Children, Youth, and Family Ministries
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Sunday School at St. James Cathedral:
We invite you to join us every Sunday at the 9:00am & the 11:00am services.
Our Children’s Program is offered every Sunday, and all are welcome!
Watch Sunday School Lessons on our YouTube Channel here.
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Save the date and join us!
Saturday, November 23 from 10:30am – 12:30pm:
Annual Advent Fair for Cathedral Family and Our Community
Come join us for our free Annual Family Advent Fair on Saturday, November 23, 2024 from 10:30am – 12:30pm at the St. James Cathedral Centre.
We will gather to welcome the Season of Advent with a special “Journey to the Manger” and enjoyable activities like Advent wreath making, games, storytelling, take-home family advent bags, Christmas card making for those experiencing homelessness, food, and a door prize!
For further information, please email Karyne Whalen, Children, Youth, and Family Minister at St. James Cathedral at: kwhalen@stjamescathedral.ca
*Donations of Winter clothing for those experiencing homelessness are welcome to support the St. James Cathedral Drop-In program and community programs.
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Sunday, March 31: Easter Egg Hunt, a fun event for families in the community.
Happy Easter everyone!
The St. James Cathedral Children’s Ministry wants to thank you the community for the amazing response to our Easter Egg Hunt 2024.
Our Cathedral was packed! We received more than 400 guests who enjoyed the egg hunt in our Cathedral and we welcomed around 2000 people throughout our Holy Week and Easter Services who experienced the joy of Easter in our Cathedral!
Our Children’s Program is offered every Sunday at the 9:00am and the 11:00am services. All are welcome!
We have police vulnerable sector screened teachers serving children ages 3 to 12 years old with our Godly Play curriculum.
To receive information about upcoming events, click here.
Video by Karyne Whalen our Children’s Minister.
For more information, please feel free to send an email to Karyne Whalen at kwhalen@stjamescathedral.ca
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*Children & Families: Sunday school meets at both the 9:00am and 11:00am services for a fun and playful service about Jesus Christ being the center of children’s lives. All children are welcome.
We want to accompany children and youth on the road of discipleship. Children are full members of the household of God, and are welcome in every part of our life together.
All children are welcome at St. James Cathedral to enjoy and learn in our Sunday Children’s Program and celebrate together the blessings of hope, peace, joy, and love.
We have trained & police vulnerable sector screened teachers serving children ages 3 to 12 years old with our Godly Play curriculum. Our children wonder, explore, grow, sing, create, play, and have fun all while encountering Jesus each week! All are welcome.
Karyne Whalen, Minister of Children, Youth, and Families.
Our lovely and well-experienced Karyne Whalen is excited to begin an incredible faith journey with your children and is looking forward to welcoming you all.
For more information, please feel free to send an email to Karyne Whalen at kwhalen@stjamescathedral.ca
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We celebrated Blessing of the Backpacks!
Back to School. Back to routines. Back to church.
We invited families to join us at the 9:00am and 11:00am services, as we celebrated the beginning of a new school year with the blessing of the backpacks. Also, we shared some exciting family faith-building events happening this Fall.
Thank you all for joining us, stay tuned!
Our Sunday Children’s Program continues at both, the 9:00am and the 11:00am services.
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Save the date and join us: Sunday, September 10: Blessing of the backpacks
Back to School. Back to routines. Back to church. Our Children, Youth, and Family Ministry invites your children to join us for Sunday School each week at the 9:00am and the 11:00am services as we wonder, explore, grow, sing, and have fun all while encountering Jesus and building our faith. Next Sunday, September 10, is special and all are welcome!
We invite families to join us at the 9:00am and 11:00am services, as we celebrate the beginning of a new school year with the blessing of the backpacks. Bring your favourite backpack to church to be blessed and stay tuned for some exciting family faith-building events happening this Fall.
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We were blessed to celebrate the feast of St. James, our patron saint at St. James Cathedral!
Thank you to all who joined us to celebrate this special date in the life of our parish. Our Children’s Ministry also celebrated this day with fun games for the little ones.
We send a special shout-out to our staff, volunteers, and all the community members who helped make this possible.
We enjoyed a wonderful time as a community!
To see more pictures of the best moments of the Patronal Festival 2023 and get to know more news, visit and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
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Saturday May 27 & Sunday, May 28: Join us for Doors Open at the Cathedral
Doors Open 2023 is a city-wide celebration for Torontonians and others to explore some of the most iconic buildings in our city.
*At the Cathedral: Visitors can take a trip up the Bell Tower; hear a demonstration of our organ; sit in on a rehearsal of our choir and learn more about the history and architecture of St. James as well as the ways that we serve the community.
*For children & adults: We will offer a Scavenger Hunt to find animals at the Cathedral-stained glasses.
*At St. James Cemetery: Visitors can take a guided or self-guided tour at this National Historic Site.
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April 2023: The Annual Easter Egg Hunt was fantastic!
On Easter Sunday, we enjoyed a wonderful day. We were overwhelmed by the community response. Thank you all for coming out. Our Annual Easter Egg Hunt will be bigger and better next year. We would love to have you back!
Also, thank you for coming to Sunday School. Please join us every Sunday at the 9:00am and 11:00am services, all children are welcome.
“I want to share my gratitude… I was visiting Toronto for these couple of days and yesterday one kid from the community invited my child to this activity. It was such a joy & my kid had a wonderful time. Thank u so much for the time & I wish many blessings for this church & all the community.” Shelly E Rdz-Mrz
“Thank you so much for an “egg”cellent Easter Egg Hunt yesterday. We were so thrilled to have so many community members take part- more than we imagined. It was amazing to see so many children at our church! God is good! I am so grateful to all who prayed, volunteered, supported, helped to make this event a success. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We shone Jesus’ light to our community.” Karyne Whalen – Children, Youth, and Family Minister
To see more pictures of the best moments of our Annual Easter Egg Hunt this year and get to know more news, visit and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
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February 21, 2023: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
On February 21, we marked the last day before Lent with a parish pancake supper. 😋🥞🙏🤗
We had food, a crafts table for kids, and live music! We thank you all for joining us for Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper!
We send a special shout-out to the volunteers, staff and everyone in the community who helps to make this possible.
Photos by Karyne Whalen @fashionqueenimp our Minister of Children, Youth, and Families.
She is excited to share an incredible faith journey with your children and is looking forward to welcoming everyone every Sunday at the 9:00am and 11:00am services.
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February 5, 2023: Parents gathered with the Children’s Ministry Team
On Sunday, February 5 at 10:15am, parents gathered with the Children’s Ministry Team to share as a community and learn more about the exciting things happening for our Cathedral children this year. Thank you all for joining us.
This is Karyne Whalen, our Minister of Children, Youth and Families inviting them.
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SUNDAY SCHOOL:
Children are invited to process to the front of the church (with or without their parents, as they are comfortable) during the singing of the Gloria to receive a blessing. The leaders will bring them back into the main service during the offertory hymn.
For children who do not wish to go to Godly Play, there are children’s leaflets and crayons available at the entrance for use during the service and for you to take home.
Most of our services are services of Holy Eucharist. In the Anglican Church, all baptized Christians may receive communion, and children are warmly welcomed to receive.
Family Resources
The Church’s life is supported by practices, habits, and traditions at home as well as in the faith community. If you would like support in faith formation for children at home, send Karyne an email.
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For more information or any questions, please contact Karyne Whalen at kwhalen@stjamescathedral.ca
