E-Connections – June 30, 2021

Generous Donors Make Important Projects Happen

Like many parishes, St. James Cathedral depends upon the generosity of members of the parish and wider community to provide ministry and worship. In fact, since the pandemic began, we are relying almost entirely on your generosity to fund what we do here.

I want to let you know about two very special donations that we have received from two individuals who wish to remain anonymous. We are deeply grateful that these gifts are enabling us to move forward with two very important projects that will enhance what we do and the worship we engage in.

The first involves the replacement of our decades old sound system. As you may have noticed, there are places in the Cathedral where it is very difficult to hear. Furthermore, the new live-streaming equipment gifted to us by the Diocese of Toronto does not always interface seamlessly with our audio system. Therefore, we are delighted that a member of the parish has offered to cover completely the cost of a state-of-the-art sound system that should resolve most of the issues we have with the old one.  It will greatly enhance both the live and live-stream worship, making it much easier for persons of various hearing abilities to hear properly and feel connected to the services. If all goes smoothly, the new system should be operational by late autumn of this year. What a tremendous gift.

Secondly, those of you who know something about pipe organs know that our current organ console has been in need of replacement for quite some time. Following a conversation with someone connected to the Cathedral, we are now able to replace the console so that the sound is both glorious and dependable. This person also wishes to remain anonymous and is making the gift in memory of his father, who was a priest of this diocese as well as in the Middle East. This project, being done by a Quebec company under the direction of Music Director Tom Bell, will take approximately eighteen months to complete. Our target date is to dedicate the new console by the early part of 2023. Another tremendous gift.

These are exceptional expressions of generosity and commitment to our life together at St. James Cathedral, which together add up to nearly $550,000. Please know that all gifts, great or small, are especially needed in these historically challenging times and gratefully received.

Thank you for your commitment and generosity, as well as your love for this place and faith in what we are trying to accomplish.

In Christ,
Dean Stephen Vail+

 

Silencing of the Bells

Many have been wondering how we might respond in a meaningful way to the ongoing and shocking discoveries of remains on the sites of former residential schools. Here is what we will be doing at your Cathedral. On Wednesdays, the bells will remain silent all day to remember the children who were silenced or harmed by the residential school system. We will work on providing a list of resources to post on our website that provide opportunities to pray, learn and act.  Stay tuned to our website at www.stjamescathedral.ca. Opportunities that arise will also be shared on our Facebook page. We hope that you can set aside some time each Wednesday to use the resources we provide to learn more about truth and reconciliation, and to pray for all impacted by harms of the past.

 

PASTORAL CARE

Lockdown can be a lonely experience for many members of the Cathedral. Not only does it take away the opportunity for in-person worship, it adds the burdens of isolation and disconnectedness to so many who live alone. If you know anyone who would benefit from a call from our pastoral care team, please be in touch with Canon Beth Benson at bbenson@stjamescathedral.ca.

 

CONNECTING WITH ST. JAMES

SUNDAYS

Live-stream the service every Sunday at 11:00 on the Diocesan YouTube channel.

SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR

Join us for Virtual Coffee Hour on Zoom each Sunday at 12:30pm. If you have not already registered to attend, email the office and you will receive the link each Sunday to join Coffee Hour. Bring along your favourite coffee, tea, or other refreshment!

CONTINUING EACH WEEK

• Sermon Discussion Group on Zoom with The Reverend Dr. David Danner, one of our Honorary Assistants: Mondays at 10:00am; email the office to receive the link
• Morning Prayer: Tuesday and Thursday mornings on the Cathedral Facebook page; you can also find them posted on the Cathedral’s YouTube channel
• Virtual Hymn Sing on Zoom: Email irenecourage105@gmail.com to receive information, dates, and the link; the next sessions take place on Wednesday, June 30 at 4:00pm; Tuesday, July 6 at 7:30pm and Wednesday, July 14 at 4:00pm

 

Re-Opening Update

If all things remain on the current course of decreased numbers, we will reopen for in-person services on our Patronal Festival, St. James the Apostle. That date is Sunday, July 25, 2021. Services that day and on Sundays between then and Labour Day weekend will be at 8:00am and 10:00am. We realize this is a significant change. Please visit our website for the full announcement at  https://stjamescathedral.ca/reopening-update/

Please note that the 10:00am service will continue to be live-streamed each week on the Diocesan YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/tordio135

 

Mid-week Eucharist – Wednesdays at 9:30am

Our celebration of Holy Eucharist, each Wednesday at 9:30am, will be moving into Snell Hall. You can enter Snell Hall via the Cathedral Centre Terrace, which backs onto the parking lot. Chairs will be distanced, masks will be worn, and the sacrament will be received! No need to pre-register, but we’ll have a sign-in sheet when you arrive. We hope you can join us!

 

Live-stream Change – From Facebook to YouTube

We have moved our weekly Sunday live-stream from the Diocesan Facebook page to the Diocesan YouTube channel. You can find the link to the live-stream as well as a copy of the service leaflet on the worship page of our website here. Anyone can watch the service on YouTube; you don’t need an account, and you won’t be asked to sign in. If you want to add comments during the live-stream, you’ll need a Google/YouTube account. To create an account, visit YouTube.com, click “Sign in” in the top right corner and choose “Create Account.” As well, you can turn on closed captioning by clicking the “CC” icon at the bottom of the YouTube video.

 

ORGAN RECITALS

St. James Cathedral has presented lunchtime organ recitals on Tuesdays for many years. We are delighted that these concerts have resumed virtually and will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 1:00pm. Please note that the next recital takes place on the Tuesday, July 13, the second Tuesday of the month. The concerts will be presented via the Cathedral Choir Facebook page, allowing everyone to have an excellent view of the instrument and performer.

The organ is a fine four manual instrument dating from 1863, composed of four manuals and 5,100 pipes. Further details are available on the Cathedral website.

Did you miss an Organ Recital? You can still access it on the Cathedral Choir’s Facebook page.

Organ Recital Schedule
Tuesdays at 1:00pm via the Cathedral Choir Facebook page

 

*Please note: The July recital takes place on the second Tuesday of the month.
July 13: Stefani Bedin (St. Basil’s Roman Catholic Church and doctoral candidate U of T)

August 3: Nick Veltmeyer (past Wayne Vance Organ Scholar at St. James Cathedral)

*Please note: The September recital takes place on the second Tuesday of the month.
September 14: Gordon Mansell (Music Director and Organist at Our Lady of Sorrows Church)

 

Be Surprised by the Spirit – Join us for times of reflection about the changes in our lives over the past year.

Anglicans across Canada have been invited to gather in small groups to reflect on what we have experienced and discovered in our churches and in our personal lives over the past year in the pandemic.  We are organizing a series of conversations over the next several weeks around prayer, scripture reflection and shared stories.  Our next session will be July 14th from 10:00 – 11:00am, and we’ll be spending time reflecting on experiences of frailty, illness, and grief.

Email info@stjamescathedral.ca for the Zoom link.

Questions?  Contact The Reverend Claire Latimer-Dennis at  clatimerdennis@stjamescathedral.ca or Canon Beth Benson at  bbenson@stjamescathedral.ca

 

Summer Reading Groups

Looking for some good fiction to read this summer? Join Reverend Claire in reading two novels.

On July 18, we’ll meet to discuss In this House of Brede by Rumer Godden, a story about a professional woman joining a cloistered Benedictine Community in England.

On August 22, we’ll discuss Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin, the story of a teenage boy living in Harlem in the 1930s, his family, and their church. This particular book is consistent with the Anti-Racism Vestry motion to read books together by authors of African descent, so we hope you’ll consider joining the discussion.

Please email clatimerdennis@stjamescathedral.ca if you’re interested in reading one or both of the books!

 

Anti-Racism Motion: Movie & Discussion

As a result of Vestry and our congregational consultation, we are pleased to offer the first event based on our Anti-Racism Vestry Motion Goals.

The movie, Freedom, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., explores issues facing blacks of African heritage through the lens of the freedom trains. You may view the movie on YouTube here.

We will gather via Zoom on Thursday, July 22 at 7:00pm to reflect on the movie, its implications and what it teaches us.

We hope you can join us! To receive the Zoom meeting link, email info@stjamescathedral.ca by July 20.

 

Visioning Process

In this next step of our visioning process to evoke a deeper sense of our identity as a parish and cathedral at St. James, the steering committee under the leadership of Diocesan Director of Congregational Development, Janet Marshall, is beginning preparation of a Strategic Priorities Document to be tested by the congregation later this fall or early winter. The Visioning Steering Group includes Dean Stephen Vail, Carol Kysela, Chun Lo, Nick Tunnacliffe, Kate Uchendu, Joan Peters, Don Solomon and Jayne Hobbs.

The move to setting Strategic Priorities emerged from the continuing influence of the pandemic with its impact on financial realities, the gold mine of information the committee has been able to gather, as well as the robust community that has developed through the changes we have experienced as a Christian family this year. Those changes include, among many, the creation of a diversity committee, the ways we have drawn together in Sunday Eucharist and coffee hour, and the beautiful musical forms of praise and celebration we have been offered.

Step 1: Hearing Our Values:

Parish Zoom Groups in 2020 yielded the following core values:

Community and relationships; Authenticity – connections with the Divine; Anglican – identity and heritage; Inclusivity and diversity; Being of service – justice building.

Step 2: Defining the next generation of the Cathedral’s ministry and mission:

The 3 working groups assigned in the fall of 2020 have now reported to the steering committee on the Cathedral’s relationship with the Diocese of Toronto, other church centres of excellence and cathedrals; and current and forecasted resources and capacity of the Cathedral.

Some important directions emerged from these reports:

• Cathedral’s relationship with the diocese: there is a renewed interest in identifying opportunities for synergy and partnerships, and an exploration of the needs and expectations of the cathedral by other parishes within the diocese.
• Other cathedral and church centres of excellence: a compelling visioning process builds and relies on the excitement of a community who are collectively, individually, and as part of parish groups asking themselves at a deep level, “Why am I a Christian at St. James Cathedral?”
• Resources group: unprecedented changes due to pandemic and to two of our funding streams (cemetery and rentals) have propelled us into a planning process that requires both practical restraint for the immediate future as well as preparation and alertness for re-opening. How will we live joyously and purposefully as Christians at St. James Cathedral with less? Much can be accomplished through utilizing the gifts of the laity to resource our ongoing life in Christ at St. James.

Additional sources of information to be gathered from:

• Members of ministry groups within St. James
• Diocesan and deanery sources to define needs and expectations of Toronto parishes
• The Diocese and Cathedral relationship in Niagara Diocese

Preparation of Strategic Priorities Document drawing upon our parish values and the information we have gathered from all sources.

Step 3: Defining the next generation of the Cathedral’s Ministry and Mission:

Congregation-wide testing of the Strategic Planning Priorities through groups in-person or by Zoom.

 

Update Regarding Storage Site for Personal Health Information Records
(Parish Nurse client charts)

As an RN, a Parish Nurse is obligated to maintain documentation per the Standards of the College of Nurses of Ontario and the Standards of the Canadian Association for Parish Nursing Ministry. The resulting files are protected per Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario under Personal Health Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA). Our former Parish Nurse, Lanadee Lampman (RN non-practising class), is and continues to be the custodian of the St. James Parish Nurse personal health information records. Whereas these protected files were formerly locked up at the Cathedral Centre, they are now locked up at Lanadee Lampman’s residence. Anyone having a question about something within these records, please contact the Wardens or the church Administration to connect with Lanadee.

 

E-Connections Summer Schedule 

Beginning next week and for the summer, brief editions of E-Connections will be published weekly. Announcements will continue to be posted on the back of the Sunday leaflet each week. A ‘full’ edition of E-Connections (like the one you’re reading now) will be published in the last week of July and August.

 

Financial Stewardship  

We are exceedingly grateful to those of you who continue to support us financially. If you would like to make a donation, here are the ways to do that:

• Mail a cheque to 65 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2E9.
• Use the ‘Donate’ button on our website.
• You can now hand-deliver your offerings to the Cathedral Centre: A secure mailbox has been mounted in the Church Street vestibule at the entrance of the doors at 65 Church Street. The doors are open from 9:00am – 4:00pm, Monday – Friday.
• Sign up for Pre-Authorized monthly giving, thus ensuring a vital stream of income for the Cathedral. Please note that at any time you can stop or change the PAG amount by emailing the office.
• Make a gift of securities (see details here).
• We are delighted to have a QR code for donating electronically which you will find in all bulletins. Simply scan with your phone camera and donate! You can also donate here.

 

Staying Connected

We invite you to continue to link to the Cathedral’s website or Facebook page for updates, Morning Prayer, service listings and inspirational messages. Thank you for your love and support during this period in the life of St. James. Please remember, you are not alone.

Blessings and peace to you all,

The Very Reverend Stephen Vail, Rector of St. James Cathedral & Dean of Toronto
Joan Peters & Jayne Hobbs, Wardens
svail@stjamescathedral.ca
wardens@stjamescathedral.ca