to do whatever we can, however we can, even if it doesn’t feel like enough. “We can heal, now and then, small moments of our times. We can make things better, not forever, but for a day, an hour, ten minutes – and those minutes matter eternally,” she writes.

The hope Canon Helwig provides is complex and nuanced. There are no empty platitudes to be found in these pages. She acknowledges the pain and suffering in the world, the ways in which our society is deeply wrong and deeply flawed, and she doesn’t minimize any of it. “Sorrow and suffering, limit and loss, are a part of this reality, and to take away those hard human limits would be to take away our human lives, our shattering, struggling, beautiful, painful lives,” she writes.

With evidence of such darkness, it would be easy to fall into despair, but instead these sermons are filled with relentless hope. The boundless, radical love of God through Jesus Christ breathes on every page, and it is that love that strengthens us as the Body of Christ to live in the world and send God’s love back into it. “Even if we cannot know it in the moment, we are held, we are cherished, we matter. We must take that love and try to bring it into the world, in our small kindness and our small resistance,” she writes.

Instructions also provides an antidote to the Christian nationalism that so often dominates the public conversation in North America. Canon Helwig returns to Christianity’s roots as an outsider movement – a faith found not in the halls of power, but in the margins. And it’s only as the Body of Christ, all of us working together, that we can hope to help God’s kingdom break in. This is not a faith of individual salvation, but of working and praying and loving as a community to bring peace into a troubled world.

As Canon Helwig speaks again and again of the radical love of a God who chooses to join us in our own frailty and brokenness, and thereby make sacred our broken world, I can’t help but come away with a deep sense of wonder and gratitude that we, together, are called to plant our gardens in Babylon, to celebrate that excessive, unreasonable love, and to do whatever we can to make that love known in the world.

“We are the body, and this is the time, for we have no other bodies, and no other times. This is the year of God’s favour, because we have no other year. This is the place of fulfillment, because we have no other place.”

Instructions for the End of the World. By Maggie Helwig, June 2026. ISBN 9781552455210, e-ISBN 9781770568969, 240 pp, $24.95.

The post Fresh, ancient words for a fractured age appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

About 130 people signed onto Zoom on the evening of June 14 to hear from the Rev. Leigh Kern and Bishop Andrew Asbil about their efforts to renew the Diocese of Toronto’s treaty relationships with the seven First Nations on whose land the diocese lives and worships.

The process began in the winter of 2025, when the Bishop’s Collaborative for Right Relations, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous clergy and laity, began an audit of the progress the diocese had made in implementing the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Of those 94 calls, 13 specifically name the Church. The collaborative found that the diocese had implemented only three of the 13 calls.

That audit spurred a longer conversation about Call to Action #46, which calls for the Church to “renew or establish Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future.”

“Early in 2026, Leigh and I sent out letters to each of the chiefs and councils of the seven communities, asking if there might be an opportunity for us to meet together and talk about renewing our treaty relationships,” Bishop Andrew told the gathering.

Since then, they have heard back from five communities and visited four so far: the Chippewas of Rama, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Alderville First Nation and Curve Lake First Nation. They’re waiting to schedule a time with a fifth and are hoping to hear back from two more.

Before sharing the story of those visits, Kern, the diocese’s Right Relations Coordinator, began with some historical context – a history that is not in the past, she explained, but is living, present and ongoing.

First Nations in southern Ontario were forcibly displaced multiple times and had their land stolen from them repeatedly. While 1/7 of all Crown lands were set aside for the Anglican Church, many First Nations had to purchase their own reserve lands, which were later stolen from them again.

Treaty relationships, Kern explained, were meant to be ones of interconnection, interdependence and respect, renewed annually in ceremony and prayer. But treaties that were supposed to honour Indigenous rights, including the right to hunt and fish, instead took away those rights and often made smaller the already tiny reserves.

Before meeting with the First Nations chiefs and councils, Kern and the diocese’s archivists did careful research to better understand the Church’s history of colonialism and broken treaties.

“The sad part for us has been that the truth is actually so much more painful than even these high-level surface presentations,” Kern said. “This isn’t far-away history, it’s very close – the land under our feet.”

She and Bishop Asbil both felt it was essential to approach the First Nations communities with knowledge of each group’s specific stories.

“Not knowing our history is not an excuse anymore. It’s very important for us to hear the stories that are local to us,” said Bishop Asbil. “My eyes have certainly been opened to the stories.”

In each of the four meetings, Bishop Asbil brought a bundle of tobacco as a sign of welcome and gratitude. He offered words of repentance, confessing the sins of Christian colonialism and acknowledging the hurt and brokenness caused by the Anglican Church.

He and Kern offered a copper vessel to mark a relationship of cooperation and collaboration, a symbol of great respect for the Nations’ teachings, traditions and relationship with their territories. Purple fabric from a former Anglican Church represented the Church’s call to repentance and confession of sin, as well as the office of bishop. Smaller copper cups were presented to each member of council as a symbol of the diocese’s deep desire to renew the relationships. And a pottery bowl from a local artist, made from different clay bodies coming together, represented the beauty and abundance of the Great Lakes basin.

Bishop Asbil, Kern and Mary Asbil, who accompanied her husband on his visit to Curve Lake, all remarked how moving the experiences had been.

“There was in each of those rooms deep gratitude on the one hand, candour on the other hand,” said Bishop Asbil. “One of the comments that we heard on a number of occasions was, ‘We had no idea what you really wanted, and we didn’t know what you were going to say.’”

“There was deep stillness and silence in the room, a lot of emotion – both gratitude and also real honesty about survivor hurt,” said Mary Asbil. “We could just listen and be part of it and take that in.”

In a Q&A session following the Zoom presentation, those gathered wondered how they could engage with issues of reconciliation. Bishop Asbil and Kern both encouraged them to find ways of building relationships with local First Nations communities at the parish level.

“Building relationships is something we can all do,” said Kern. “It takes a lot to build trust and build relationships, and we can break the trust in a second. It is a journey we are on.”

Both emphasized that the diocese and its parishes are the ones responsible for making the effort to build relationships, not First Nations.

“It is our job to reconcile. We did the harm. We need to repent,” said Kern. “We need to do a 360 as a church.”

Bishop Asbil also emphasized that he carries the whole diocese with him in these conversations, speaking words of penance on behalf of every parish and its members.

“We wanted to have an evening like that so that you knew what we were saying, because we are inviting you into this work,” he said. “It is imperative that we do this work. We are summoned into this reconciliation ministry. I’m counting on you to keep all of us accountable in doing this work.”

The post Diocese renews treaty ties appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Citizenship for people born outside Canada used to be limited to just children of Canadian citizens, but since Parliament passed Bill C-3 in December, someone born outside Canada before Dec. 15, 2025, can be recognized as a Canadian citizen if they have a Canadian grandparent or great-grandparent. For that to happen, they need to apply for proof of citizenship – and that’s where archivists come in.

Since December, archives across Canada have seen a surge in ancestral research requests, and the archives for the Diocese of Toronto are no exception. Claire Wilton, the diocesan archivist, and Sarah McDougall, the archives assistant, have been fielding hundreds of requests from people looking for their Canadian ancestors.

“It’s been nonstop,” says McDougall. “We used to respond to genealogy requests, and I would say the whole thing would take about a week. We’re now telling people, hopefully by the end of this month or up to five weeks, because we are just so inundated. It’s extreme, and it was unexpected.”

Normally, the archives gets 75 to 100 genealogical requests each year. In the first three months of 2026, they were already up to 88 requests, with more coming in each day. The archives charges a $30 search fee for up to an hour of research, along with fees for certified copies, and the incoming funds show just how high the demand is.

“Normally we make about $1,200 a year in fees. We’d already made over $5,000 up to May,” says Wilton.

The ease of finding an elusive ancestor can depend on how much information a requestor has, often from sites like Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

“Some people have done a great deal of research, and they’re fairly certain of exactly where the person lived,” says Wilton.

Others know only that their great-grandparent was born in Ontario, requiring a lot more digging. In that case, the archives team often refers them to records from the Toronto Public Library or Library and Archives Canada to help narrow down the search. They say requestors are often surprised by what’s involved in searching historical records, and how little is available online.

“I think because Ancestry and FamilySearch are so pervasive now, they assume that our records must be available to that level as well, and they’re just not,” says McDougall. “It’s almost like an education moment. It’s been neat seeing people who have never given archives a second thought having to come to us. I do feel like people are learning, which is really cool.”

They both say they’re not surprised that many of the requests are coming from Americans who are uncomfortable with the current political climate in their home country. McDougall admits that she’s particularly attached to those cases.

“It’s the ones who are part of marginalized communities, such as LGBTQ folks and people of colour. Those are the ones I’m most concerned about, because they’re the ones who I think are the most afraid and want to come up here,” she says.

When a new request comes in, the first resource the archivists check is their map to see which churches existed at the time. That leads them to parish registers, where baptisms and marriages were recorded. With historical realities like changing parish boundaries, renamed townships, travelling clergy and new settlers on the move, finding the right record is part skill and part luck.

“It’s really a struggle for me, even though I know that it’s like a needle in a haystack for some of these. You really want to be able to find it,” says Wilton. “It’s so exciting when you’ve had a real string of not finding something and you finally find something. It’s like a big party.”

But success can be elusive. There’s simply not enough time to check every register, and sometimes requestors are left disappointed. Wilton guesses her success rate is about 40 per cent.

“It’s so hard when you’re just going to check one more church – what if it’s at that one? It’s really hard to give up, because you just don’t know,” says Wilton. “We’ve seen cases where a whole family is baptized when the oldest kid is 16, so that means you could look for a 16-year period. I usually do 10 years as a reasonable period to look for, but it’s challenging to give up.”

Both archivists have had cases where a name pops up somewhere unexpected during unrelated research, like a woman from Darlington Township who appeared in the registry for St. Philip, Etobicoke, some 80 kilometres away.

“You can never be 100 per cent certain that you’ve actually searched everywhere. And that’s hard, too, because Claire and I both want to do the best possible job, and you never know,” says McDougall.

Despite the increase in their workload, both archivists say they’re happy to help so many people looking into their family histories – though they’re also hoping the numbers start to subside soon.

“Sarah and I love genealogy, which I think makes us very much want to help people, but we also do have to respect the fact that we have a lot of internal work that still needs to be done,” says Wilton. “We’re just trying to find a rhythm and a balance whereby we’re able to help but also focus on our work.”

For her part, McDougall says she hopes this influx of attention will help more people realize how vital archives really are.

“This really is a moment that I never expected. I think people forget why archives are important, and this has been such an out-of-left-field reminder,” she says. “I’m hoping, especially at a time of financial austerity at all government levels for funding and grants, that this resurgence of need will show that this stuff is actually wildly important.”

The post Archivists field citizenship rush appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

After considerable discussion, Synod Council unanimously approved a motion in support of developing and implementing a voluntary, opt-in fundraising campaign for parishes that are ready to proceed now.

The need for a capital campaign emerged from Cast the Net, the diocese’s strategic plan, which identified several priorities that would benefit from financial support. A feasibility study conducted in the spring of 2025 found strong readiness, capacity and support for a diocesan campaign. When Synod gathered last November, its members were more cautious, narrowly passing an amendment to the Priorities and Plans 2025-2027 to defer the plan to “engage all parishes in a diocesan major gift fundraising campaign” until Synod 2027.

In the months after Synod, Bishop Andrew Asbil and Peter Misiazsek, director of Stewardship Development, met with the diocese’s chancellor and vice-chancellors about how best to support the parishes that were ready to start a campaign while respecting Synod’s decision. The chancellors advised that an optional, parish-driven campaign wouldn’t contravene the vote at Synod.

“We had a chance to really look at the intent and the spirit of that motion, and we saw that it was really about the inclusion of every parish. Out of our feasibility study, we knew that there were at least 10 parishes in the diocese that really wanted to get started early, and we already had two parishes that were in the process,” says Bishop Asbil. “We really felt the need to be able to honour what Synod had decided, and at the same time wanting to pick up the deep desire of parishes to get going now.”

The idea was brought forward for a conversation at Synod Council in February, and discussions continued across its March and April meetings before its members voted in April.

“By meeting with the chancellor and having conversations with folks on Synod Council, I think we’ve been able to strike a balance between the concern expressed at Synod and the parishes that are really enthusiastic and believe that they have a compelling case within their own communities to move forward with something now,” says Mr. Misiaszek.

Ten parishes have stepped forward so far, eager to start a campaign because of local priorities that need financial attention, from deferred maintenance and building accessibility concerns to new ministry ideas.

“Timing is everything, and when a parish has vision for its own ministry, when they know that the diocesan family is going to be very supportive, there’s a real desire to not hold back, but to really let the Spirit of God just hop on and get going,” says Bishop Asbil.

This first phase until Synod 2027 will involve only parishes that have volunteered, while those that aren’t ready to move ahead won’t be expected or asked to join. Mr. Misiaszek says the first parishes provide a good sample of the make-up of in the diocese, accounting for about 10 per cent of average Sunday attendance and offertory giving.

“They represent a cross-section of parishes, from parishes that have over 300 people attending on a Sunday to those who have less than 50. Some are in the city, some are suburban and some rural,” he says.

With the help of professional fundraising consultants, each parish will develop a case for support that reflects its own needs. Parishes will be given a goal that represents about 125 per cent of their average annual offertories over the past three years, with pledged gifts being fulfilled over a five-year period. Parishes will keep the majority of the funds they raise, with smaller parishes keeping a higher percentage. The rest will go into a pool of funds for diocesan-wide priorities.

“They get to keep, at a minimum, 60 per cent for their own initiatives. If you’re a much smaller parish you could retain up to 75 per cent of funds. We’re even prepared to negotiate with parishes, because we want what’s in their best interest,” says Mr. Misiaszek.

Parishes will also keep 100 per cent of funds raised above and beyond their campaign goals.

The Synod Office and its consultants will take on much of the campaign’s administrative work, acknowledging and receipting gifts, maintaining donor relations, receiving funds and passing those funds along to parishes. The diocese will also absorb the up-front campaign costs, which Mr. Misiaszek anticipates will amount to about $400,000.

“We’re trying to make this as much of an easy win for parishes as possible,” he says.

He and Bishop Asbil are also hoping that early successes among this small group will encourage the rest of the diocese and help shape the roll-out of a broader campaign.

“This is a really important time for us to be able to listen, to watch, to pay close attention to what’s happening on the ground in each of the parishes,” says Bishop Asbil. “They’ll teach us where the passion for ministry is, and where we need to be really supportive in their endeavours.”

While work to set up the campaign gets underway, Mr. Misiaszek anticipates that the 10 parishes will get started in earnest in early 2027. In the meantime, both he and Bishop Asbil are eager to support the enthusiastic first group in the coming months.

“I am really excited by the opportunity for us to be able to support ministry where it’s happening on the ground, and to be able to help the wider diocese take this moment in time to see that the Spirit of God is calling us to ministry,” says Bishop Asbil. “We are having, I think, a moment in our diocese and beyond where there is an awakening and a spiritual renewal. Here’s an opportunity for us to be able to say, How do we build ministry for today and tomorrow?”

The post Synod Council approves voluntary campaign appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

On the afternoon of May 17, St. James Cathedral will host a beacon event for Thy Kingdom Come, the global ecumenical movement that calls Christians to a special season of prayer from Ascension to Pentecost – this year, May 14-24. Started by the Church of England in 2016, the movement now reaches around the globe as Christians join in prayer that more people would come to know Jesus.

The theme for 2026 is “God with us,” exploring God’s presence in the joys and sorrows of life. Over 11 days, the campaign will explore bible stories that demonstrate God’s transformative power and love at work in the lives of people and places. Participants are called to pray for five people in their lives, that they will experience the life-changing love of God and choose to follow Him.

“It’s encouraging Christians to think about how the good news would fit into the questions or challenges that people in their lives are having, and to see if they can find solace and purpose in the good news of Jesus,” says the Rev. Matthew Waterman, assistant curate at St. James Cathedral, who’s helping to plan the beacon event.

A representative from the Anglican Communion approached the cathedral’s leadership team in the fall, looking for cathedrals around the Communion to lead events for their regions. The beacon events are meant to be focal points for prayer and worship, and to serve as a visible reminder that local communities are part of a worldwide network of prayer.

“The hope is to draw more attention to Thy Kingdom Come so that more individual parishes will be inspired to participate in their own contexts,” says Mr. Waterman.

Plans for the event at St. James Cathedral are well underway. Archbishop Shane Parker, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, will attend, and Mr. Waterman has reached out to congregations to invite participants and worship leaders who reflect the diversity of the diocese. The liturgy will include many different languages, including Tamil, Twi, Spanish, Tagalog and Cantonese, in readings, prayers and liturgical expressions.

“We’re aiming to think about not just how the gospel is heard in the Church, but how the gospel is heard by those around us. We’re focusing on some of the major immigrant ethnic groups in Toronto, for them to bring testimonies about responding to the gospel from their contexts and their experience sharing it with others within their cultural groups,” says Mr. Waterman.

In addition to inviting people to join the worship service in-person, the cathedral team will livestream the service to share the Toronto experience of Thy Kingdom Come both locally and with Christians around the world.

“We will encourage people to have watch parties, maybe in their parishes or with their friends, to join in the experience,” says Mr. Waterman. “Even around the world, anyone at any place can tune in and see what we’re doing here in Toronto.”

The beacon event comes at a fitting moment for the Diocese of Toronto, which recently concluded its Season of Spiritual Renewal. The emphasis on prayer, listening and discernment from the past two years echoes many of the themes at the heart of Thy Kingdom Come, encouraging individuals and parishes to root themselves in prayer for their neighbours and the wider world and inviting them to build on practices they began during the Season of Spiritual Renewal.

“I hope they feel more inspired or more equipped to share the good news, and maybe more aware of where there’s a need for that good news,” says Mr. Waterman. “They may think more about who’s around them in their neighbourhood, that perhaps they could share the good news and have their parish represent the diversity that’s around them in whatever form.”

As plans develop, Mr. Waterman and the cathedral team are looking forward to sharing more details about the service.

“Stay tuned! We’ll have more exciting, specific details that we can share as it gets closer,” he says.

In the meantime, Thy Kingdom Come’s website provides free resources for individuals, families and churches, from prayer journals to a kids’ cartoon series. To learn more, visit www.thykingdomcome.global.

The post Cathedral to host special worship service appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Bishop Andrew Asbil revealed that the invitation to Archbishop Parker came mere moments after he was installed as primate in June. “Archbishop Shane is no stranger to stepping into difficult situations,” Bishop Asbil told the audience. “After the service, I said to him, ‘By the by, Archbishop, we’ve already booked you to be our guest speaker.’”

In his remarks after dinner on Friday evening, Archbishop Parker explored an analogy comparing the Church to a stained-glass window, originally coined by the Very Rev. Henry Chadwick, a 20^th-century English theologian.

“The stained glass reflects the light. It’s got colours, it reflects the goodness of the gospel, the love and compassion and gentleness and mercy and courage and justice of God,” he said. “The stained glass that is the stuff of the Church needs to be held by oak and iron.”

In some cases, he said, the Canadian Church hasn’t paid enough attention to the oak and iron – its structures and canons – and the stained glass has tumbled to the ground. “In other cases, we’ve spent so much time thinking about the oak and iron that we’ve forgotten its purpose. The stained glass is clouded over.”

He went on to say that the Cast the Net vision and calls to action, which have guided the diocese since they were unanimously approved by Synod in 2023, have achieved a balance between addressing the oak and iron and letting the stained glass shine.

“You have to look at property and structures, and the way parishes are configured and where ministry is happening, and all of those things that support the stained glass,” he said.

He likened the work the diocese has done through Cast the Net to the national church’s Creating Pathways document, approved by General Synod last June.

“We have focused too much on ourselves and our Church and keeping it going with these great cumbersome structures, instead of realizing that we may need to cast some of them away,” he said. “For years, we allowed ourselves to be changed without responding to what we see around us and realizing we must begin to guide change, to feel different, to look different, importantly to behave differently.”

Archbishop Parker encouraged Synod’s work in reflecting on the 20 Calls of Cast the Net to discern what God is calling the diocese to do, while not getting lost in either the oak and iron or the stained glass.

“You’re called to tell the good story through your structures, through your ministries, through the light of Christ, the love of Christ, the justice, the gentleness, the courage, the forgiveness of Christ,” he said. “You’re called to make your Church strong and vital and vibrant so you can pivot it to see Christ, and to allow Christ to shine through the stained glass of what God has called you to be.”

Archbishop Parker joined Synod in its business session on Saturday, and he spoke near the end of the morning to reflect what he had been observing.

“It’s remarkable just to see the diversity in this room, the relationships between individuals, and it’s something to be thankful for,” he said.

He remarked on some of the tensions that had surfaced over the course of the day, explaining that tension is a creative place.

“It means that something is being shaped, something is being worked on. You are being worked on by the Holy Spirit,” he said. “The tension that I was hearing, and you were hearing as well, is the tension between what is and what can be – what we see before us now and the future perhaps that we have a glimpse of, but we do not fully see.”

He implored Synod members to remember the water of baptism. “Remember that you were baptized in the name of the living God, and you reside with the cross and marked as Christ’s own forever,” he said. “Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The water of baptism, the sign of the cross, the promise that we are Christ’s own forever, says to us that all shall be well.”

He praised the diocese for its work of deliberate discernment through Cast the Net. “When I look at you, and I look at this expression of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, I see a diocese that’s poised to thrive,” he said.

“You are modeling what every church, every diocese in our country needs to do, which is to do the deep dive and look carefully at themselves, look carefully at what we stand on, and to identify plans and priorities that will allow you to change and to grow into the full stature of Christ,” he continued. “To position yourselves so the light of Christ shines through the well-supported stained glass that is the ministry God gave you to conduct. All shall be well.”

The post Primate praises diocese at Synod appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

The project is a natural extension of the collaboration that has unfolded between the Property Resources department and diocesan Archives over the past two years. In the summer of 2023, the two teams combined forces to start visiting closed churches. Among their goals, staff collected liturgical items left behind when the buildings were shut.

“The vast majority of it was in usable condition or good condition. We were just realizing that we were creating huge stores of this used holy hardware,” says Mac Moreau, director of Property Resources.

The salvaged items were added to the growing collection in the Archives in the basement of the Synod Office.

“I think we have 20 boxes down here of various things. We just don’t really have space to store them long-term,” says Claire Wilton, the diocese’s Archivist. She’s still working through the boxes, but she estimates there are as many as 100 smaller items in the Archives, with some larger items stored off-site.

When Pamela Boisvert joined the Property Resources department in 2024, she was struck by an idea. She had seen the online store run by an organization she volunteers for, and she wondered if the diocese could build its own platform to rehome liturgical supplies.

She brought her idea to Mr. Moreau, and with agreement from the Archives team and support from the Communications department, the site was built. It was formally launched at Synod in November.

To access the site, users need to sign up for an account before they start browsing. For now, accounts will be limited to leaders from parishes in the diocese.

“We want to make sure that the items go to another church, and that they’re not going to be used in a way that would be inappropriate,” says Ms. Boisvert. “Depending on how it goes, maybe another phase would be to open it up to others.”

Once users are approved, they can see the catalogue of items, each of which has a photo, a description and the location where it’s currently being stored. Browsers can search for items and filter by category and condition.

Each item also includes a suggested price, with the option to name a different price. The goal is not to make a profit from the site, but simply to cover the small amount of overhead that comes with running the site.

“We’re going to do our best and guess at what an item’s fair value would be without trying to overprice it or underprice it,” says Ms. Boisvert. “We want these items out and being used in a church, and if the price is prohibitive, then we want to allow them to name their price.”

Buyers can pay by cash when they pick up their items, and pick-up dates will be arranged with staff on a regular basis.

As for the inventory, browsers can expect to see a variety of “holy hardware” and linens.

“We have a few chalices, quite a few cruets, a couple of flagons,” says Ms. Wilton. “There are frontals, superfrontals. We’re working our way through that.”

The team is taking special note of items with plaques or dedications given in memory of a loved one. Archives staff are tracking where those items end up so there’s a record in case a family member ever asks.

“My hope is that some of these items that have memorial will go somewhere else so that those people can be remembered beyond the church that is closed,” says Ms. Wilton.

Mr. Moreau echoes that idea. “There are stories behind each of these items,” he says. “So what use are they sitting on a shelf, either in a closed church that we use for storage or in the basement of the Synod Office – why not get them back into service?”

Ultimately, both the Archives and Property teams see the Marketplace as an extension of their mission to remember former church communities in the diocese.

“When we visited these closed churches, our objective was to understand better their story, to be able to carry that story and then be able to tell that story,” says Mr. Moreau. “And the work that we’re doing with the Marketplace and with these liturgical items is an important part of that story.”

As the Marketplace opens to its first wave of users, staff are already thinking about what comes next for the platform. They’re open to the idea of helping parishes offload liturgical supplies they no longer need, and the platform may open to other dioceses or ecumenical partners in the future.

To learn more and sign up for an account, visit www.marketplace.toronto.anglican.ca.

The post Marketplace helps items find new home appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Part of the diocese’s Season of Spiritual Renewal, these worship services have brought together Anglicans from all parts of the diocese to share stories of faith, renew their baptismal vows and offer their collective prayers to God.

The congregation was treated to a variety of musical preludes as they arrived. Soloist Christina Bosco, the choir from All Saints, Collingwood, and singer-guitarist Jared Martens performed several diverse pieces before Jeff Campbell took over on the church’s pipe organ and the service began. A trumpeter, a cellist and a pianist rounded out the musical complement.

“It is our great delight and joy to welcome all of you here to this wonderful service,” said Bishop Andrew Asbil to the congregation gathered in the church and online. “Thank you, thank you, Diocese of Toronto, for showing up and being present in praise. Let’s have a really good time.”

After the congregation had heard the story of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee from the Gospel of Mark, the Rev. Dr. Rob Hurkmans, incumbent of Trinity Church, Streetsville, preached. He explained that the story gives a perfect picture of spiritual renewal through its four parts.

“A crisis, a cry, a command, a confession. Four parts of the story, but also four parts of what spiritual renewal looks like,” he said.

Renewal begins in the middle of a crisis, he began. “Renewal and revival, they never happen when the waters are calm,” he said. “It’s like God uses crises as a wake-up call to get our attention and to remind us that we cannot fix ourselves.”

Then comes the cry to God. The disciples in the boat cry out to Jesus with a desperate prayer.

“We’ve gathered together today to do what? Certainly to be together, certainly to celebrate God, but we also got together today to cry out to God,” said Mr. Hurkmans. “To ask God to do those things that we cannot do for ourselves, in our lives or in our churches.”

The command follows. Jesus commands the wind and the waves to be still. Likewise, in the midst of crisis, a word comes to us from God. Every major renewal throughout history, said Mr. Hurkmans, has been marked by a renewed love for God’s word in the scriptures.

“Renewal depends on us being attentive and being ready to hear what God is saying. And every time we open the bible, God is ready to speak to us,” he said. “Renewal is hearing God’s voice in the middle of the chaos and allowing his word to calm our hearts.”

And finally, a confession of faith. The disciples wonder aloud who this man is, that the wind and sea obey him.

“The disciples haven’t got their Christology all worked out at this point, but one thing they do know: this Jesus is no ordinary rabbi,” said Mr. Hurkmans. “The real goal of renewal is not just about getting calmer waters; it’s about getting a clearer picture of who Jesus is.”

After a hymn, Makayla Clouter, a teen from St. Thomas, Brooklin, spoke about the way God has shaped her life and her faith. She told the congregation about Sloane, her childhood friend, who had Aicardi Syndrome. Ms. Clouter remembered eating lunch alone at school because of her allergies, until Sloane and her mother started sitting with her.

“That small act of kindness meant the world to me. It reminded me that God often shows up through people He places in our lives,” she said.

When Sloane died a few years later, Ms. Clouter found her faith tested, but she said she felt God’s presence at her friend’s funeral.

“I stopped seeing God only in happy times like at retreats or sunsets. I started noticing Him in the harder times too. I learned that His love is limitless. It doesn’t stop when life is hard. It doesn’t stop even at death,” she said.

“I learned that God doesn’t just comfort us. He transforms us. He gives us strength, compassion and faith we wouldn’t have otherwise,” she continued. “So when I think about God, I think about this: A God whose love breaks through our loneliness, our grief, our question, and even our loss.”

The congregation members joined together to renew their baptismal vows before the celebration of the Eucharist. During communion, lay anointers offered prayers and anointing with oil.

Near the end of the service, Bishop Riscylla Shaw, the celebrant, thanked everyone who attended, especially those who had offered their gifts.

“Deepest gratitude to everyone who spoke today, who shared in the service with music and joy, sharing your hearts and your faith as we gather together and worship and praise God and feel renewed. Thanks be to God for that,” she said.

The day ended with conversation, as Anglicans from different parishes met and re-met each other over refreshments.

The final Lift Up Our Hearts service took place on Oct. 25 at St. Paul, Bloor Street.

The post Anglicans hear stirring words at service appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

The afternoon got off to an energetic start with music by the Dreamers, the youth band from Christ Memorial Church, Oshawa, as people greeted each other and found their seats. By the start of the service, the pews were full of Anglicans ready to join in worship.

“What a great joy it is to be here with all of you this afternoon,” said Bishop Kevin Robertson, the celebrant. “All of you could be in a thousand different places, and you chose to be here as we renew our faith as individuals and as the Church in our diocese and give thanks to God for the gift of the Holy Spirit that enlivens our Church and promises to lead us forward.”

After the congregation heard the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven from the Book of Acts, Kennedy Marshall, ODT gave the first of the afternoon’s two lay witness talks.

Mr. Marshall recalled a time in his life when he and his wife, Esther, were searching for a church home after having drifted away from their faith in early adulthood.

“There was an emptiness, a restlessness, a lack of direction, an absence of Christ in our lives, and that’s why we thought we needed to reconnect,” he said.

Having recently moved to the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, they decided to try the nearby parish of St. Mark, Parkdale.

“We were bowled over by the warm welcome, and we were further strengthened by the fact that the church, with its limited resources, was still able to be a signal presence in the Parkdale community. So we were hooked,” he said. He and Esther have been parishioners of St. Mark’s – now Epiphany and St. Mark – ever since.

The afternoon’s preacher was the Rev. Gerlyn Henry, who brought greetings from the diocese’s youngest parish, the Church of the Holy Wisdom. Reflecting on the reading from Acts, she considered the disciples gazing upward as Jesus ascends to heaven, a gap opening between them and Jesus. She asked the congregation to think about gaps that have opened at points in their own lives.

“Sometimes that gap feels like an ever-widening chasm that we just can’t imagine bridging or crossing. Sometimes that gap is about longing and desire for something new or something different or just something more. Other times that gap is about pain and loss and heartbreak,” she said.

How, she wondered, do we live into spiritual renewal in the midst of this “Ascension-shaped hole or gap” that we find ourselves in?

“The good thing about gaps is that they take us to the edge of what we know, to the horizon of what we can see, to the limits of our self-sufficiency,” she said.

Renewal, she continued, doesn’t come from keeping things as they are, but from holy disruption.

“We have a choice to make. We can keep looking up toward heaven, towards that which is unseen, or we can turn our eyes to our neighbours who are visible, reach our hands to the circumstances that are tangible, and step into that gap. The Holy Spirit will meet us there, interceding with sighs too deep for words, renewing us from within our souls,” she said.

After Rev. Henry’s sermon and a hymn, the congregation heard a second story of grace from sisters Colette and Andrea Francis, parishioners of Christ Church, Scarborough. They reflected on how the experience of their mother’s illness and eventual death in 2022, and the care they received from clergy, led them to renew their faith.

“We are now confirmed in the Anglican Church, and we are now diligent servants of Christ Church, Scarborough Village. Indeed, it has been an awesome spiritual renewal. We are now firmly rooted and grounded in the Lord,” said Andrea Francis.

As with the first two Lift Up Our Hearts services, the congregation members joined together to renew their baptismal vows before the celebration of the Eucharist. During communion, lay anointers offered prayers and anointing with oil to anyone who wanted them.

Before the service ended, Bishop Robertson thanked everyone for attending and for taking to heart God’s call to be spiritually renewed in Jesus Christ.

“My prayer for you is that you will be sent out with power as you, in your own life and ministry, are spiritually renewed, and that you go and tell those who have not yet heard the good news of God in Christ, and to be an instrument of God’s transforming love in the world,” he said.

After the service, laughter and warm conversation filled the parish hall, where people shared food and reflected on the moving afternoon together.

The next Lift Up Our Hearts service will take place on Sept. 27 at St. James, Orillia, with the Rev. Dr. Rob Hurkmans preaching. The final service is scheduled for Oct. 25 at St. Paul, Bloor Street, where the Rev. Dr. Alvardo Adderly will preach. Visit www.toronto.anglican.ca/spiritualrenewal for more details.

The post Anglicans renew faith at Whitby service appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.